Offer in Riyadh please suggest
 

Hi mates thinking of moving to Riyadh and need help from seniors in the region. Is it worth - can I survive and save some decent money?

I am an IT Consultant by profession.

Family of three :- self wife and Child aged 10

Now offer I have is
Annual Salary 370 K SAR
Housing 115K SAR
Transport 45K SAR
Full medical insurance for family
80% of school fees paid
Annual flights for family 30 days paid vacation

Job Offer in Riyadh - Seniors Please suggest
 

Hi mates thinking of moving to Riyadh and need help from seniors in the region. Is it worth - can I survive and save some decent money?

I am an IT Consultant by profession.

Family of three :- self wife and Child aged 10

Now offer I have is
Annual Salary 370 K SAR
Housing 115K SAR
Transport 45K SAR
Full medical insurance for family
80% of school fees paid
Annual flights for family 30 days paid vacation

Re: Offer in Riyadh please suggest
 

I personally wouldn't go to KSA for that offer although I'm sure its enough to survive and save a reasonable amount.

Re: Offer in Riyadh please suggest
 

Hi Mogs thanks for reply was wondering do you think I am going in for a low package. What is acceptable package??

Re: Offer in Riyadh please suggest
 

'80% of school fees paid' - check that it covers the British school which is the best and its 50 k sar per year and not 80% of fees for some shite school...

Re: Offer in Riyadh please suggest
 

Assuming salary is ok for your profession, I would expect housing and schooling to be 100% covered in addition to my salary in KSA.

I have no idea on housing costs in KSA, but I assume 115k will not be enough to cover a small villa, or 2-bed apartment in KSA.

Re: Offer in Riyadh please suggest
 

80% school fee is for British School and will try and go back to them regarding housing allowance and see what they say - as they say you never know till you ask.

Re: Offer in Riyadh please suggest
 

you'll be able to save on 370k a year - food/living is cheap and there's not much to waste money on! But personally I would not come to KSA without something like a 3x net salary increase or for strong career reasons.

45k transport is fine, you can buy a small car outright for that or get a good new toyota SUV for 110k-150k and it'll only lose 10% per year depreciation. you can also rent a small car for 2000 sar per month.

Your flight allowance is a bit low - most people leave every 1/2 months for short trips to avoid going stir crazy. But pick your battles on the negotiations (flights are cheap).

My other tips - get good UK tax advice. And prepare to be here by yourself for the first 2-3 months while you sort out iqamas (residence permits) for your family who will then be able to join you. Your first 3 (6?) months are probationary and you can be fired without any notice or warning if things go bad and have to leave immediately (it does happen).

Re: Offer in Riyadh please suggest
 

I thought 115k sar was the cost of a single person in a decent compound.......

Re: Offer in Riyadh please suggest
 

All package has not changed as they have specific grade wise pay it seems.

In terms of package comparison I am earning £72K Gross per year here in the UK.

I am really worried about housing as that's the key, do not want to end up in a compound full of non westerners as my housing budget is just 115K SAR.
Any recommendations.

Re: Offer in Riyadh please suggest
 

Most compounds will have non westerners, lot of Lebanese etc around. Maybe with that attitude you should rethink travelling abroad.

Re: Offer in Riyadh please suggest
 

BTW ping me when you're in Riyadh.

I have been here for some time, so don't mind giving you a background, once you're here and settled down a bit.

I grew up in Swansea - went to Ffynonne and Olchfa!

Re: Offer in Riyadh please suggest
 

Swansea1978 thanks mate!!

Btw my son goes to Oakleigh House - primary branch of Ffynnone - small world 😃

Re: Offer in Riyadh please suggest
 

I have no issues with non westerners but would be good to live in a community which is relatively westerners - if you know what I mean.

Re: Offer in Riyadh please suggest
 

The housing allowance is rubbish, you really need to negotiate that up a bit. Most of the compounds will have a good mix, not just western. My compound has some British, some Egyptian, some Korean etc. There really is no such thing as a western compound.