The biggest battle in the world does not involve drones or satellites or any form of artillery. It is a battle for minds and talent. It is a battle whose outcome is shaped in boardrooms and government agencies, where relatively smaller players such as Singapore punch above their weight.
The US administration's surprise announcement last weekend that they would be charging $100,000 for the new H-1B visas rattled not only nerves around the world but also major US companies. Flights were grounded as passengers disembarked and videos flooded the internet of young IT professionals trying to return to the US in a panic.
The H-1B visa programme has been one of the pillars of the growth of the US technology industry. In 2024, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services issued nearly 400,000 H-1B visas. However, only 141,207 of these were for new employment, with the remaining 258,196 being renewals of existing visas. According to sources 71 per cent of the beneficiaries were Indian citizens.
Although the US administration has since clarified that these new fee structures will only come into effect from February, it is likely that some start-ups will consider relocating to India. Within 48 hours of the US announcement, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that his country is exploring proposals to abolish some visa fees for top global talent. Thus, the Gulf states should act fast to attract some of these firms that will relocate to India.
According to various 2024 estimates, H-1B visa holders contribute roughly $86 billion annually to the American economy, $24 billion of which being through taxes, notwithstanding their payments to medicare and social security. Despite their economic impact, only 10 per cent of H-1B visa holders earn $200,000 annually, a figure that is perhaps too low for most mid-size to small companies to warrant a large capital investment.
A large number, 46 per cent in fact, are employed in what the US Department of Labour calls “professional, scientific, and technical services,” which is overwhelmingly filled with tech and tech-adjacent jobs. Some estimates put the number of IT industry jobs even higher at 65 per cent. Following the announcement, listed Indian IT firms lost upwards of 4.2 per cent as investors rushed to sell their shares.
Arab Gulf States should take advantage of the H-1B visa disruption in the US and attract these highly skilled people to contribute to their growing tech and AI sectors. Already in 2019 the UAE launched its golden visa scheme while Saudi Arabia introduced its premium residency programme as part of its Vision 2030. Bahrain and Qatar, and most recently, Oman also launched similar schemes.
The Arab Gulf States should take advantage of the H-1B visa disruption in the US and attract these highly skilled people to contribute to their growing tech and AI sectors
To take advantage of the situation in the US the Arab Gulf States could expedite the process of issuing golden visas to talented IT specialists, reduce costs of setting up businesses and launch an IT investment fund.
In 2024, Abu Dhabi launched MGX, an investment firm focusing on artificial intelligence technologies. The private sector in the Gulf should also launch similar investment funds to create a critical mass. The UAE today is not content merely with being a regional player, as can be seen from its dominant roles in industries such as logistics and travel. It was the first country in the world to appoint, in 2017, a Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence in Omar Al Olama, not to mention the launch of Dubai Internet City in 1999. Abu Dhabi’s launch of MBZUAI in 2019 is another example of moving swiftly and decisively.
It is likely that large and wealthy corporations will be able to absorb some of these costs. Start-ups, however, will certainly suffer the biggest losses. It is precisely this strata of companies that some may argue are among the most innovative that may be attracted to set up in the Gulf, where tech monopolies are not as entrenched as in the US, leaving more room for growth.
Although this is an extremely challenging task, the UAE has pulled it off before. When Emirates Airline was launched in 1985, Dubai Airport facilitated the travel of a few million travellers. Today it is the busiest international airport, carrying nearly 92 million passengers annually. Not all these travellers fly on Emirates but the airline has allowed for an industry to not only be born but flourish.
Similarly, when Dubai announced the founding of the Dubai International Financial Centre in 2003 the financial industry accounted for $2.8 billion of the emirate's gross domestic product. Today the finance and insurance industry in Dubai has grown to almost $40 billion.
The ad hoc nature of immigration-related legislation such as the H-1B visa announcement, and the June 2025 visa ban prior to that, hint at a possibility of continued restrictions and further uncertainty.
There is no doubt that US-based companies have already started preparing contingency plans in anticipation of further industry-disrupting announcements. Such firms prefer stable environments that the UAE and GCC can offer. A place where they can set up with a great quality of life and long-term planning prospects. Arab Gulf States can harness their strengths and act fast to capture what author Taufiq Rahim suggested could be a “once-in-a-century opportunity”.
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The specs
Engine: Turbocharged four-cylinder 2.7-litre
Power: 325hp
Torque: 500Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
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The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
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THE BIO
Bio Box
Role Model: Sheikh Zayed, God bless his soul
Favorite book: Zayed Biography of the leader
Favorite quote: To be or not to be, that is the question, from William Shakespeare's Hamlet
Favorite food: seafood
Favorite place to travel: Lebanon
Favorite movie: Braveheart
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ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
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Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Desert Warrior
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley
Director: Rupert Wyatt
Rating: 3/5
MWTC info
Tickets to the MWTC range from Dh100 and can be purchased from www.ticketmaster.ae or by calling 800 86 823 from within the UAE or 971 4 366 2289 from outside the country and all Virgin Megastores. Fans looking to attend all three days of the MWTC can avail of a special 20 percent discount on ticket prices.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The specs: 2019 Audi A7 Sportback
Price, base: Dh315,000
Engine: 3.0-litre V6
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 335hp @ 5,000rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 1,370rpm
Fuel economy 5.9L / 100km
HWJN
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Crops that could be introduced to the UAE
1: Quinoa
2. Bathua
3. Amaranth
4. Pearl and finger millet
5. Sorghum
