Job offer in Dubai - your comments are appreciated
Jan 12th 2007, 5:02 am
#1
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 43
Job offer in Dubai - your comments are appreciated
Hi,
I have an offer from a major UAE company based in Dubai. Base: AED12500/month, Housing: AED9000/month or a company managed 3 bedroom furnished apartment, Transport: AED1100/month. Other benefits are 42 days of holidays, health insurance, annual return tickets, schooling for kids, gratuity plan, interest-free car loan, etc.The position is that of a performance & productivity manager.
I am presently in the US and make a decent living - close to six figures salary. I am highly educated in the US (with engineering and MBA degrees from well renowned universities) and have 6+ years of work experience with major MNCs. I am married and we have one child.
Is this a good offer? Can I save some $$? Or can I do better if I wait and explore further?
Thanks,
Yale.
I have an offer from a major UAE company based in Dubai. Base: AED12500/month, Housing: AED9000/month or a company managed 3 bedroom furnished apartment, Transport: AED1100/month. Other benefits are 42 days of holidays, health insurance, annual return tickets, schooling for kids, gratuity plan, interest-free car loan, etc.The position is that of a performance & productivity manager.
I am presently in the US and make a decent living - close to six figures salary. I am highly educated in the US (with engineering and MBA degrees from well renowned universities) and have 6+ years of work experience with major MNCs. I am married and we have one child.
Is this a good offer? Can I save some $$? Or can I do better if I wait and explore further?
Thanks,
Yale.
Jan 12th 2007, 6:33 am
#2
Pog mo thoin
Joined: Jan 2006
Location: Dubai
Posts: 4,103
Re: Job offer in Dubai - your comments are appreciated
The basic salary is incredibly low for someone of your position. To give you some perspective, admin staff earn around 12,000-15,000 AED (all incl.).
9,000 housing allowance will just get you an apartment. Then you would have to furnish it if you were not brining your own goods. If you take their apartment then you have live off 12,500. After making up for shortfall on your car allowance, DEWA food, entertainment etc, you would not have much left each month. And if you have to support your wife as well, then you would struggle. I would suggest you look at different companies.
9,000 housing allowance will just get you an apartment. Then you would have to furnish it if you were not brining your own goods. If you take their apartment then you have live off 12,500. After making up for shortfall on your car allowance, DEWA food, entertainment etc, you would not have much left each month. And if you have to support your wife as well, then you would struggle. I would suggest you look at different companies.
Jan 12th 2007, 7:14 am
#3
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Apr 2005
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 4,553
Re: Job offer in Dubai - your comments are appreciated
Hi,
I have an offer from a major UAE company based in Dubai. Base: AED12500/month, Housing: AED9000/month or a company managed 3 bedroom furnished apartment, Transport: AED1100/month. Other benefits are 42 days of holidays, health insurance, annual return tickets, schooling for kids, gratuity plan, interest-free car loan, etc.The position is that of a performance & productivity manager.
I am presently in the US and make a decent living - close to six figures salary. I am highly educated in the US (with engineering and MBA degrees from well renowned universities) and have 6+ years of work experience with major MNCs. I am married and we have one child.
Is this a good offer? Can I save some $$? Or can I do better if I wait and explore further?
Thanks,
Yale.
I have an offer from a major UAE company based in Dubai. Base: AED12500/month, Housing: AED9000/month or a company managed 3 bedroom furnished apartment, Transport: AED1100/month. Other benefits are 42 days of holidays, health insurance, annual return tickets, schooling for kids, gratuity plan, interest-free car loan, etc.The position is that of a performance & productivity manager.
I am presently in the US and make a decent living - close to six figures salary. I am highly educated in the US (with engineering and MBA degrees from well renowned universities) and have 6+ years of work experience with major MNCs. I am married and we have one child.
Is this a good offer? Can I save some $$? Or can I do better if I wait and explore further?
Thanks,
Yale.
Hi,
The salary appears low - especially if you are highly educated and already earn a decent wage in the US. Unless you are unhappy living in the States I wont recommend Dubai for that kind of money. If you can get the base to 20-25kk, plus all the benefits you mention - then maybe.
Also, please remember as an employee you have hardly (actually make that none) ANY rights at all. So be careful which company you join. PM me if you want any more information.
Bye
Jan 12th 2007, 7:37 am
#4
Soupy twist
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 2,271
Re: Job offer in Dubai - your comments are appreciated
If your salary in the States is close to $100K per year, then a direct conversion of that to dirhams would work out to AED 30,605 per month - so a base salary of 12,500 is less than half your monthly American income.
For someone in your position, that's obviously a terrible deal; if you're still interested in coming and they won't budge on base salary (or even if they do), I'd insist they cover your DEWA bills, and make sure that when they say they pay for school fees, they pay for them in full - some companies will only "assist" with school fees up to a certain percentage.
As IndieGirl says, if they up the basic to about 25,000 per month plus those benefits, that would be worth thinking about... but you also need to factor in that you won't necessarily be living tax-free. The Dubai government won't charge you income tax, but the American government will still require you to file a tax return every year. As an American citizen living abroad, you'll get an $80K annual exemption, but you'll have to pay tax on anything above that... and currently, $80K equates to AED 24,485 per month. So by getting a reasonable salary, you'd be making yourself liable to American income tax. It's not at a high rate - I think it's something like 4% or 8% of the amount above the $80K threshold - but it's still something to think about.
Something else to consider is that if you wanted to take the accommodation allowance, you need to be sure that they will give it to you as an annual lump sum. You have to pay rent a year in advance here, so if they just give you AED 9000 every month, that's not going to help you when you arrive - you need to have a year's rent money available to you to pay the landlord before you move in.
For someone in your position, that's obviously a terrible deal; if you're still interested in coming and they won't budge on base salary (or even if they do), I'd insist they cover your DEWA bills, and make sure that when they say they pay for school fees, they pay for them in full - some companies will only "assist" with school fees up to a certain percentage.
As IndieGirl says, if they up the basic to about 25,000 per month plus those benefits, that would be worth thinking about... but you also need to factor in that you won't necessarily be living tax-free. The Dubai government won't charge you income tax, but the American government will still require you to file a tax return every year. As an American citizen living abroad, you'll get an $80K annual exemption, but you'll have to pay tax on anything above that... and currently, $80K equates to AED 24,485 per month. So by getting a reasonable salary, you'd be making yourself liable to American income tax. It's not at a high rate - I think it's something like 4% or 8% of the amount above the $80K threshold - but it's still something to think about.
Something else to consider is that if you wanted to take the accommodation allowance, you need to be sure that they will give it to you as an annual lump sum. You have to pay rent a year in advance here, so if they just give you AED 9000 every month, that's not going to help you when you arrive - you need to have a year's rent money available to you to pay the landlord before you move in.
Jan 12th 2007, 2:10 pm
#5
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 43
Re: Job offer in Dubai - your comments are appreciated
If your salary in the States is close to $100K per year, then a direct conversion of that to dirhams would work out to AED 30,605 per month - so a base salary of 12,500 is less than half your monthly American income.
For someone in your position, that's obviously a terrible deal; if you're still interested in coming and they won't budge on base salary (or even if they do), I'd insist they cover your DEWA bills, and make sure that when they say they pay for school fees, they pay for them in full - some companies will only "assist" with school fees up to a certain percentage.
As IndieGirl says, if they up the basic to about 25,000 per month plus those benefits, that would be worth thinking about... but you also need to factor in that you won't necessarily be living tax-free. The Dubai government won't charge you income tax, but the American government will still require you to file a tax return every year. As an American citizen living abroad, you'll get an $80K annual exemption, but you'll have to pay tax on anything above that... and currently, $80K equates to AED 24,485 per month. So by getting a reasonable salary, you'd be making yourself liable to American income tax. It's not at a high rate - I think it's something like 4% or 8% of the amount above the $80K threshold - but it's still something to think about.
Something else to consider is that if you wanted to take the accommodation allowance, you need to be sure that they will give it to you as an annual lump sum. You have to pay rent a year in advance here, so if they just give you AED 9000 every month, that's not going to help you when you arrive - you need to have a year's rent money available to you to pay the landlord before you move in.
For someone in your position, that's obviously a terrible deal; if you're still interested in coming and they won't budge on base salary (or even if they do), I'd insist they cover your DEWA bills, and make sure that when they say they pay for school fees, they pay for them in full - some companies will only "assist" with school fees up to a certain percentage.
As IndieGirl says, if they up the basic to about 25,000 per month plus those benefits, that would be worth thinking about... but you also need to factor in that you won't necessarily be living tax-free. The Dubai government won't charge you income tax, but the American government will still require you to file a tax return every year. As an American citizen living abroad, you'll get an $80K annual exemption, but you'll have to pay tax on anything above that... and currently, $80K equates to AED 24,485 per month. So by getting a reasonable salary, you'd be making yourself liable to American income tax. It's not at a high rate - I think it's something like 4% or 8% of the amount above the $80K threshold - but it's still something to think about.
Something else to consider is that if you wanted to take the accommodation allowance, you need to be sure that they will give it to you as an annual lump sum. You have to pay rent a year in advance here, so if they just give you AED 9000 every month, that's not going to help you when you arrive - you need to have a year's rent money available to you to pay the landlord before you move in.
If you would allow me, I would like to ask a couple of questions. Lets say I postpone my moving to Dubai by 1.5-2 years. I am at a juncture where I have the option of going into a variety of functional areas in a management position within my current employer; like Finance, Sales & Marketing (business development), Operations and Supply Chain, etc. I am about to finish a 2-year leadership development program with my current employer (a Fortune 50 conglomerate).
What functional area will make me more marketable in GCC region particularly UAE and Qatar?
What functions are higly regarded and paid?
Look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks,
Yale
Jan 13th 2007, 1:51 pm
#6
Banned (Always Correct)
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 941
Re: Job offer in Dubai - your comments are appreciated
I wouldn't recommend dubai over the states for any amount of money...
Jan 13th 2007, 1:56 pm
#7
Its all good
Joined: Oct 2004
Location: Dubai
Posts: 7,650
Re: Job offer in Dubai - your comments are appreciated
Really - why not 
(oh sorry we've already done that one many times) 
(oh sorry we've already done that one many times)
Jan 13th 2007, 2:02 pm
#8
Up in the air
Joined: Oct 2004
Location: I'm global baby!!!!!!
Posts: 7,263
Re: Job offer in Dubai - your comments are appreciated
As much as I enjoy some of your posts TA5,
If your happy back in the US of A and have no feelings for Dubai, why do you still continue posting here a year after leaving??
If your happy back in the US of A and have no feelings for Dubai, why do you still continue posting here a year after leaving??
Jan 14th 2007, 3:08 pm
#9
Banned (Always Correct)
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 941
Re: Job offer in Dubai - your comments are appreciated
Because anybody who is thinking of moving there should receive the range of opinions.
I ask you the same exact question...
I ask you the same exact question...
Jan 14th 2007, 4:13 pm
#10
Up in the air
Joined: Oct 2004
Location: I'm global baby!!!!!!
Posts: 7,263
Re: Job offer in Dubai - your comments are appreciated
To answer your question.
I wasn't happy in the UK,
I do Like Dubai.
I am back working there
Jan 14th 2007, 11:29 pm
#11
Up in the air
Joined: Oct 2004
Location: I'm global baby!!!!!!
Posts: 7,263
