What strikes you first, talking to Australians who have chosen to stay in Dubai, is the quiet confidence. Not bravado or dismissal of genuine danger. Rather a measured assessment that the risks here, whatever the headlines suggest, are lower than they appear from Sydney or Melbourne.
Jessica Stephens came to Dubai in 2024 to pursue a real estate career. When airstrikes began in late February 2026, the city experienced what she describes as an unusual moment; the kind of disruption that felt temporary rather than catastrophic. "For the first few days, of course, I was a little bit nervous and a little bit anxious," she told reporters. "But I had complete faith in the UAE government from the very beginning."
To understand the depth of this divide, you need to grasp what the Australian government faces. At least 24,000 Australians were located in Dubai before the conflict erupted. Foreign Minister Penny Wong described it as a consular crisis dwarfing any Australia has had to deal with in terms of numbers of people. The government has dispatched crisis teams, activated registration portals and arranged repatriation flights. Yet the flights return with empty seats. Wong said it was disappointing to see flights from the Middle East arrive in Australia half-empty, calling for every seat to be filled.
But beneath the surface of this bureaucratic frustration lies something more complex: a genuine disagreement about risk assessment and personal autonomy. David Hutchinson, a Melbourne-born buyer's agent who moved to Dubai three years ago, said the situation never felt as dire as media coverage suggested. "Whilst caution has been needed, the situation has not been as bad as some media outlets have portrayed," he said. For Hutchinson and others like him, Dubai is home. The property market that drew them there matters less than the life they have built.
The barriers to leaving are not merely psychological. UAE residence visas become void if holders remain outside the country for more than 180 days; premature departures could therefore jeopardise long-term assignment structures. For some expats, particularly those in education, the calculus is different still. Australian teacher Hayley Reynolds said none of the Australians she knew were planning on going back. "As teachers, we don't just have a duty to ourselves but to our students as well. If we leave, where does that leave them? The UAE has looked after us and while Australia is far away, that's not going to remove us from this war. For me, my home is here. So, I'm going to stay as long as I can."
Other factors weigh just as heavily. Reynolds cited that she cannot part ways with her pets. Australia does not allow any pets imported in from the UAE; if she were to bring her pets in, they would have to spend six months in another country first. "I wouldn't ever consider leaving without them," she said. The practical reality of exile, it seems, extends far beyond the purchase of a plane ticket.
The government's position rests on sound reasoning. The security situation was deteriorating, and it was likely to get worse before it got better. In institutional terms, an abundance of caution is defensible when Australian lives are at stake. Yet the same residents who stayed also point to something worth noting: life in Dubai has largely returned to normal. Those early days when airspace closed and uncertainty reigned have given way to routine. Property viewings have resumed. Offices have reopened. The rhythm of daily life persists.
Some Australian expats have cited the high cost of living back home as another reason to stay put. The financial gravity pulling people toward Dubai is real and measurable. For many, the tax-free income structure and professional opportunities represent transformations that cannot easily be unwound by a phone call from Canberra.
If there is complexity here, it lies in the collision between institutional responsibility and individual choice. The government cannot ignore risk; it must advise caution and provide pathways for departure. Yet thousands of Australians are exercising the freedom to disagree with that assessment based on their own circumstances, their own stakes in place, their own judgement of the odds. That tension will likely persist as long as the conflict does. Reasonable people, reviewing the same information, are arriving at genuinely different conclusions about what safety means and where home truly lies.