Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Dubai Expat Help Forum

Hi everyone, I live in UK and have been offered a job in Dubai of UAED 6500 with free accomodation, free medical, free airfare, and UAED 2800 for food allowance. I am single and need to save $5000-6000 a year for a loan that I need to pay. As I have never been to the place do you think I will meet my goal (the savings), or are there too many hidden costs that I donot know of. Appreciate your help !

Gunner wrote:Hi everyone, I live in UK and have been offered a job in Dubai of UAED 6500 with free accomodation, free medical, free airfare, and UAED 2800 for food allowance. I am single and need to save $5000-6000 a year for a loan that I need to pay. As I have never been to the place do you think I will meet my goal (the savings), or are there too many hidden costs that I donot know of. Appreciate your help !

sounds like a pretty good deal to me. I'm not sure of what experience you have and what level you're at though.

transport will be your main worry- invest in a car. you'll need it. the company should offer you something though.

other wise you just need to be sensible with your water and electricity, and don't party too much- you'll be fine

Hi Gunner,
I am in the same situation, I do not know what is a good offer, a bit of a catch 22???
I have done some internet surfing and found this site :

www.travel_iafrica_com expats diary middle east.htm

Well it should give you a good idea to make assumptions, by the look of things electricity & renting an apartment and then your drinks are the expensive stuff.

Good Luck
JSV

Hey JSV, thanx for ur response but could u kindly make that URL more clear .... it doesnt make sense ........
cheers
Gunner

Sorry about that!!

http://travel.iafrica.com/expats/middleeast/

Hope you find the web page now???

Good luck

JSV

Yes ........ got it
Thanx m8

Hi Gunner, is this what you r looking for???

Costs to relocate to UAE


Housing
A three-bedroomed villa in Dubai costs from Dhs.60 000 to Dhs.70 000 in the Mirdif area and between Dhs.45 000 to Dhs.60 000 in Sharjah. Travelling from Sharjah to Dubai is similar to travelling between Centurion and Sandton at peak times. It is the area where most expats live and schools are readily available. Mirdif is close to the airport. Bur-Dubai and other areas closer to the centre of town have three-bedroom villas and apartments available at rates ranging from Dhs.90 000 upwards.
If your company offers a living allowance, consider asking for an annual allowance of between Dhs.80 000 to Dhs.90 000.

Rentals are payable annually in advance and I recommend you insist that the lease be entered into in your company's name, and that they pay all costs associated with it like commissions, taxes etc.

Also remember you will be running air-conditioners virtually all the time and this consumes a lot of power, especially central air-conditioning units. Opt for split air-conditioning units if at all possible as these use less power.


Schools
There are many schools to choose from in Dubai and the allowance of Dhs.1 500 per month per child should be sufficient. American and British schools are the preferred private schools used by expats. Most schools require the full term's fees to be paid in advance at the beginning of the term.

Cars
There are many new and used to choose from at reasonable prices. Remember that the annual insurance premium is payable in advance - roughly between three-and-a-half to four percent of the vehicle's value.

Relocation Costs
The employer usually covers the cost of your visas and airfares to Dubai. Make sure this covers you and your family as you can bank on spending anywhere between Dhs.1000 to Dhs.2000 per application if this is not clearly stated in your employment agreement. Consider storing your goods in SA (for possible return) and purchase new furniture here. It would cost around Dhs.15 000 to set up a home here (to start with).

Relocation allowance
I would therefore strongly recommend you push for a Dhs.30 000+ for settling in and relocation allowance depreciated over three years to put to use as follows:
Initial furniture, curtains etc required: Dhs. 15 000
Car deposit: Dhs.4000 to Dhs.6000 (10 percent if applicable, 100 percent financing is possible)
Car Insurance: Dhs.3000
Car registration costs: Dhs.500
Agent’s commission on letting of villa: Dhs.3000 to Dhs.3500 (five percent of rental)
DSTv / satellite TV installation and six months' subscription: Dhs.3 850
Drivers licence and liquor permit: Dhs.400 each plus Dhs.230 liquor permit
School uniforms: Dhs.500 each, if applicable
Annual health and recreation club membership (optional): Dhs.5000 to Dhs.10 000 depending on which hotel you choose.
They may give you a Dhs.15 000 settling in allowance and a Dhs.15 000 interest-free loan repayable over 12 to 18.

Remember that you would still have to pay for telephone connection fees (Dhs.250 for home and cellphones) and may need to pay a connection fee for your electricity account (this could be around Dhs.300).


Annual return airfares & leave
Annual return airfares and leave amount to some 25 to 30 days. Make sure it's clear whether these are working days or normal days, weekends included. Annual allowance for return economy airfares to SA for you and the family should be included as with airfares to SA when you leave (normally only comes into effect after two years of employment).

Visas
You will be relocating here on a visit visa which is valid for 30 days and can be extended for a further 30 days, and whilst you are here your residence visa and work permit will be processed. This can take up to four weeks.

Cars
You cannot buy a car until your work and residence visas are issued so you will need a rental car. This can be rather expensive.

Monthly expenses
Here is a list of what you can expect your average monthly costs (for a family of four) to be:

Groceries: Dhs.3000
Home telephone: Dhs.300 (depending on how often you phone SA)
Mobile phone: Dhs.100
Electricity and water: Dhs.300 to Dhs.400 in summer, and Dhs.100 to Dhs.200 in winter.
Petrol: Dhs.400 (about the equivalent of R2.00 per litre)
Entertainment: Dhs.1000
Bottled drinking water: Dhs.70
Satellite TV subs: Paid six monthly in advance
Car maintenance: Dhs.800 to Dhs.1000 each quarter
Car installment:
Newspaper subs: six month subscription works out to about Dhs.300
Clothing: Dhs.500 on average a month.
Laundry/ironing service: About 40 – 80 depending on frequency and volume).
A round of golf costs around Dhs.150 and annual club memberships are rather expensive (Dhs.12 000+). So, if you are a golfer, don't expect too many rounds of golf.


Domestic Help
Domestic help can be rather expensive especially if you want a full-time maid.



Cheers,
JSV

Thats extremely helpful JSV ....... plenty of info there ....... thanx alot m8 ........ appreciate it !!!!!!!!!!!

Dear JSV,

Thank you so much for your detailed information. Much appreciated

Do you know if I can sponsor my Indonesian nanny (maid) currently in my employment? We are now in Singapore.

Hi
I think you could but it will be hard to coordinate. Your husband will have to have his visa first inorder to sponsor her and that could take a little longer than you think (and without sponsorship in Sing she will have to return home first, right?). Otherwise I think having a miad is like Sing where there is a non refundable amount and conditions of employment. Also CM just a thought I had-when you went into Sing. you may have had a chest xray, blood test and urine test-you will have to have the blood test here and your husband will have to have the xray and blood test.

Myself and my partner are being posted to Dubai for 6 months with our work. Our employer is sorting out accommodation for us, and will give us an allowance of 100 Dirhams per person per day.

Is this enough to get by on? How much is a decent meal at a restaurant with and without alcohol. And what about the fun stuff like going out, clubs, water parks etc.

Fun stuff....hmmm, going to the beach is free (some places like the beach park have a fee of 5dh I think but I don't know what the difference between that and going further down for free is) and the beaches are nice. Jumeirah is very close and Jebel Ali is not far-alot of people are into kite surfing at Jebel Ali-thhere is also quad biking etc. You can go to places to do this or have your own. I know many people how have done diving courses and dive. Also you can do the off road bit or go on an oraganised dune bash. I noticed there are also go karts next to Jebel Ali beach.
Restaurants vary but on the whole are inexpensive for the non-alcohol restaurants-your local Eat and Drink is cheap for local and chinese food, fast food outlets like McDonalds, Subway etc are rife and many like Hardees and KFC deliver. More upmarket places have great deals like the Traders Hotel has a deal where you get 500g of prawns and free flow of alcohol for something like 110dh per person. There are a few good magazines which tell you about these deals...from memory I think the mag is called What's on and another is called Time Out.
There are more malls than you can poke a stick at and in supermarkets like Carrefour you can buy preprepared meals like fried rice and curries at a small cost. Fun parks like Wild Wadi and Dreamland vary in price and are supposed to be good but I haven't been yet so I can't say.
Accomodation is pricey but so is electricity and is a huge consideration. Medical is another thing you should be considering. It depends where you have come from too because for us the cost of living is quite low but I know for Pakistanis, Indians and Filipinos this is not the case so obviously it is relative to your country of origin.

I think most would agree, as long as your accomodation (utilities included), transport and must haves - medical etc are covered u should be fine. Its saving $$$ once you're actually here that gets u...

Gunner wrote:Hi everyone, I live in UK and have been offered a job in Dubai of UAED 6500 with free accomodation, free medical, free airfare, and UAED 2800 for food allowance. I am single and need to save $5000-6000 a year for a loan that I need to pay. As I have never been to the place do you think I will meet my goal (the savings), or are there too many hidden costs that I donot know of. Appreciate your help !

GO for it, but once you are here, remember to keep your costs within control. Do not go to Cyclone