Panama topped the global ranking, with Mexico and Indonesia in second and third place, respectively, InterNations said in its annual Expat Insider 2024 report released on Thursday.
Spain and Colombia were ranked fourth and fifth on the index. Also in the top 10 were Thailand, Brazil, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Some of the worst destinations for expatriates include Kuwait, Turkey, Finland, Germany, Canada and Norway.
InterNations polled 12,543 people in 174 nations and territories, asking questions based on five categories: quality of life, ease of settling in, working abroad, personal finance and an expatriate essentials index, which covers digital life, administration topics, housing and language.
“Expat satisfaction in the UAE is very high in three of the five indices we use to map out life abroad: quality of life (third), working abroad (sixth), and expat essentials (first),” said InterNations, which has more than 4.8 million members.
The UAE, the Arab world’s second-largest economy, has introduced several economic, legal and social reforms in recent years to strengthen its business environment, boost foreign direct investment, attract skilled workers and provide incentives to companies to set up or expand their operations.
In 2019, amendments were introduced to the golden visa initiative to simplify the eligibility criteria and expand the categories of beneficiaries.
The 10-year visa is granted to investors, entrepreneurs and skilled professionals who earn a monthly salary of more than Dh30,000 ($8,167), as well as exceptional talent, scientists and professionals, outstanding students and graduates, property investors, humanitarian pioneers and front-line heroes.
A green visa provides a five-year residency for skilled employees without the need for a sponsor or employer.
The minimum educational level is a bachelor’s degree or equivalent and the salary should not be less than Dh15,000.
Meanwhile, the UAE introduced a one-year digital nomad visa in March 2021 that allows people to live in the Emirates while continuing to work for employers in their home countries.
Dubai also offers a five-year retirement visa for expatriates older than 55.
The UAE was ranked first globally in theExpat Essentials Indexcategory.
Expatriates said that it was easy to live in the UAE without speaking the local language and were happy about the country’s administrative services, InterNations said.
This might be linked to the excellent online availability of administrative and government services, it added.
The UAE was ranked third globally in the quality of lifecategory and was top in the subcategories of environmental policies, infrastructure for cars and political stability.
Nearly nine in 10 respondents (or 86 per cent) in the UAE agreed that the government supports policies to protect the environment.
About 91 per cent rated the UAE’s infrastructure for cars positively. Satisfaction with affordability and availability of public transport has also improved compared with 2023, the survey found.
Foreign workers also rated the country’s political stability and their personal safety very positively, InterNations said.
The Emirates also ranked 12th globally for health care, with respondents praising the good availability and quality of health care.
Respondents added that they enjoyed the culinary variety, culture and nightlife and opportunities for recreational sport, the survey found.
The UAE was ranked sixth in InterNations’ working abroadcategory, which covers career prospects, salary and job security.
Foreign workers rated the country’s economy and the local job market positively.
Nearly eight in 10 (or 76 per cent) respondents said that moving to the UAE has improved their career prospects, which is the highest percentage worldwide and 20 percentage points above the global average, according to InterNations.
It also ranked well in the work culture and satisfaction subcategory.
The UAE fared well (16th) in the ease of settling in segment, and was ranked 33rd in the personal finance category.
The best destinations for expats in 2024
Panama
Mexico
Indonesia
Spain
Colombia
Thailand
Brazil
Vietnam
The Philippines
UAE
UAE currency
The Greatest Royal Rumble card
50-man Royal Rumble – names entered so far include Braun Strowman, Daniel Bryan, Kurt Angle, Big Show, Kane, Chris Jericho, The New Day and Elias
Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
WWE World Heavyweight ChampionshipAJ Styles (champion) v Shinsuke Nakamura
Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
United States Championship Jeff Hardy (champion) v Jinder Mahal
SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bludgeon Brothers (champions) v The Usos
Raw Tag Team Championship (currently vacant) Cesaro and Sheamus v Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt
Casket match The Undertaker v Rusev
Singles match John Cena v Triple H
Cruiserweight Championship Cedric Alexander v Kalisto
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League quarter-final second leg:
Juventus 1 Ajax 2
Ajax advance 3-2 on aggregate
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg Bayern Munich v Real Madrid When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE) Where: Allianz Arena, Munich Live: BeIN Sports HD Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated,” said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE’s National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
“What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live.”
This is then injected into the body.
“The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose,” she said.
“You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen.”
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever,” she said.
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Cricket World Cup League Two
Teams
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Namibia beat Oman by 52 runs
UAE beat Namibia by eight wickets
Fixtures
Saturday January 11 – UAE v Oman
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate’s increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
His favourite quote – ‘If you think education is expensive, try ignorance’ by Derek Bok, Former President of Harvard
Favourite place to travel to – Peloponnese, Southern Greece
Favourite movie – The Last Emperor
Favourite personality from history – Alexander the Great
Role Model – My father, Yiannis Davos
The National photo project
Chris Whiteoak, a photographer at The National, spent months taking some of Jacqui Allan’s props around the UAE, positioning them perfectly in front of some of the country’s most recognisable landmarks. He placed a pirate on Kite Beach, in front of the Burj Al Arab, the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland at the Burj Khalifa, and brought one of Allan’s snails (Freddie, which represents her grandfather) to the Dubai Frame. In Abu Dhabi, a dinosaur went to Al Ain’s Jebel Hafeet. And a flamingo was taken all the way to the Hatta Mountains. This special project suitably brings to life the quirky nature of Allan’s prop shop (and Allan herself!).
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Gertrude Bell’s life in focus
A feature film
At one point, two feature films were in the works, but only German director Werner Herzog’s project starring Nicole Kidman would be made. While there were high hopes he would do a worthy job of directing the biopic, when Queen of the Desert arrived in 2015 it was a disappointment. Critics panned the film, in which Herzog largely glossed over Bell’s political work in favour of her ill-fated romances.
A documentary
A project that did do justice to Bell arrived the next year: Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Letters from Baghdad: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Gertrude Bell. Drawing on more than 1,000 pieces of archival footage, 1,700 documents and 1,600 letters, the filmmakers painstakingly pieced together a compelling narrative that managed to convey both the depth of Bell’s experience and her tortured love life.
Books, letters and archives
Two biographies have been written about Bell, and both are worth reading: Georgina Howell’s 2006 book Queen of the Desert and Janet Wallach’s 1996 effort Desert Queen. Bell published several books documenting her travels and there are also several volumes of her letters, although they are hard to find in print. Original documents are housed at the Gertrude Bell Archive at the University of Newcastle, which has an online catalogue.
On Women’s Day
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
While you’re here
Sole survivors
Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Two months before the first round on April 10, the appetite of voters for the election is low.
Mathieu Gallard, account manager with Ipsos, which conducted the most recent poll, said current forecasts suggested only two-thirds were “very likely” to vote in the first round, compared with a 78 per cent turnout in the 2017 presidential elections.
“It depends on how interesting the campaign is on their main concerns,” he toldThe National. “Just now, it’s hard to say who, between Macron and the candidates of the right, would be most affected by a low turnout.”
RESULTS
Bantamweight: Jalal Al Daaja (JOR) beat Hamza Bougamza (MAR)
Catchweight 67kg: Mohamed El Mesbahi (MAR) beat Fouad Mesdari (ALG)
Lightweight: Abdullah Mohammed Ali (UAE) beat Abdelhak Amhidra (MAR)
Catchweight 73kg: Mosatafa Ibrahim Radi (PAL) beat Yazid Chouchane (ALG)
Spending an excessive amount of time on the phone.
Neglecting personal, social, or academic responsibilities.
Losing interest in other activities or hobbies that were once enjoyed.
Having withdrawal symptoms like feeling anxious, restless, or upset when the technology is not available.
Experiencing sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns.
What are the guidelines?
Under 18 months: Avoid screen time altogether, except for video chatting with family.
Aged 18-24 months: If screens are introduced, it should be high-quality content watched with a caregiver to help the child understand what they are seeing.
Aged 2-5 years: Limit to one-hour per day of high-quality programming, with co-viewing whenever possible.
Aged 6-12 years: Set consistent limits on screen time to ensure it does not interfere with sleep, physical activity, or social interactions.
Teenagers: Encourage a balanced approach – screens should not replace sleep, exercise, or face-to-face socialisation.
Pool A Dubai Hurricanes, Bahrain, Dubai Exiles, Dubai Tigers 2
Pool B Abu Dhabi Harlequins, Jebel Ali Dragons, Dubai Knights Eagles, Dubai Tigers
Opening fixtures
Thursday, December 5
6.40pm, Pitch 8, Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Dubai Knights Eagles
7pm, Pitch 2, Jebel Ali Dragons v Dubai Tigers
7pm, Pitch 4, Dubai Hurricanes v Dubai Exiles
7pm, Pitch 5, Bahrain v Dubai Eagles 2
Recent winners
2018 Dubai Hurricanes
2017 Dubai Exiles
2016 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
2015 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
2014 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
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Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
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This article has been archived by Slow Travel News for your research. The original version from The National can be found here.
