Between home and horizon: Being Pakistani in the UAE today

https://arab.news/mffnz

To be part of the Pakistani diaspora in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) today is to live between two emotional geographies. One is defined by the gleaming skylines of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, cities that promise mobility, income, and a future shaped by global opportunity. The other is anchored in obligations back home, such as aging parents, school fees, rising utility bills and the fragile economics of middle-class survival in Pakistan. Between these two worlds lies a delicate balancing act that increasingly defines what it means to belong.

Pakistanis form one of the largest expatriate communities in the UAE, numbering well over 1.5 million people. They work across the economic spectrum, from construction sites and transport fleets to banks, hospitals, and multinational firms. Their collective footprint is majorly economic owing to remittances sent from the UAE, contributing billions of dollars annually to household incomes and national reserves.

Yet the promise of Gulf prosperity has grown more complicated. Rising living costs are reshaping migrant life. Rents in Dubai have climbed sharply over the past two years, utilities........

© Arab News Pakistan