YesICan

Hi Everyone,

I am an Amercian living in the forzen hearland state of Minnesota. My wife and I have 3 elementary school age kids. I have a secure job in the IT department at a reliable large orgnization with low 6 figure salary. I own a house which cost me around 500K 4 years ago which I love but in today's market cannot sell.

I have been offered a 40k AED per month all inclusive salary to head IT department of a "local" (not multi-national or ruling family owned) publicly owned investment firm which employs approx 1700 people and has 17 subsidiaries across the middle east region.

The offered salary is inclusive of all expenses except 4 business calls tickets to US, health insurance and life insurance. I am expected to pay from the 40K for my accomdation, children's education, transportation and all other normal expenses.

Due to the current market conditions I will not be able to sell my house which means that out of the 40K I will also need to pay my mortgage back here in US. Also, US allows only up to 87K USD of the salary to be tax exempt. I will need to pay taxes on the rest of my income.

With all this in mind, I am really hesitant in accepting the offer as it stands. Would some of you who are living there today share with me your thoughts on what would you think I should do? I have already asked the company to add accomodations and education allowances to the package but haven't heard back from them yet.

I really need your advise and guidance.

Thanks

commander

Unless they include education and accom. Forget it, honestly don't even give it another thought.

And with family, read the other threads about loosing jobs etc, I would not even consider selling up totally. Harsh but you may find yourself and family on a 1 way ticket back to the states after 6 months without a house to go back to.

Take this place for what it is;- a temporary overseas assignment.

Just my opinion

Jammy_Dodgers

With 3 Kids, you are looking at a 4 bed house.
Plus Medical for 5 people.
School for 3
2 cars
US mortgage.
US tax on foreign income (plus tax on local assets such as rental income)


Im sure others will come up with there comments, but personally i think it will be a struggle.

YesICan

Thank you Commandar. That is what I have been struggling with as well in making this decision. Do you think if the company agrees to add accomodation and education, 40K would make sense? I really do not intend to sell my house here in US.......

Hello.Kitty

If you have a secure job and a nice house where you are, I'd say stay put for the moment. The offer you've had may or may not be good (I don't know), but what's on people's minds at the moment is *security* - well, for the families of you working peeps.

To give you an idea, we've actually decided to relocate our family back in the UK, with just Mr Kitty over here in Dubai, allowing him and me decidedly more peace of mind and flexibility if things should go pear-shaped, which they can do at a drop of a hat. It was a horrid decision to make, but it's the right one for us, all things considered.

YesICan

Thank you for your response. What would you consider to be a "resonable" offer that would be acceptable to someone in my position?

YesICan

Thanks Hello Kitty. I am sure this decision was not easy for you and your Mr. Kitty to make. I don't want to have a split family in my situation.....

Best of luck with your decision.

Hello.Kitty

...and you with yours!

busybee2

i would say that you are best to stay.... am hearing now that in some industries they are now giving people pay cuts... and with the rents not really coming down in ad i dont think the two are adding up.

commander

He's prob read the thread on here by banter about pay cuts also BB2..

I agree with kitty, 4OK is enough if they provide accom and education on top, but its not a very good place to be a newbie right now.

Stay put for now in the USofA

still.unsure

money ain't everything in the ME and during these rather unsettled times, even if they did give you the pay-packet and perks that matched/were enticing, if something does go wrong over here, you're pretty much on your own in a very strange and (potentially) unfriendly land.

from comments on the bored here, as well as media black-bans on different types of commentary, it's hard to get a good picture of what is 'safe' and 'stable' here at present. i'd be inclined to sit tight, be content with what you've got and if you're serious about the ME, see what it's like in 12 months.

(there, my 2halals... )

YesICan

Thank you all of you who took time to respond to my query. I really appreciate your responses especially of those who are giving the insight from ground zero.

I must admit that I am disappointed with the overwhelming recommendation to stay put but the reason you all have provided in your responses was the very exact thing that brought me to this forum and made me submit this post.

One thing that I forgot to include in my original post was the city where I was considering to be relocating to. It is Abu Dhabi.

One thing to note. During my research regarding job offers in ME I found that Saudi jobs offers better salary packages and include housing, education and transportation more frequently than those offered in U.A.E.

still.unsure

the difference between the packages from the UAE and the magic kingdom is due to needing to offer a little bit more to draw someone here. i haven't worked in AD but have in Dubai and the difference betweeen Riyadh and Dubai is pretty significant with the restrictions on family life and recreation being such that you need the extra perks to (in some way) compensate for it.

personally, i don't mind the magic kingdom, but am still pretty green and my views might change! (and would aim for an offer of at least SR60k per/month plus extras to be an IT manager here)