Is it a good thing?

I had one Emirati friend before coming to the Emirates.  Yousef was a freshman at Coe and in the fraternity I advised when I met him in 2004. We kept in touch after he transferred to the warmer weather of Houston.  

He's completed his degrees and has been looking for work for about a year in the US and the Emirates.  He landed a job in Dubai and will start in May.  I have incredibly mixed feelings for him.  He'll live a much better life here than he could in the US - well paid, have a maid, people to take care of everything.

So what on earth is the downside?  In Houston he led a fabulous life that I don't think will be possible for him here.  In the US we use the term "settle down and get married."  That's just not the life I pictured for my friend but here I don't know that he'll have much choice.