It's happened. Considering Dubai is one of those places where literally NOTHING is easy, there is always some redtape to something, I finally discovered 2 things that were relatively "easy," and when I say "easy," I mean it took only 3 visits/trials to get these things done! Which brings me to another Lesson...
Lesson #17: Hardly anything in Dubai takes less than 3 tries.
What are these 2 "easy" things???
1. Getting a Bank Account
2. Getting a Driver's License.
Yes, you may be surprised by #2, BUT the biggest thing with that is that I am a US citizen. Some other lucky Western countries have this luck also because UAE considers us good and safe drivers from our training to get a license in our home countries and DO NOT ask for us to take a drivers test, written or in a car, and basically just need paperwork. Ha! On the other hand, if you are from India, Phillipines, Central/Eastern European countries, you HAVE to take lessons at a driving school, take a drivers test which 90% of people fail (cha-ching, that is just a scam $$ maker), take another series of tests, take the test again... and it is just a loooong and expensive process.
Here is what goes down for each:
Bank Account:
Here it is pretty much finding one because there are A LOT. Dubai has gotten REALLY strict with taking out loans, so if you are looking for a bank here, the 1st thing you should do is go around and see which ones will actually give you a loan and also their interest rates. I have the fortune of NOT needing a loan, so I just chose Emirates NBD bank because their is an office IN my work building AND the ATM machines are pretty much everywhere. So all I needed was:
1. My original passport WITH my employment visa (seee? Nothing without the visa!)
2. Copy of passport and employment visa
3. Letter from my work's HR stating my salary.
That's it!!! I didn't even have to put money in there. Ha ha. Here it's funny because some things they are very tech savvy, and others they are not. But banks is one example of how they ARE... they sent me texts saying my account is open, how to set up online banking, AND when you make an ATM withdrawal, they text you also.
Driver's License:
Here it was more or less straightforward as well, but this really took me 3 trials to what is considered their DMV, the RTA....
-I went to the branch by the Emirates Mall, but the Metro stop is First Gulf Bank, it's just like 100 m to the right.
-You need: 2 passport size photos, a copy of your passport, copy of your employment visa, a copy of your license, and a letter of No Objection from your employment, HR provides this (once you ask for it). Again, sometimes you don't even ask why they need these things... what does my employer have to do with me driving? But ah ha, my work is my sponsor and if something happens to me with my driving or something like if I get fines and the police get involved, I guess the employer can reject my sponsorship? Here you can't mess around with things like that.
-An eye test
-$$: Basically it was $112 USD to get the license, $30USD for the eye test, and $10 ... I don't even know what this is for, I think they translated something. And NO, they do not use US dollars, they use Dirhams, but I just thought it would be easier to understand.
And wah-la! Once you have all the papers, the process is all of 15-20 minutes and you have your license!
I have to give a quick story about my eye test. Most of you know that my mom is an eye doctor. As ironic as it is, I have been lucky to have 20/20 and great vision my whole life.... until I turned 30. That is when slowly but surely I realized I was having "challenges" seeing distances, especially at night. I realized I actually hadn't had an eye test in awhile, had my mom do it, and yup, needed glasses. My vision wasn't really that bad, but my mom said I should wear them at night and when driving. So the first month or so, I wore them because I felt smart, he he, and it was something different, but I definitely wasn't used to it... just having something on my face felt weird. Then I kinda forgot about it... then went traveling for a year and didn't wear them at all, forgot about them again,,, until the summer of this year came and I, no surprise, felt my vision even worse, so I got tested again, got new glasses with a stronger prescription (but still, not that bad), and started the story all over again. So I admit, I haven't been the best about wearing them, so needless to say, I was a bit nervous about my Eye Test, this would be the real test. So she covers my left eye and has me read the 1st 3 lines. The 1st was a little blurry, but okay. The 2nd... umm.... I kinda mumbled "3.... 8...... 5..... 3.... (then thinking, darn it, why does everything look like a 3 and 8! This can't be right!" and mumbled into the 3rd line where I really couldn't see anything. Then when the next eye came, my left, it was even worse, and I could hardly see ANY of the lines and really was just making up lines as I went along. I figured I failed and started mumbling something like "oohhh... I have glasses here... uhh...." and then she asked me if I wore them, and I was like, "welll... I have (which I actually had with me, just in case!) them, buuuuut,, well, not really... uhh..." Then she told me to pay her, filled out some stuff, and I was sweating because I thought she should just SAY something so I can re-take it with my glasses. BUT then after I paid her, she gave me this slip that said, "FIT for driving, NO glasses." hahahahahhahahahahahahahhahahahah! I COULD NOT believe it and literally almost laughed outloud! Wow, no wonder there are sooo many bad drivers around!!!!
So watch out Dubai, I'll be hitting the road soon! :-)
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