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Welcome to ½ûÂþÌìÌÃ, John!
I'll move your topic to Al Ain's forum giving you a chance for accurate answers to your questions!

Accommodation: mostly flats are rented unfurnished (companies usually give a settling allowance to buy the basic furniture)
Driving: confirm that till you get your resident/work permit, you may only drive rented vehicles
Visa: all depends on how fast the company is processing the paperwork, I believe!
Driving licence conversion: ?
Mobile phone: just go to Etisalat (don't know if Du is available in Al Ain), present your passport, fill in the form, choose your number, pay and you go!
Internet: I don't know if you need resident/work permit?

Cheers and good luck in your new adventure!
Maybe we meet sometime at one of UAE's meetups.

Arlette

The information I was given on driving in the UAE is that you can rent/hire/drive a car while on a visitor visa. But as soon as your application for residence goes in, you are not allowed to drive until your residence visa is granted and you have a UAE license. This rule changed only very recently.

Also, you must have applied for the National ID card before applying for a driving license. The licensing centre will accept the paper receipt of proof of this, rather than having to wait 4-5 weeks for the plastic ID card.

They will accept for conversion most EU/US/Canada/Aussie/NZ licenses and also GCC. Not sure about Saffers.

The process costs around 250dhms and they make your UAE license on the spot.


For the SIM/data, you can buy a SIM pack from any phone dealer or from Etishaite. The pre-paid data dongle you'll get from an Etishaite office, but be aware that the connection is a load of pants and it's horrendously expensive. Better to drive around and connect to an unsecured network.

Thanks for the info, will get on the licencing issues asap.

Hi

Are you afrikaans speaking??

I am from Pta and my husband from PE, we have been here for about a year now.

The flats: you can get a flat but here it works that you need to pay for 1 year in advance so the rent can get really expensive.

Driverslicense: National ID cards are new here so not sure if you need this before your driving lisence.
Now the big problem is that the rules have changed and Abu Dhabi does not allow SA drivers lisences to be exchanged anymore. You need to do the written and driven test (need to go for classes).

The visa depends on your work. It normally does not take to long but then said I work for a big hospital and waited 4 weeks for mine (normally this can be done within a week)

You can email me at wernaklue@gmail.com if you want any other info.

Cheers!!

Sorry do you have any information about he work in al Ain hopsital?

Many thanks