Hi there jburke75!
Y do you want to come to the middle east??if you want to come here,you gotta be prepared for a thankless job.You also cannot work in a well paid govt set up until you get a license,which the ministry will give you only upon fulfillment of certain criteria 1 of them being 3yrs exp.Otherwise you have to work in a private set up without license which naturally means- pay sucks!
anyways,this is the case for saudi and kuwait.Think dubai is better .If you want exp-try a more expatriate friendly place.
Hope this helps!