Maybe Coming

I am awaiting an offer on a job in Dubai based in Jebel Ali Free Zone. I am married with 3 kids and the heads up I have been given on the package is

approx 23k AED monthly salary (nett)
156k annual housing allowance
100k annual education allowance

As well as this I have company car, family medical cover, relocation/furniture allowance, flights back to UK, various bonuses etc up to approx 65k AED.

I am really looking for advice on whether this looks a reasonable livable package. If we do this it is as much for the opportunity to do something different for a few years as potentially saving money, although it would be nice to do that.

The biggest concern seems to be the housing allowance. The company told be I should be able to get a 3 bed apartment for the allowance, but looking on various websites I can't see it somehow!! Ideally I would like a 3 bed villa and although I am prepared to put some of my salary toward it I dont want to be splashing out half!

Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated. Also any suggestions on best locations for Jebel Ali? I don't mind a reasonable commute.

rowell

Loads of info if you do a search but with 3 kids, no where near enough for schools or rent

diablo

I'll use here a quote from movie 'Matrix': ... sorry kid, I don't like to give bad news to good people ...

First, don't like to sound racial but I will have to ask you where are you coming from to Dubai. If UK / Australia / US etc. here is my experience:

I have 4 kids and pay school - AED 200,000 per year (ages 18, 12, 8 and 5). You may have younger kids but if all three in school you're looking at 120,000 per year.

For AED 156,000 I think that even these firm believers in Dubai Real Estate market crash (with rents falling down) will not want to make you believe that you can find any 2 bedroom apartment in Dubai for that money; Sharjah - maybe. Don't know Sharjah. You are looking at AED 200,000 if you get really lucky. But with 3 kids you should be looking for a 3-4 bedroom - this is supposed to be better than home ... why to f#@$ would you come otherwise.

So you're missing 20,000 on school and 40,000 on accommodation = 60,000 or 5,000 per month whih makes your salary 23,000 - 5,000 = 18,000.

What do you do by the way?

Here is your counter-offer:

Salary - AED 40,000
Accommodation - 250,000
School - 150,000

plus whatever you have mentioned.

Bear in mind that school and accommodation go here up like there is no tomorrow; so this above is not very optimistic estimate.

Maybe Coming

Diablo,

Thanks for your reply. Not what I wanted to hear, but pretty much what I expected to be honest.

I am coming from the UK, and work in procurement for a heavy engineering company.

All 3 kids are school age and 120k was pretty much what I thought it would cost so I will go back to them on that. Re the housing it took about 5 mins of research to realise the allowance was way too low. - how far will they go? I don't know.

Any other advise would be appreciated and I will let you know how things develop.

diablo

The reason I asked where you were from was that if you were from India I would have told you that Indian schools are significantly cheaper and your allowance could cover it.

There are a few guys here in construction and they perhaps know the situation better but since everyone is talking about recession I'd like to be a bit pesimistic and not to give you any advice that may give you a better piture than it may be when you get here.

One thing ... don't believe the crap like "this is just starting salary ... we'll have a review very soon" ... that doesn't happen.

If you are looking to make money a better bet would be Saudi Arabia ... the money comes with a prize ... check Saudi Aramco website ... that's a good employer.

Perhaps these guys in construction will help as well but I'll check one of these days an e-mail address of a man I know and I'll ask if they were looking for procurement guys so you may drop him an e-mail. Just keep as many options open as possible and something better will get through. However, as I said everybody is talking about some crash ... so I don;t know if that may affect your job as well? Give me a day or two and I'll get back to this post. Going to Saudi tomorrow coming back on Monday ... so perhaps on Monday / Tuesday I'll come back to the forum.

Any other takers here on who might be employing?

Maybe Coming

It's not really construction I'm in, more heavy engineering relating to oil & gas, power stations etc. I maybe didn't make it clear in my initial post, but this offer is from the company I already work for in the UK. This role is similar to what I am already doing for them here.

I would be interested to hear of anything else you know of though.

Thanks again.......

Madam Medusa

sorry, but you will really struggle on that package unless your wife is going to work...housing is nonsense, as is the schooling allowance, and your salary isn't great either if it's the only income...

MM, xx

diablo

If you're in Oil and Gas then your chances are fairly good these days if you have decided to move abroad. Saudi Aramco would be my choice if your considerations are family, good salary, good life, good savings but not much of a life-style while in KSA. It's likely tha your offer came from this end (Middle East) so they are trying to get you cheap and perhaps you have good chances of negotiating the deal; I suggest you go for a minimum as I've suggested and maybe they agree. If they don't - don't be disappointed; the money offerred is really bad ... to put you in a perspective, I was in Oil and Gas and got the job in Oman in 1997; experience 7 yrs at the time - salary AED 18,500 / perr month equivalent plus all the things you have mentioned (medical, car, housing etc. etc.). A friend of mine working in Abu Dhabi at the time - AED 25,000 per month. We are 11 years later ...

Aramco - 2001-2004; experience 11-12 yrs: salary - cca AED 40,000 per month + 13th Salary + full economy tickets for all family in cash + 10% pocket money (that's equivalent to business class fare so you figure out how much it would be for 5 of you) and you can go anywhere you want + 12-15% payrise every year + can't find easier job +++ really good ... nobody leaves Aramco ever ... only few asses like me who think it was not challenging enough

The entire Middle east is in Oil and Gas and Power so you'll be right ... if you get the money you want you'll be a happy camper here ... if not ... you better save your family of the frustration of coming and going back shortly after that. If you are really looking to come over I'll send you quite a few recruiters' websites ... but you have them in UK as many as you want ... and they are the best in my opinion. I don't know how it goes with your experience at the moment but an average Safety Engineer in Oil and Gas in UK today (5-10 yrs) is on about GBP 60-70 per hour? Why would you come here for less? If you multiply say GBP 70 x hours per day x days per week x 48 weeks it comes to some GBP 135,000 per year. Pay school (AED 150,000); Accommodation (AED 250,000); other benefits they mentioned (AED 50,000) -and it leaves you with some AED 30,000 per month (GBP 5,000?). Not bad ... but could be better.

... for 23,000 tell them they're dreaming ...

Nic1

Diablo - what is the prize you get with Saudi Arabia ? Only I think I'm still waiting for mine . . . .

N

Maybe Coming

Diablo,

Offer did come from Dubai end. I have spoken to UK HR and they say the offer doesn't make sense from their point of view. So maybe they are at it - really don't know.

I am going to go back and see what can be negotiated. If you do get the chance to dig out the websites I would be interested in seeing them.

Lyds

yeah, all the benefits like med insurance come as standard, so don't be awed by them. Also find out if you get a car or a "car allowance" - the latter is just another part of your salary.

The others have said all that needs to about housing and schools... do your sums, aim high, factor in possible inflation, add on a bit more for luck and then put it to them.

Also look at your relocation allowance and how long they are willing to put you up in temporary accommodation when you arrive. My husband's paid for 2 but we needed 3/4 - so at 1500AED per night for a hotel apartment, it got a tad expensive!