denizci

Hi all,

I am considering a job in Kuwait City. I was wondering anyone can help with any advice on what to consider in making the decision to move.

Any experiences/opinions that you can share on the Kuwait in general would also be much appreciated.

Thanks

saddam

Do not go! Unless you
1- Desperate
2- Starving
3- Running from wife
4- Prefer slow death
Search this good site, plenty of details..i can provide my personal advice/exp if req'rd…cheers

denizci

Hey, thanks for the quick reply. So far this is the first negative thing I heard about it apart from balanced comments in the lines of both good and bad things about the place. I certainly would appreciate any personal experience/advice... I will have a look at the site, could not see much so far.

UKCityGent

Ive been here for 4 years, and its actually a good quality of life, there are lots to do here ranging for shooting to horse riding to golf to sailing - im sure there are things here that suit your activity/lifestyle. The traffic here is not that bad, once you get used to it, but remember it is in the Middle East !!
You get all your luxuries here from M&S (??) to Hermes to the 100 fils shop.

Basically it depends on your mind-set, any place can be a gold mine or iron pirate - your choice really

denizci

Thanks for that. That is certainly in line with what I have been hearing so far. I am going to move with my family if it all goes well (my wife and our one year old). I am told that lifestyle In Kuwait suits families little better anyway.

I am told it is more conservative than UAE. Do you find that an issue in daily life apart from drinking ban?

UKCityGent

Q8 is more suited for families - most daily activity is geared towards families/kids (not sure on the 1 yr old activities) - depends where you stay there are some good playschools for junior

Not sure on the conservative - its still a muslim country, like UAE. You will suffer incompetence and stupidity almost on a daily basis (from all people including expats!) but you shrug it off and move on.

Alcohol is not publicly available unlike some other states but there is everything to suit everyones taste!

denizci

Thanks very much that helps. Sorry that I keep bombarding you with questions but I have a couple more... How about housing quality - do most live in flats? and life expenses? How do you find it compared to the UK? We currently live in Sydney, it certainly isn't cheap over here. Anything in particular I should make sure to be included in my pay/benefit package?

UKCityGent

How about housing quality - do most live in flats? There are apartments and villas for rent (both furnished and unfurnished) - depends what your budget is and how long you intend to stay. Really depends where you work as you want to reduce your time to get to work - the traffic can build up very quick on certain routes (i.e. into Kuwait City) however if you work in Oil/Gas down south then that wouldnt be an issue.

and life expenses - I dont know for a family but you can live on 500KWD or 1500KWD per month. Eating is cheaper than cooking at home but it depends what your habits are.


How do you find it compared to the UK - Petrol is obviously cheaper than UK - I remember going to UK and paying GBP1.40 a litre (whereas its 65 fils a litre here). Food is similar priced to UK (but i couldnt tell you how much a loaf of bread costs there or here !)

pay/benefit package - How much can you push them for !! - Make sure you get housing allowance, car allowance, BUPA (for the family), education, pension (company should match your voluntry contributions up to a certain limit), & holidays (remember sometimes it includes weekends rather than business days) - but its all dependent on what you do, who you work for and the competency of the HR department !

denizci

Thank you, much appreciated.

littlejimmy

Someone rang me today about a job in Q8. I immediately thought, "single status", but reading this makes me reevaluate that. A 2-year posting in Kuwait City would probably be quite family-conducive, by the sounds of things...

Kix

And you'll see me on a monthly basis. What could be better?

Bahtatboy

Quarterly?

Kix

I was thinking he'd reply "Yearly"...

Bahtatboy

Good, better, best

littlejimmy

How about "Never"...