How to Plan Your Exit from UAE

In the United Arab Emirates, taking care of all these accounts and possession has to be personally taken care of by the own themselves that’s why taking care of it is very time consuming for expats. Careful planning is the key to exiting from the UAE properly.

Here is a to-do list of what to do before exiting UAE, in chronological order:

One year
If you are planning on leaving, you have to plan your exit at least a year before considering that you have properties that you are going to sell prior to your exit. One year before exiting is the perfect time for you to research and find agents and to also research for the market price of your property.

If you are only renting, check your contract for your notice period. In some contracts, you are bound to pay the agreed lease for a guaranteed period of time, which means if you are leaving so soon, you are still required to settle the rent for remaining months after you are already out of the country.

Six months
Six months is enough time for you to know how much notice you need to give to your employer if you are leaving the company. Know the tax implication of moving to another country especially if you are planning to return to your home country or is planning on retiring on that country. It is recommended to contact an accountant or ask assistance from the human resource department of your company.

By this time you are pretty certain how much benefit you will receive when you leave the company and its tax implications. For Filipinos moving back to the Philippines, it is a good time to decide which items to keep and dispose.

Three months
Let the school in which that your children are attending three months before leaving is necessary because you would also want to ask for an education certificate.

Besides the certificate, this is also the time for you to know what kind of visa you should apply according to the country that you are moving to. Give your live-in maid a heads-up about your exit and ask if she wants to come with you. If she does, notify her agency about this. If you are bringing pets, start looking for vaccines, pet passports and export cost of rehoming.

Decide if you want to sell it or ship it your car and furniture. Know what the country you are moving in drives. This is the same with furniture. If you decided to sell, leave plenty of time for sale. For those who will be going back to the Philippines for good, now is the time to ship balikbayan boxes which can take months before arriving at your intended destination.

For shipping, decide if you want groupage or individual container (ps groupage container is cheaper). Check the cost of insurance and the cost of storage at both ends.

Two months
It would take six week to go through the process of selling a property. Settle your debts, pay outstanding bills and make sure postdated cheques are returned. For car loans, it will take up to ten days for the debt to be cleared. Sort out visas and organize vaccines and prescription drugs while you still have health insurance.

One month
Close down bank accounts. An active but empty account may have an incurring fee. Loans should also be cleared first. Get copies of your medical and dental records; cancel utilities like Internet, gas, electricity, mobile phone and TV packages.

Homerun
Some plans push through and others fail. For instance, furniture or slightly used kitchen appliances may not have any interested buyers for months. You can give them away to Take My Junk who will distribute them to those in need if all efforts like super-low priced garage sale fails.

Keep all important documents and receipts include receipts for any cost of repainting or refurnishing of property.

Have a wonderful journey!