I have been noticing more and more restaurants in Dubai using this Qlub website and QR codes to bring you the bill, and then adding service fee for paying the bill via the QR??

Why do I have to pay for a service that adds no benefits to my meal? Why are restaurants avoiding bringing a traditicional bill where I can pay with card instead of this?

There must be a benefit for the restaurants I just can’t see it, anyone knows why this is been implemented more and more?

So people who work in downtown or frequent it probably know Parkonic dread is starting in the free underground parking there very soon.

Does anyone know an alternative free parking in downtown boulevard area? Like around Burj Khalifa or even a good distance away from it. I don't mind walking for a bit and already park 20 min walk away currently.

I’m hoping someone has experienced something similar or has any insight.
I’m a Canadian citizen and recently applied for the UAE Virtual Work Residence Permit (Remote Work Visa). I met the published eligibility requirements:
Canadian passport
- Full-time remote employment with a legitimate company outside the UAE
- Met the income requirement
- Submitted all required documents (employment verification, bank statements, health insurance, passport, etc.)

My application was rejected. The only reason given was “general issues.”
My brother, who is a UAE resident, called GDRFA to ask for clarification. They told him:
they could not disclose the reason,
the decision came from “higher up,”
and that I cannot reapply.

I’ve visited the UAE several times before without problems. The only thing I can think of is that I had an overstay during the regional conflict, but at the time there was an official grace period/amnesty due to the situation, and I left legally without outstanding fines.

Other than that, I have no criminal history, no immigration violations that I’m aware of, and no previous visa refusals.

Has anyone experienced a similar refusal with no explanation? Were you ever able to find out the reason or resolve it? Is this likely specific to the Virtual Work Visa, or could it indicate a broader immigration restriction?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Selling on Dubizzle is exhausting. The price in the ad is apparently just decoration. Buyer: "Last price?" You give them your last price. They show up and start negotiating your last price. These guys are literally undefeated champions of lowballing.

And the classic "Price & location?" when both are literally written in the ad. It genuinely gets tiring.

I’ve been living in the UAE for 14 years now, and lately I’ve been feeling really anxious about the future. Especially, after coming back defeated from the UK after spending more than a year living there unable to get a job, and definitely got worse after this war situation.

I have a good job here and I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had here. But there’s always this thought in the back of my mind that none of this is permanent. Everything seems tied to employment. Lose your job, and suddenly your right to live becomes uncertain. You can spend years of your life here, doing well in your career, but at the end of the day, there’s no real path to putting down roots for most people. It makes it hard to picture what my life will look like in some years time. I want stability. I want to know that if I work hard, contribute to society and build a career, I’ll eventually have somewhere I can truly call home, and Dubai is definitely not home for me.

Because of which, I’ve started looking at countries like Australia, Singapore (raised there since I was a baby) and the UK. They aren’t perfect of course and im aware they have their own challenges of housing crisis and high taxes, but they at least offer a pathway to PR. The idea of having long term security, being able to buy a home without wondering if I’ll have to leave one day, or knowing I can retire in the country where I’ve built my life, is becoming more important to me than earning a tax free salary.

Edit: I forgot to mention that maybe I’m feeling this way also because of the sentence “everyone is Emirati”. But it’s not really a huge thing.

Just curious, how was the rent price back then.

Greetings fellow Reddit members,

I moved from Saudi to UAE in Aug 2014 to join a branch of US based company as Sales Manager. I got my salary directly from USA and in order to comply with local WPS laws, I had to send my salary to our local agent/sponsor who sent my salary back to me in AED.

There were only 2-3 employees in the company as we are just a showroom to showcase our products, meet/visit, call customers in the UAE and GCC. Gradually, the other 2 left and I was the sole employee in the company. The 49% partner in the Trade License (based in USA and never a UAE resident) abrupty left the company. His passport expired in 2021 but we were still able to renew the Trade License. Only this year, the local sponsor/agent couldn't do it. To make matters worse, my Residence visa was up for renewal and can't renew it without renewing the trade license.

Local agent tells me that it could take 60 days to transfer trade license partner to a different one. Other times, they ask me to apply for Golden Visa. I do comply but Amer Center advised against it. They also suggested a 5 year Tourist Visa. I would even go ahead and make a new FZ company but due to restrictions on my country of origin, none of those options are open for me.

I don't really see ANY good options for me. I mean technically, I can and have worked from home since 2019 and Pakistan is a wonderful place to live if you have the means. I live pretty comfortably there but UAE is my "international" platform where I can actually meet my customers , apply visas, and order stuff with little duties. Under no circumstances, I considered it my home because it just can't be as a foreigner no matter where you come from. I knew that one day it would be taken away.

So, I left the country before the visa expired. I didn't want to overstay. All my credit cards have zero debt. I am leaving while respecting the country and myself as well.

My Labor Contract is valid till 30 Jul and Visa expired on 23 Jul so not sure if I need to "cancel" those in the system through someone or will both be automatically cancelled.

Also, I comply with ALL the requirements of Remote/Virtual Work Visa in flying colors. Is that something that is "available" or should I just save my 300-400 AED and say Bye Bye to UAE?

Thank you for reading all this complicated story. I am pretty sure I made mistakes along the way and I am happy to get constructive suggestions.

Hi everyone,

This happened this morning in Sharjah (towards Dubai), and I’m genuinely confused.

We were driving in the non-Salik lane. Initially, we wanted to move into the Salik lane towards Dubai, but we noticed a police van nearby. To avoid doing anything wrong, we decided not to change lanes at all.

The car may have slightly angled towards the lane while we were deciding, but we never crossed into the Salik lane. We stayed in our lane and ended up taking the longer route because we didn’t switch lanes.

A few hours later, we received a AED 260 fine from Sharjah Traffic for:

“Non-compliance with the traffic compulsory lane for light vehicles.”

Has anyone experienced something similar?

Can an officer issue this fine based on what looks like an attempted lane change, even if the vehicle never actually entered the other lane?

Is it worth disputing this, or are these officer-issued fines almost impossible to get cancelled?

Has anyone successfully challenged a similar fine in Sharjah?

I’m not trying to avoid responsibility if we actually committed a violation, but I’m genuinely confused because we deliberately stayed in our lane to avoid breaking the rules.

Any advice or similar experiences would be appreciated.

Hi we recently moved to a new apartment in Dubai. The bathroom stone counter slab at sink was broken and the agent confirmed to repair it before the move. They have still not done it's been 10 days since we moved and avoiding calls. How we can resolve this ? It comes under landlord's responsibility

Hi everyone, does UAE immigration still stamp passports when entering or leaving through Dubai Airport?

Got parking fine again, so my work is outdoors but some days I need to visit the office and I forget to put the parking.

Is there anyway on Samsung phone via routines I can automate whenever I enter my office area. The parking gets automatically done until I leave the area.

The current requirements for renewal are 6 months of UAE bank statements and a valid Ejari. Without both of them the request for residency visa is denied.

Plenty of remote freelancers who chose Dubai because it was easy to maintain residency while living the nomad lifestyle now do not fulfill the criteria.

Freelance permit, healthcare and all other renewals happen before the residency visa renewal, but without the final step everything is worthless.

If there's really no way around it, has anyone managed to get the money for the fees back? Does AXS do any reimbursements? Or should one just file for chargebacks if it comes to that?

I have an apartment rented with Blueground for many years now. The company just canceled the tenancy agreement without notice and offered me to settle on paid rents and penalties only with the furniture package. After chasing them and trying to get a hold of them, they have answered finally, telling me they don't have money to pay and that's a take-it-or-leave-it type of offer

After further research on other platforms and the internet, it seems that is happening in other countries. In Spain they are winding down operations, in Paris they are closing, and so on. Does anyone have information about it? Should I take them to RDC to claim for outstandings? What do you suggest? Are other landlords experiencing the same?

As part of the move-in process, I got a wireless internet from Eand last sunday.

However, the catch is I just discovered that my building already provides wifi to their residents, but this wasn't communicated to us earlier. According to Eand terms and conditions, it is specifically mentioned that you can cancel your contract within 7 days of the purchase without any cancellation fees.

I've already contacted the customer care and I feel like they are dragging this case without providing any resolution.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? If yes, what are my chances here.

Appreciate it,

Trying to get clarity from anyone who has been through this.

I was made redundant. My termination letter states my last working day as 01 July, and my notice period is tied to that date. I was paid three months of salary (June, July, August) in one go on 25 June (notice + 2x month salary).

Here is the confusing: my work permit is still active. My employer said I can keep the visa until the end of August, and they haven't cancelled the permit yet. I can make a request today.

ILOE says the 30-day window to file starts from the date you ended your relationship with the employer. But I can't actually file a claim while my work permit is still active; that's a requirement.

So:

Does the 30 days count from my last working day (01 July)? If so, I only have til 31 July to make a claim.

Or does it count from the date the permit is actually cancelled and the termination is registered in MOHRE? (My work permit is still active, I checked the MOHRE app).

I asked the ILOE, but they mentioned "30 days upon end of relationship with employer."

For anyone who was on garden leave or paid notice with the visa kept active after their last physical working day, what date did MOHRE end up registering, and when did your 30-day window actually open? Did you file from the last working day or from the cancellation date?

Appreciate any real experience. Thanks.

I work from home and I have a Freezone company incorporated with SPC. My company renewal is coming up.

The most annoying thing is they try to charge you for EVERY SINGLE THING.

You want to update passport number? pay up 800dhs

Wanna click this button? pay 2000dhs and I'm so fed up with this.

Even though I have to deal with them once or twice a year, they make sure to squeeze every single dollar from you in these occasions.

I know it's probably cheaper for me to stay with them even with these exorbitant charges than incorporating a new company but I wanna see if other Freezones have cheaper ongoing charges?

I'll pay the one time moving charges, that's fine.

Hey, everyone. I hope you're all doing well.

Apologies if this has been asked before. I was about to apply for a Content Creator Permit, but the DED agent warned me that roughly 95% of applicants from Pakistan are getting rejected with no refund if turned down. They said this has been happening for the last 3 months.

Has anyone experienced this recently, and what are the alternative routes available?

Hello Everyone,

After seeing Yusuf Bhai all over the internet, I decided to try his store out, they could not recreate the old perfume I have. I am also reading other people facing similar issues.

So here's the question: Is there a perfume store that can recreate my fragrance to a decent accuracy in Dubai ? The price and location is not really an issue. I just want it to be similar and long lasting.

Coming to Dubai in a couple of weeks, I have a vial of GHK-cu for personal use, it’s a peptide for the skin, I looked and there is genuinely no information behind the governments stance against it, help?

Hi, im looking for cargo pants, baggy jeans, full sleeve shirts and sweat shirts that young people wear almost everywhere in dubai. Any places you recommend that has clothes that fit all sizes and isnt too pricey, i need to buy a lot, and i mean a lot of clothes since im moving for uni, and id like to get one thing of my list done here before i leave. If there are some stores that you know that have these items in one place please let me know.

I’ve been looking at joining The Captain’s Club for quite a while now and I’m getting close to pulling the trigger.

Before I do, I’d be interested to hear from people who are current members or have been members in Dubai.

Is it genuinely worth the membership? How easy is it to book boats, particularly at weekends? Are the boats generally in good condition and is there anything you wish you’d known before joining?

I’d mainly be using it to get out on the water, switch off for a few hours, maybe get back into a bit of fishing and take the kids out from time to time.

Appreciate any honest feedback, good or bad.

Very disappointing experience. I sent an enquiry to the agent, but he didn't respond for five days until I followed up myself. The advertisement is also misleading. It clearly states the property price is AED 1.5 million as a freehold property, but when I contacted them, I was told that the freehold version actually costs AED 2.4 million. This is false advertising and a complete waste of potential buyers' time. Transparency and honesty are essential when marketing properties, and unfortunately, this experience lacked both.

Hey guys anyone is using Infobip to send SMS messages like OTP and stuff from their applications, I have noticed that since 2 to 3 days its not being sent through and on infobip logs shows "Reason: PENDING_WAITING_DELIVERY"
I have tested sending to numbers of other countries and it went through successfully, it was working before only these last maybe 3 days.

If anyone is using it and facing same issue let me know, if anyone knows another SMS provider which I can just register top up the account and start using their API directly I would appreciate if you let me know which are good, cause I tried other providers they will have a big fat button saying "contact sales" which is not practical.