Lebanese fleeing collapse at home seek security, salaries in UAE
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[July 26, 2021]
By Lisa Barrington and Raya Jalabi
DUBAI (Reuters) - Until a few months ago,
32-year-old Michelle Chaaya was a human resources professional at a
multinational firm in Lebanon. Now she works as a bartender in Dubai,
sending cash to her family back home where a financial crisis has left
many destitute.
The United Arab Emirates has long been a destination for Lebanese
businesses and professionals, propelled by instability in their tiny
country.
Those who like Chaaya came to the UAE in the past year are leaving
behind a Lebanon that was already in dire straits before a huge chemical
blast tore through Beirut in August, exacerbating a financial meltdown
that has seen the currency collapse and jobs vanish.
"After the explosion we felt like we were hopeless. So the first
opportunity to travel outside Lebanon, I took it,” Chaaya said.
Fadi Iskanderani, one of Lebanon's few paediatric surgeons who this
month moved to Dubai, said the plummeting currency meant his wages had
fallen by around 95% for the same workload.
Having trained overseas, he moved back to help rebuild his country after
years of civil war. The decision to leave was heart-wrenching.
Lebanon's crisis has propelled more than half the population into
poverty, locked depositors out of bank accounts and worsened shortages
of basic goods.
The country's prized education and medical sectors have seen talent
leave in droves: around 1,200 doctors are estimated to have left
Lebanon.
Psychiatrist Joseph Khoury, who moved to Dubai this year with his
family, said Lebanese doctors are filling entire departments at
hospitals in the Gulf state.
"The pace of doctors coming from Lebanon is astonishing, " Khoury said.
The UAE is stepping up efforts to attract and retain skilled workers as
competition for talent heats up in the Gulf Arab region where countries
are moving to diversify economies away from oil revenues.
The UAE, where visas for non-citizens are typically tied to employment,
is offering certain investors and skilled professionals new long-term 5-
or 10-year renewable residency visas - and even potential citizenship.
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Michelle Chaaya speaks from Dubai during a video interview with
Reuters, in Beirut, Lebanon July 14, 2021. REUTERS/Maria Semerdjian
Abed Mahfouz, a Lebanese bridal couture designer,
said he had been told he could apply for the so-called 'golden
visa'.
After the Beirut blast destroyed his business, Mahfouz re-opened
this month in a luxury mall in Dubai, a tourism and trade hub that
attracts the high-end customers he caters to.
"Dubai has taken the place of Beirut. What I have seen here (this
mall) for the past week or 10 days is what I used to see in Lebanon
4-5 years ago: Customers, people shopping," he said.
But unlike Lebanon's professional elite, many younger people are
struggling to land jobs in the UAE.
Soha, 28, came to Dubai to look for work after the bookshop cafe
where she was employed in Beirut was damaged in the port explosion.
"You come from this tiny pool in Lebanon, so my CV looks like
nothing, even though I feel like I've accomplished a lot," said Soha,
who declined to give her surname. She is rallying herself for more
jobseeking in Dubai, a city that could give her the sense of safety
she longs for.
"I just wanted to be sitting in a place where I have that peace of
mind that something isn't going to blow up at any minute.
(Reporting by Raya Jalabi and Lisa Barrington in Dubai and Maria
Semerdjian in Beirut; Writing by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Raissa
Kasolowsky)
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