Answered! Outline an expatriation and repatriation plan for your professor, whom your school is sending to UAE to teach HR…

Expatriation (transportation, exile, extradition, banishment, expulsion) plan:

Here we focus on how to send the professor to UAE – say the deputation starts in the year 2019.

The following metrics needs to be taken care of:

• Start 2 years in advance – say on the year 2017, the professor and his family members are trained on the local language in UAE – May be Urdu and Arabic – to speak and read.
• Given that it may be a right hand driving (unlike left hand driving in USA), the professor may have to take driving lessons on right hand driving – You can arrange for some long term visa for the Professor and his spouse right from year 2017 to 2022 – so that during the initial 2 years (from 2017 to 2019) even before his expatriation starts, he and his spouse can be sent to UAE for a week once in every 6 months to take some driving lessons on the roads of UAE. In this way they will get familiarized on the locality of UAE as well.
• Housing – book either a furnished executive apartment or whatever the professor and his family prefers for 2 years
• Schooling: Depending upon the case – if the professor has school going children, arrange for the school admission in UAE – preferably it must be an international school so that the kids may not feel hard to catch up on the curriculum
• Bank accounts: Open local bank accounts in UAE, transfer some funds – given the core banking functionality, of course the professor and his family can withdraw money in the Automated Teller Machines (ATM) in UAE using their bank cards of American Banks – but still having a local bank account is more convenient and they can save some money on the foreign exchange
• Climate: The summer period in UAE gets really scorching hot – From June to August the mercury raises to 47 degree Celsius. So the buildings and bus stops over there are air conditioned to bring the temperature down to 10 degrees – this makes the residents over there to carry sweaters as they feel so cold – inform the professor that they would need jumpers, sweaters and winter clothes even in the hot country like UAE while they are indoors.
• The 7 emirates comprising the UAE: Educate the professor and his family about the constitution making up the UAE – Mainly Dubai and Abu Dhabi that are very advanced with high technology – but the UAE is also comprised of backward villages like Umm al Quwain and Ras Al Khaima – depending upon where the professor is going to teach HR, tell them and create awareness for them – so that they do not get any surprises over there – more over certain emirates follow the Islamic laws while others follow different laws – hence if the professor has to travel from one emirates to other during the 3 years of his stay over there, he needs to be aware of that the laws are different between different emirates.
• Permit for alcohol: This will be surprising – though there are many pubs and night clubs that serve free alcohol for consumption – you cannot take away home without a permit – hence instruct the professor that he needs a permit to possess alcohol at home and to consume at home. Also mention that it is a multicultural society
• The professor gets to enjoy tax free salary, luxurious cars, and lots of dates trees.
• Ramadan observation: one month of fasting from sun rise to sun set – even from water –
• Need to respect the local culture: They are proud of their national heritage and culture – just like how we have National flags, they have national dress and they wear that dress to work – the professor needs to watch out not to make any funny or sarcastic comments about the locals – another aspect is that they take time off during the work to pray – the professor cannot arrange for meetings during that prayer time gaps. And also they follow a bit laid back life style but still there is plenty to do so as to not get bored.
• Beware of the social media: Tell the professor not to post any negative updates, about the rulers and their families, on his face book pages, twitter tweets, Orkut updates, or any of his social networking sites – remind that the professor is a guest in UAE for 3 years and he must stay within his boundaries – there is no freedom of speech against the ruling families – it is very different from USA and the western countries – you cannot make an ill comment about the rulers even though you know it is an obvious mistake or the rulers are obviously doing some mistakes – you have to keep quiet.
• Warn about the new financial system – rents have to be paid on a quarterly basis while salary is paid on a monthly basis
• Other pitfalls to avoid includes selecting the proper employer and the proper job – as many of the companies, colleges and schools are run by the family members, the executives and the management team are just the family members – not professionals – this may come as a surprise for our professor – tell him in advance to expect the unexpected
• Create membership for the professor in associations specializing in teaching profession in UAE – this will help them to avoid embarrassing situations like emulating the peers for every single act while at the work.

Repatriation (returning home back after 3 years) plan:

Here we focus on how to bring the professor back to USA after 3 years – say in 2022, the professor returns back from UAE to USA.

• This will be much more easier than expatriation – as the professor had been here before and it just the matter of giving him some time to get back to the same old life style and work style he got used to before.

—