THE WINNERS WILL BE THOSE THAT BECOME LIKE AMERICA FASTEST:

A new land of promise (Hassan M. Fattah, 12/04/05, The New York Times)

"Getting a visa to Canada or the U.S. is almost impossible now," Tale said. "Here, you just buy a property and you get a residence.

"Dubai is building an environment of freedom that still fits our culture."

Thousands of Iranians, most of them wealthy, are making the leap, investing in real estate, starting businesses and buying second homes, turning this desert country into an Iranian business hub free of the corruption, American penalties and political turbulence they face in Iran.

Tale, who studied in Australia, came last year in the hope of profiting from Dubai's construction boom, which is fed in significant part by Iranian money. His biweekly real-estate guide, Maskan, with its print run of 12,000 copies, disappears from the stands in days.

"This is a bridge between Iran and the West," Tale said. "It's like America 25 years ago, where if you are smart and you have a plan, you can make money." [...]

Iranian businesses make up about a tenth of the companies operating in the so-called Free Zone, Dubai's vast tax-free industrial and business zone, helping to increase trade between the United Arab Emirates and Iran to an expected $7 billion this year from $4 billion in 2003.