Move to UAE - 38K Salary - Is it Worth it
 

Hi,

I have been offered a job in Abu Dhabi
38k salary per month
20k travel allowance
9k education
25 days holidays
Family: me , my wife and my 2 kids

Is it worth it?

TJ

Re: Move to UAE - 38K Salary - Is it Worth it
 

is that all per month? issue would be in auh getting 2 sch places for kids.

Re: Move to UAE - 38K Salary - Is it Worth it
 

If it is 25 days holiday a month I would be inclined to take it

Re: Move to UAE - 38K Salary - Is it Worth it
 

KIds are 6 months and 2 year no schooling

Re: Move to UAE - 38K Salary - Is it Worth it
 

Do you mean 38k salary with the travel and education allowances on top? Meaning total take-home of 67k per month? If so then yes, it's worth it. It's way more than most Western expats here get.

If that 38k is *including* those allowances, then it's a very average deal, especially for AD. You'd be wanting to get your 2-year-old into a school next year, and housing is the real killer - AD rents have gone crazy. What's the deal with your housing allowance? Will the company pay your rent for you, or are you expected to pull a year's rent out of your backside as soon as you get off the plane?

Is that 25 days' holiday based on working days, or calendar days? If it's calendar days (which is pretty much the norm here), that's terrible, because to take 2 weeks off (i.e. 10 working days) you'd have to use up 14 leave days.

Re: Move to UAE - 38K Salary - Is it Worth it
 

haha you know what i mean about the schooling a year or month not the hols:p

Re: Move to UAE - 38K Salary - Is it Worth it
 

yes there will be schooling as kids go to nursery here which is as expensive as school fees there is a lack of british sch places especially for the very young ones and you have to fight to get places so if u miss out fs1 when they are 3 you may not get a spot for fs2 when its compulsory to go to sch.

Re: Move to UAE - 38K Salary - Is it Worth it
 

ooo yes 67 is nice!

Re: Move to UAE - 38K Salary - Is it Worth it
 

Hi,
38k is monthly salary
20k is travel allowance per annum which will paid upfront.
10k is education allowance per kid per year
not sure on holidays whether they are working days or calendar days
plus first month accommodation , travel and visa cost all covered

Re: Move to UAE - 38K Salary - Is it Worth it
 

Company pays interest free loan to pay the one year advance rent.
38K is base salary that include everything

Re: Move to UAE - 38K Salary - Is it Worth it
 

Depends on any costs in the UK, what you are earning now, what sort of lifestyle you would want out here.

You could budget 2500 a month for a car (rental costs, fuel, parking) and you would probably need 2 cars. 10k a month for a 2 bed flat in town or a 2 bed 'villa' out in the wilds. 2500 per month per kid for education. So say monthly basic costs of 20k before you start paying for everyday life such as food, entertainment, clothes etc etc.

On the package you would have around 21k a month left to pay for all your living expenses, UK costs if any and put money aside to save.

Is doable but could be tight.

Re: Move to UAE - 38K Salary - Is it Worth it
 

OK, so your first month's salary will be 58k, and then 38k thereafter? And you're effectively paying your rent out of your own pocket? That's a pretty average deal in my book - not bad, just average. Find out if there's any limit as to how much they'll loan for housing.

On that sort of salary you'll have an averagely comfortable life, but don't expect to be shovelling money into a savings account. Those days are gone, unless you're one of the lucky few to still get the big bills paid by their employer and not be expected to pay them back.

I don't know about AD, but the more affordable decent schools in Dubai will want over 30k per kid per year for FS/primary.

Find out. 25 days' leave calculated as calendar days would be a bad joke.

That's pretty much standard.

Re: Move to UAE - 38K Salary - Is it Worth it
 

I'd be inclined to say with the way school fees and rents are going, with 2 kids it would be unwise.

Re: Move to UAE - 38K Salary - Is it Worth it
 

If you have no expenses to cover back home such as a mortgage I would say 38k will be tight but you will manage.

20k travel allowance will get you and your family to the UK and back twice a year, however probably not on a direct flight with Etihad. You might want to look at BA, KLM or Turkish Airlines.

9k education allowance per child. For that money you won't even get them into an Indian school in Musaffah. You really have to negotiate this. When my daughter was 18 months old we used to pay already 20k/year for 3 half days in a nursery. Your children will grow up quickly and before you know it they will need to go to school. Any decent school here will charge at least 30K/year for the foundation years. Going up to 40 and 50K for primary and secondary. If your new employer will not reconsider the education allowance, this will be a big chunk out of your budget and then it will become very difficult to live off the salary.

Re: Move to UAE - 38K Salary - Is it Worth it
 

It will be interesting to know if employers are really willing to negotiate, given the hefty increases necessary (eg. 9k up to something much closer to 30k per child for education). The prevailing attitude seems to be that companies know they don't have to lure people here so the approach is often "take it or leave it", unless you have extremely specialist skills that are in high demand - and if that was the case, they'd probably have offered a much higher package to begin with.

Certainly, the norm these days for Western expats seems to be somewhere between 30-40k, and you have to pay your own rent and school fees.