[JOLLYFIFER]

Hi There,

I am aware there are rafts of replies and advice on this topic and have read through a few hundred replies..hoping to provide some detail, in the hope of a more personal bit of advice.

I have received a second and slightly improved written offer from an employer in Dubai, the role is Construction Manager. A run down of the offer made is :

Basic -22,100 aed per month
Living - 4500 monthly
Housing - 5500 monthly
Education - 50,000 x2 per annum
Company car + fuel and insurance etc provided foc

Pro rata the total of above is 40,500 aed per month.

The company are also covering
Relocation - max 25000 aed
Annual bonus - 22% of basic (58k ish aed)
Annual flights for family of 4
Medical for family
Visas for family

We are a family of 4, wife wont initally be working but will fill something once settled, kids are 10 and 7.

school wise we have located a couple of schools that will eat up almost the entirity of the education allowance, i would expect this to inflate in time with annual pay increase and obvious development/ progression in role to cover even more expensive secondary schooling!

We are looking at a 3 bed villa without maid or any childcare assistance, areas such as GCW ph3, arabian ranches, probably in the region of 140-160k aed per year.

we live a fairly quiet life, but do want the kids to make the most of the experience in dubai.

The company are flying me out next week for a meet and greet, and although initially after receving the terms i intimated that we werent a million miles away from agreement, but having read and researched im starting to get cold feet on the package offered…

My package in the UK is nett circa £3800-£3900 per month, not inclusive on any bonuses, and i am provided a company car (which i am taxed heavily on!)

Just looking to get some thoughts on this, will it be a genuine struggle on the package advised or will we be ok.We will be completely debt /
Commitment free by the time the family join from the UK. (Less any tax comitments for the first year)

Thanks for reading a lengthy post!

 

[UKMS]

Hi ..... My initial observation is your housing allowance (66k per year) is very low for a family of 4, as you will have worked out a villa at 140k is 11,600 a month, so you are using your living allowance and eating into your salary just for housing, thats before you pay utilities etc. Unfortunately right now in many of the popular family communities there has been a significant spike in rental prices compared to 12 months ago which seems to be down to a supply shortage of villas in decent family areas, I think it will level out but may take a while. You could spend less than 140k but there will generally be a compromise, you could get a nice villa but a little more remote or something in an area that moving a family from the UK you may not be entirely happy with. Is your housing paid monthly or annually ? This is another thing to consider as some of the attractive multiple cheque deals that were around when LL's were desperate have started to fade away, unless its a property that they cant shift.

My suggestion is always to settle on schools first and then settle on housing location otherwise you could end up with a horrendous school run. I would also say that with a family always consider the location of your home carefully, in the wrong place you could end up very unhappy, its not so much of an issue here for a couple or single.

If you can renegotiate the housing allowance your package is OK but with a family of 4 you wont be saving bucket loads of money, so it really depends on why you are looking to move.

Hope that helps a little

 

[JOLLYFIFER]

Hi ..... My initial observation is your housing allowance (66k per year) is very low for a family of 4, as you will have worked out a villa at 140k is 11,600 a month, so you are using your living allowance and eating into your salary just for housing, thats before you pay utilities etc. Unfortunately right now in many of the popular family communities there has been a significant spike in rental prices compared to 12 months ago which seems to be down to a supply shortage of villas in decent family areas, I think it will level out but may take a while. You could spend less than 140k but there will generally be a compromise, you could get a nice villa but a little more remote or something in an area that moving a family from the UK you may not be entirely happy with. Is your housing paid monthly or annually ? This is another thing to consider as some of the attractive multiple cheque deals that were around when LL's were desperate have started to fade away, unless its a property that they cant shift.

My suggestion is always to settle on schools first and then settle on housing location otherwise you could end up with a horrendous school run. I would also say that with a family always consider the location of your home carefully, in the wrong place you could end up very unhappy, its not so much of an issue here for a couple or single.

If you can renegotiate the housing allowance your package is OK but with a family of 4 you wont be saving bucket loads of money, so it really depends on why you are looking to move.

Hope that helps a little

Hi UKMS,

Thanks very much for the reply and advice given.

The housing allowance is paid monthly and was advised it’s just the way that business in the UAE break down their salary packages and not to look too much into it - of course the first thing i done was look into it!

The rental market certainly does look expensive at the moment, we have a home to sell in the UK with good equity which will allow us to perhaps negotiate a 1 cheque deal with a willing landlord, but your spot on - we want / need a family community close to a decent school…so there will likely be a compromise somewhere. We can pay Y1 rent from savings/equity, but ideally we would want to return the savings back over the course of 12 months. Office location for me is Investment Park with a second office in AD (occasional travel).

In terms of negotiating package, how is this viewed in ME, im of course based in the UK where things are perhaps more polite and awkward in these topics. The role advertised that i applied for, was advertised for $150-$170 USD for full package, the full package written offer i received works out around $132k - the first offer actually lower than this and had outright declined that one.

I suppose it’s down to what you think you are worth, but given what we have established about housing - would it be unreasonable to seek another XXXX AED at a late stage of negotiation to make the move a little more “worthwhile”

I feel good about the chances ofquick progression in the company, they say all the right things!

 

[Stevesolar]

Hi,
Quick bit of advice - don’t sell your house in the UK to come and work in the UAE!
At least rent your home out for 6 months or just leave it unoccupied.
Many people come to this region and either hate the job, don’t like living here, family hate it, don’t get paid on time, hate the school, fall foul of the different laws here etc. etc.
Never forget - you live and work here on a work visa - lose your job, lose your visa - then 30 days grace to find a new job before you need to leave the country!
Leave your options open.
Cheers
Steve

 

[UKMS]

Others may chip in but to my knowledge amongst my circle of friends a monthly housing allowance is unusual, because most employers recognise that you don't generally pay for family housing in this way and not everyone has the means to pay 3,6,12 months up front, with a monthly you are constantly out of pocket. Most of my friends have 6 months allowance up front at worst, mine is now 12.

If you are based in DIP you have a good choice of decent housing within an easy commute and also schools. I'm in Ranches 2 and know a lot of people who live a little further out in Mira Oasis which is a nice community where you will get a decent townhouse for around 100k currently.

As for your negotiation if it were me I would certainly be discussing an uplift in one of the components particularly in light of the advertised package range. Regarding how far you can push that, somewhat depends on how confident you are that you are the only person for the job and as you say how much you feel you are worth.

(Edit - Just read the post by Steve above and would 100% agree about selling your home)

 

[JOLLYFIFER]

Others may chip in but to my knowledge amongst my circle of friends a monthly housing allowance is unusual, because most employers recognise that you don't generally pay for family housing in this way and not everyone has the means to pay 3,6,12 months up front, with a monthly you are constantly out of pocket. Most of my friends have 6 months allowance up front at worst, mine is now 12.

If you are based in DIP you have a good choice of decent housing within an easy commute and also schools. I'm in Ranches 2 and know a lot of people who live a little further out in Mira Oasis which is a nice community where you will get a decent townhouse for around 100k currently.

As for your negotiation if it were me I would certainly be discussing an uplift in one of the components particularly in light of the advertised package range. Regarding how far you can push that, somewhat depends on how confident you are that you are the only person for the job and as you say how much you feel you are worth.

(Edit - Just read the post by Steve above and would 100% agree about selling your home)

Hi Gents

thanks both for thoughts and input,much appreciated.
Will let you know how i get on in Dubai next week and where we get too!
KR

 

[UKMS]

Hi Gents

thanks both for thoughts and input,much appreciated.
Will let you know how i get on in Dubai next week and where we get too!
KR

If you get a chance have a good drive round some of the communities and get a feel for them ….. there’s really no better way.
Good luck !!

 

[JOLLYFIFER]

Hi All

sorry to jump back on an older thread, just looking to understand what is meant with a term used in an education allowance when it states

“Xx per annum per policy”

what does the term per policy mean?
Thanks

 

[UKMS]

I would take that to mean “as written in the policy”, in other words if the policy changes so could the allowance.