So listen up bro!
I live in Dubai and im currently in California and i wanna do the same thing! So Apple store says that when u buy the phone if u cancel contract u have to pay and give the phone back even! But with others help ive come up with a way around this:
AT&T states that if u cancel within three days of purchase: then u dont pay anything and u get ur activation fee and everything back andu dont even have to return the iPhone cuz u bought it from apple store and u own it, its urs! So im gonna buy the phone and then call AT&T two days after that and tell them that my phone is stolen and that i need to cancel my contract!! And remember to take out ur sim card cuz they might track u down, u never know!! So there u go man, hows that for a solution! where do u wanna use it btw? Dubai?