Schooling for 7 & 6 year olds in Abu Dhabi?
 

I'm looking at moving to the Middle East to work for a few years to boost my pension fund. I've been offered a job working as a vehicle Master Technician in Abu Dhabi, depending on how I do in further interviews & a skills test.

The offer is aimed at me only, it's 25,000 Dirhams a month(including a housing allowance), a car, medical cover, & one flight home a year. It's a 2 year contract.

Firstly, is that a reasonable offer to be able to save money & live, & secondly, I'm thinking that I'd like to bring the wife/kids with me as I don't want to miss a large chunk of their growing up, so what are the English schools like(assuming that they have such a thing), what would be the cost of putting 7 & 6 year olds through school for 2-4 years?

I'm going to ask if the job offer can be increased to give medical cover for the wife & kids, what do you think my chances are? I'm working on the principle, if you don't ask you don't get!!

Hope somebody out there can give me advice, thanks in advance

Re: Schooling for 7 & 6 year olds in Abu Dhabi?
 

firstly those age groups are pretty difficult to get into good schs here, also they will eat into your money schooling at bsak for eg which is much cheaper than others being a non profit sch is 65k a year, plus a big joining fee each. medical cover has to be provided for family on auh visa so there is no problem there. what would your housing cost? its very very very expensive here, housing and schooling take a big big chunk out of your salary each month. a limited contract is pretty standard a 2 year as is return flight a year etc. if you are thinking of now then all the schools are full up, very difficult to find a spot. i would move here and then see how the land lies and then after probation period etc look at schools, once you go past mid of feb anyone outside of the gcc can apply to schs and take up any available place, unlike anyone who is already enrolled in the sch they would need to wait until new academic year. you also have to be careful not to ask for too much tho.... as it can go against you. tread carefully

Re: Schooling for 7 & 6 year olds in Abu Dhabi?
 

Thanks busybee2....very helpful.

Re: Schooling for 7 & 6 year olds in Abu Dhabi?
 

As bb2 has already stated medical cover is mandatory and I doubt you'd have much trouble getting it extended to cover your family. However, I don't think a British family of 4, 2 of whom are school age, could live in Abu Dhabi on 25K including housing.

I have an Indian friend whose school fees are 14K per annum per child. Another Arabic friend pays 28K per year per child. I doubt there are any British schools that charge less than around 30 or 40K per annum per child. You would need a 3 B/R place - and I doubt you'll find much under 120K per annum - so you're already down to 15K per month for everything else.

Abu Dhabi has become considerably more expensive to set one's self up initially and then live in over the years too. Whilst the salary sounds great for the job you're doing, it's not going to be easy to live here with your family.

Re: Schooling for 7 & 6 year olds in Abu Dhabi?
 

Thanks for the info guys!

I've looked into it & it seems that the school fees will kill the move, I'm looking at 93k for 2 kids per year at BSAK.

I've managed to get a better housing offer, but they won't move on the salary, so it looks like the move won't be possible.

Thanks again!!

Re: Schooling for 7 & 6 year olds in Abu Dhabi?
 

25k is for a single guy only, it will not work for a family esp if you want to send them to bsak which is one of the cheaper options but still not cheap and you will not get them into bsak now, its way way oversubscribed.