ABSTRACT
The bright lights of Dubai have been particularly attractive for Egyptians: the Emirati ‘dream’ offers a Western, modern and globalised life in an Arab and Muslim country. A study by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM 2011) on the preferred migration countries of young Egyptians, undertaken immediately after President Mubarak was overthrown, indicated that the Emirates was the second most attractive destination for emigration (23 per cent), just below Saudi Arabia (26 per cent), the largest host country of Egyptian migrants with over one million Egyptian nationals. Arab countries, and especially the countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), host an estimated three to six million Egyptians, accounting for around three-quarters of Egyptian migrants (the remainder are split between Europe and North America/Australia).
