Iraqi Abu Zainab took a big loan to join a crowd of homebuyers seeking a piece of the "Dubai dream", after violence at home forced him to look for a safe haven where he and his wife could spend their grey years in peace.
Like many others the 52-year-old father of four bought a house in the booming Gulf emirate, finding comfort in the idea that the purchase would automatically entitle him to long-term residency rights in the city that gives foreigners freehold deeds on their properties.
But such hopes faded this year after the emirate's real estate regulator said that owning a property would not automatically result in a residency visa - something many developers had promised, so much so that the idea became a cornerstone to the Dubai dream. "I thought I could grow old in my house and when I die my children could live in it," said Abu Zainab, who bought a house after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.
"My wife doesn't work and my children are too young to work; what will happen to them if I die tomorrow? Will they be sent back to Iraq?" Buyers from countries such as Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and Lebanon have featured prominently among Dubai property buyers as instability or fear of war encouraged them to look for safe haven in the glamorous new city.
Abu Zainab's concern is that residency rights are not enshrined in Dubai's property law although many developers in the emirate have dangled promises of permanent residency for potential buyers. "I didn't see developers being punished for making false promises to people," says Abu Zainab.
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