Roughly nine in ten foreign residents in the UAE see better prospects in the Emirates than in their countries of origin, according to fresh polling that pushes back against questions over whether the country can keep attracting overseas talent. The UAE Expat Monitor, produced by ARCET Global alongside QuestionPro, recorded that 87 per cent of those surveyed hold this view.
The headline figure is the share of expats — 94 per cent — who said they expect to stay put for the foreseeable future. When asked what keeps them there, respondents pointed first to living standards and the availability of work, each cited by 88 per cent. Personal security and low crime followed closely at 87 per cent.
A finding that cuts against a common assumption concerns money: the absence of income tax, often treated as the Emirates’ main draw, placed only fifth on the list at 81 per cent, trailing several lifestyle and career considerations.
Confidence in the country extends well beyond the present. Eighty-seven per cent anticipate that innovation will accelerate across the UAE over the coming five years, against just 56 per cent who said the same of their home countries. Respondents likewise voiced greater faith in the trajectory of local living standards and spending on infrastructure.
Trust in leadership showed a similar gap. Two-thirds of participants said they place more confidence in UAE leaders than in the governments of their native countries, a proportion that climbed to three-quarters among residents of more than seven years.
On questions of stability, 97 per cent described the UAE as a secure and settled place to make a home.
Mark Hamill, who heads ARCET Global, framed the exercise as a direct answer to recent doubts. “With the UAE’s appeal to foreign workers recently coming under the spotlight, we combined our research capabilities with QuestionPro’s to let the expat community put any doubts about their future to rest,” he said, adding that the results show the country “still holds a huge pull for foreign talent and the opportunity for growth that brings.”
The poll drew on responses from 708 expatriates aged 18 and older across all seven emirates during April and May 2026. Researchers flagged that Western Europeans made up 57 per cent of the sample, a deliberate weighting that they said should not be read as mirroring the actual makeup of the UAE’s expatriate population.
