Firstly, it’s the country in question’s appetite for attracting the wealthy and the elite to their jurisdiction. The UAE looks at this, we look at Dubai, which is where the vast majority of the people go, look at Dubai, it’s a relatively young place, you know, it’s not very old at all, they want the wealthy and the elite in that jurisdiction, they want people to come there and create business and create jobs and buy houses and buy cars and mobile phone contracts and everything that involved in a relocation. So they are, number one, hungry to do that, they are wanting to go and get the wealthy and the elite. I’ll give you a prime example. We had a government unit from The UAE, specifically Abu Dhabi, mandate us as Henley and Partners to host seven or eight global events across the main financial hubs of the planet, where we invite all of the intermediaries, we invite all of our clients and let them showcase what that jurisdiction can offer them.
So are The UK doing that at the moment? I don’t think so. So they’re regularly going around the planet saying, Come and speak to us, come our country. So that’s number one. Number two, they have a very business friendly culture, you know, if you want to do business, lots of business people, lots of entrepreneurs, lots of young jet setting people, they’re going to Dubai to go and make money And let’s be very honest about this, it’s a very friendly tax regime.
When you look at The UK, if you start to earn significant money in The UK, and let’s say you hit a million pound a year in income, which is lovely, you hit a million pound a year income, 450,000 of it is gone. In The UAE you earn a million pounds, you keep a million pounds, so that is a huge draw and every time we speak to a client who is going to The UAE, their main driving force is tax. They have a multicultural society, which is very attractive, you know, business friendly, multicultural, and finally it’s a safe, clean and favourable, climated place. Know, I had a lady who I was speaking to recently who wanted to apply for another residency, she was from The UK, she’d lived here, born and raised, she was from Manchester, she was sat in the gym, the cafe of her gym, speaking to me on Zoom and she said Stuart, I’m sick and tired of the rain, I want to go and live somewhere sunny, I want to go and live somewhere warm, you know, that’s where she chose, that’s where she’s and she’s physically relocating to that jurisdiction. Now it makes me sad as a Brit, you know, I’m a British passport holder, I’ve only ever lived in The UK, I find it sad that people want to leave here, but I can begin to understand some of the reasons why their clients tell us that they are relocating.
And The UAE has done a very good job in having this desire to have the wealthy and the elite in the jurisdiction. They have this multicultural, clean, safe, tax friendly place and they have a climate, three months of the year it’s probably too hot, but for the rest of the time it’s very attractive for someone who’s sat in The UK for a long time or other jurisdictions of that nature.