Possible Relo from US to Dubai, looking for advice!

[kimevans628]

Hello All,

My husband's company is possibly transferring us from Texas to Dubai. I am looking for any helpful information on negotiating his package and the logisitics of moving a family of 5 halfway across the world.

Any advice on the must haves for the package? We will get a living allowance, (amount not yet determined)...we have 3 children, 7 months, 7, and 11 so a 4 bedroom is a MUST. What should we expect to spend? Schooling is also covered up to $20,000 USD per year/child, is that enough? Any thoughts on this are appreciated!!! To give you a little background he is a project manager for an internationally present construction company, mostly of energy related facilities.


On to the logistics...what to bring? What areas and schools are better? What about the dogs...the list is endless. And, the big one, what have your experiences been? We want to maintain as much normalcy as possible, while experincing a new culture and environment.

Thanks in advance!

[Miss Maha]

Can please clarify more about the package , this will help to give you more useful information about the moving

[kimevans628]

I wish I could, everything is very vague right now...the only definites we have received are we will get a housing allowance or company provided housing, schooling for the children and 30 days of home leave, the rest seems to be up to us to negotiate. We need to know what we should be asking for. Are there expenses we will incur that will be tremendous that we wouldn't have in the US? What is "standard"? I know that each situation is different, we are just feeling our way and any thoughts would be helpful.

[Miss Maha]

Well , Full package should include House allowance or housing provided by the company + the Schooling
Salary is depends on Qualification , Experience and the stability of the company how much is they are willing to pay , these are the most expenses will be covered by them ..

[suzieq123]

Originally Posted by kimevans628

Hello All,

My husband's company is possibly transferring us from Texas to Dubai. I am looking for any helpful information on negotiating his package and the logisitics of moving a family of 5 halfway across the world.

Any advice on the must haves for the package? We will get a living allowance, (amount not yet determined)...we have 3 children, 7 months, 7, and 11 so a 4 bedroom is a MUST. What should we expect to spend? Schooling is also covered up to $20,000 USD per year/child, is that enough? Any thoughts on this are appreciated!!! To give you a little background he is a project manager for an internationally present construction company, mostly of energy related facilities.

On to the logistics...what to bring? What areas and schools are better? What about the dogs...the list is endless. And, the big one, what have your experiences been? We want to maintain as much normalcy as possible, while experincing a new culture and environment.

Thanks in advance!

I am in the same position - the company pays tuition at ASD but we don't yet know about housing allowances. There are some good posts on here that will answer your questions about dogs. My girls are 9, 11, and 13 and are all very excited about the move!

[kimevans628]

Thanks SuzieQ!

Any tips that you have are welcome! It is nice to know that there are so many in the same boat. I will keep weeding through the posts to find helpful info. We have not yet talked to our kids yet, as it is in the talking stages still, I hope they are excited like yours.

Let me know how your journey goes! Good luck to you and your family.

[suzieq123]

My husband just said package should be ready Friday so hopefully I'll know more. I have a friend who just moved back from there and her family lived in Jumeira and loved it. The kids went to ASD. Keep in touch on here and good luck to you too!

[OldFarmer]

Car/transportation allowance and annual family airfare? I think, given the position/company, these are probably standard...

[pamela0810]

Originally Posted by kimevans628

Hello All,

My husband's company is possibly transferring us from Texas to Dubai. I am looking for any helpful information on negotiating his package and the logisitics of moving a family of 5 halfway across the world.

Any advice on the must haves for the package? We will get a living allowance, (amount not yet determined)...we have 3 children, 7 months, 7, and 11 so a 4 bedroom is a MUST. What should we expect to spend? Schooling is also covered up to $20,000 USD per year/child, is that enough? Any thoughts on this are appreciated!!! To give you a little background he is a project manager for an internationally present construction company, mostly of energy related facilities.


On to the logistics...what to bring? What areas and schools are better? What about the dogs...the list is endless. And, the big one, what have your experiences been? We want to maintain as much normalcy as possible, while experincing a new culture and environment.

Thanks in advance!

- You can browse dubizzle.com to get an idea of what the rent would be like for a 4 bedroom villa - best options for a family would be Jumeirah, Umm Suqueim, Emirates Hills or Arabian Ranches.
- USD 20,000 per year per child in schooling allowance seems fine, however, its better if the company could write in a 100% school allowance into the contract rather than a fixed amount as the school fees increase each year.
- Housing allowance should also include full utility bills payment
- Full private medical insurance for the entire family. This is extremely important especially for the children.
- Annual air ticket to home base each year for the entire family. If he can get this in business class (depending on his grade), it's even better.
- You will be able to get more information about your pet relocation by searching the threads. The weather here is extremely hot most of the year so if you have dogs that are used to the outdoors, it wll be a big adjustment for them.

Hope this helps and good luck!

[TallyHo]

20,000 USD/child is more than enough at any American school in Dubai. The American School of Dubai is the most expensive and it's tuition runs to just about 20,000/year. Pamela, however, is correct in that tuitions seemingly go up every year.

Given that the company is offering you generous school fees I'm guessing that the housing allowance/provided house will also be generous. If you have to negotiate a housing allowance aim for at least 200,000, with closer to 250,000 AED, which will cover the rent + utilities for a 4-bedroom villa in the Ranches, Meadows, Jumeirah/Umm Suqeim. However it's also beneficial to get the company to agree to pay for the utilities and maintenance expenses for the villa to protect you against any nasty and unexpected high utilities bills which does happen too often out here.

On top of housing and school fees, expect annual flight tickets to the US, a local transportation allowance to cover car costs (at least 5,000 AED/ month) and full health insurance with a reputable international health insurance organisation such as Bupa.