Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Working in Dubai

Hi
I am an IT manager from UK earning around £45k. I have been offered an IT position paying 30k AED per annum + Medical insurance.

I need opinion as to whether the salary offered will be good enough to live comfortably or not in AD.

We are a family of three and my little one will be starting nursery soon.

Any advise will be appriciated.

Thanks
Sdevil

That will be 30K AED per month.

Yes it should be good to live on, however be warned accommodation in Abu Dhabi is hard to find and very expensive. It may take a good chunk of your hard earned salary.



Knight

Others may disagree but I would say it is not enough unless your wife is also working.

Once you pay your rent and school fees for your three children I'd be surprised if you have anything left.

I understand AD prices are a little higher than Dubai, apologies if that is not the case, but in Dubai you're looking at:

Two Bed Flat = ~120,000 ~ 11/000/month (minimum)
Three Bed Villa = ~160,000 ~ 13,000/month (minimum)

Say 4000 dhs/month on food
Say 3000 dhs/month on a car (either rental or repayments +fuel)

After Housing/Food/Transport you'll have about 10,000 dhs left, which probably won't cover school fees for three kids.


Again - this is for Dubai, if AD is different then I apologize.


EDIT: Oops, I misread the "Family of three"...

It should be enough to get by with one kid in Kindergarten, but I wouldn't be expecting to save much if your wife isn't also working.

Sorry, for 'Family of 3' I read that as husband, wife and 1 daughter.



Knight

Dubai Knight wrote:Sorry, for 'Family of 3' I read that as husband, wife and 1 daughter.



Knight

I think your reading is correct

Thanks for the answer guys.

@ Dubai Knight , Yes the family of three is myself, my wife & my 2 years old daughter.

Below is the Yearly calculation that i have done for income & expenditure. Its based on a criterioa of getting a 2 bed flat, sending my little on to nursery & sending around £1k back to UK for Mortgage & Other expenses (Even though i will renting out my UK House).



Total Income (AED) 360000

Yearly Expense (AED)

Housing 125000
Nursery 22000
Car 24000
Gas + Elec 20000
Money Transfer to UK 60000
Food & Misc 70000

Total Expense (AED) 321000

Total Savings (AED) 39000


Please let me know if you think the figure are correct, less or inflated. As per this calculation, i am trying to negotiate salary close to 40k AED per month. That will allow me to save around 10k AED Per month.

If you dont mind, can you tell me how much are you managing to save a month there at the moment?

Regards
SD

quick & dirty

Money (IF its an OFFER, yes?) shall simply be double of what you get in your civilized environment/ world, any less is not even close to compensate the pain here.

Plus an appropriate rise by end of each yr serving (15% - 20%) for the following yr (tbc in Contract as additional clause)

Otherwise ist useless and more or less break even considering the pain staying/"living" and working here with all those numb nuts.

and after 3 yr or so you got at least the benefit in your savings at home and this makes it much more easier to forget...

The rent in AD is more expensive than Dubai and getting more expensive by the month. Your rent figure (for a 2 bedroom flat) was probably appropriate a year or so ago but not now. I moved to Dubai from Abu Dhabi six months ago simply because the rent there was too high and the quality of housing was crappy.

I'd budget 150-200K for a nice two bedroom flat, depending on where you want to live and how nice a place you want.

If you plan to rent a car month to month then look at 3K for something like an Accord, for a long term lease my friend has a Mazda 6 for 2200 a month.

I think you're overestimating for gas and electricity. I'm single with a 1 bedroom and pay 100 AED a month for electricity. My friends with families pay 300 maybe. Not sure how much gas is. It's usually brought in bottles.

For telecoms a month: 200-300 for cable TV, 200-300 for internet, then phones and stuff I'd say no more than 1000 easy.

Is it worth coming out here for 39000 AED a year in savings? I personally don't think so. If you get 40K a month then you're in a much better position.

I'm trying to save at least 10K a month but too many trips to the pub and too many expensive toys sometimes makes me miss that mark.

But as M! said, you don't want to be over here breaking even, you want to be here making sheetloads.

I'd do your sums like you have then bump up the savings to 120K a year and factor in 200K for rent. Ask for above that figure and if they ask why then mention the price of rent in Abu Dhabi. If they don't give it to you then stay in the UK.

PS: A lot of people I work with were stung coming out here because they factored in 60-80K for a villa and when they finally moved over they faced figures of double that.

PPS: I didn't want to sound too negative above but just don't be blinded by the salary figure. Remember you will be paying 27-37K GBP in rent each year. If you're an expat here you want to be living it up with money to burn, not being worried by gas bills and nursery costs.

PPPS: (last one I promise) I work for an IT/Software eng/System integration company in Abu Dhabi and salaries range from maybe 35K for basic engineers to (guessing a little) 60K for project managers.

Thanks Captain Australia

I did some research on salary for IT Manager (I have 10 years of Experience ) and average salary is around 45k AED Per month.

So i think the company is making me an offer at very lower end hoping that they will save money if i take it.

Factoring in 200k per annum for 2 bed flat, The only way i would be able to save atleast 120k AED per year is by getting salary of atleast 45k AED Per month.

So i have decided to not to accept the offer below 42k AED per month.

Do you guy know of any good IT recruitment agencies in UAE?

No worries, good luck with the job.

Don't know a good IT recruiter but with the economy going the way it is I may need one soon (yikes)

By the way, where did you do the research about salaries? I wouldn't mind seeing how I am doing relatively.

I did a job search on bayt & monster gulf. I also had a chat with my friend in recruitment company in UK. He has some contacts in UAE who helped me finding out average salary.

From what i can see, you can get around 30k AED to 60k AED depending on your experience.

Cool. I'm in the ballpark then. Still, always need more.

SDevil,

I think that you're AED200k rent expectation is still on the low side - especially for an expat family from the UK. Supply of housing units in AD will likely be contsrained for another two years, and you can expect a substantial rent increase next year if you decide to move appartments (even if you stay you may have to pay an increase as the newly introduced rent cap can be easily exploited by experienced land-lords).

If you're not already aware, you will also need to factor in that rent is paid for the full year in advance!! This is normally through '1 cheque' (i.e. you'll need to have the full years rent at you're disposal) or through '2 cheques' (i.e. you'll need to have 6 months rent at you're disposal, and have the remaining 6 months in the account at the due date). Do not forget that 'bouncing' a cheque here is against the law and there is a very good probability that you wouyd end up in jail if the cheque was dishonoured!!

In the current economic environment also consider the consequences of being made redundant with potentially only one months notice - no 'right' to reclaim unused rent, cancellation of your 'UK Tax Free Status' (you'll need to be out of the UK until April 2010, i.e. one full UK Tax Year, to not pay UK tax on any over-sea earnings). There is little job security or legislation here - you're employer can hire and fire as they see fit, and can also be obstructive when employees try to change employers.

On setting up over here, you can't do anything without a bank account, you can't get a bank account until you get a labour contract (and probably now an Emirates ID Card - another typically well thought through UAE idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) - so you will have a tranisition period to fund from cash savings. Allow at least two weeks, and more realistically a month.

Schooling and nureseries are in very short supply all over the UAE, but especially in AD. It may not be easy to find a nursery place near where you live. On costs, in Dubai it's costing me AED6,800 per ten week term for 3 mornings a week for a nursery place. Its worth asking your employer if they will contribute to nursery and schooling costs!

You will probably need two cars - one for you to get to and from work (unless you're walking distance), and one for your wife and child to get about in! (Get the largest 4x4 for your wife and child - the quality of drivers is very scary!! "The more metal surrounding your family the better" - was the best advice I received before I got here). Petrol is so cheap you don't need to factor this cost in.

A salary for a single UK professional of AED40-45k is okay - but for a young family you may struggle to make 'any savings'! The costs of living over here is not cheap, and entertaining is as expensive, if not more so, than the UK (although AD is slightly cheaper than Dubai). A second income will make a huge diffence to your life style and saving plans.

On the positive side, the current exchange rate will work in your favour when moving money back to the UK, and the outlook for the Pound / Dollar over the next year is it staying at the 1.50 level, with some banks estimating it dropping to 1.20!!!! Do not under estimate the consequence of the exchange rate (I get paid in sterling and in the last year have experienced a reduction of 30% in my buying power!!)

Haggle as hard as you can at the outset, as future pay rises and benefits are not guaranteed! If you're good they'll want you.

All the best

Thanks Cynical Scot.

Can anyone advise whether its good to get paid in Pounds or AED ?

sdevil wrote:Thanks Cynical Scot.

Can anyone advise whether its good to get paid in Pounds or AED ?

In most instances you don't have the luxury of negotiating this; in general companies will pay you in local currency (dirham) into a local bank account - what you do with it after that is up to you. The Dirham is fixed against the US Dollar (1 USD = 3.67 AED).

Cynical Scot wrote:(Get the largest 4x4 for your wife and child - the quality of drivers is very scary!! "The more metal surrounding your family the better" - was the best advice I received before I got here). Petrol is so cheap you don't need to factor this cost in.

Some of the worst drivers on the roads are the women surrounded by as much metal as possible, who have no idea how to handle such off-roading machinery.

And thus, the vicious circle of bad drivers continue.

wow 30K....Lucky you..I wish I had that kind of salary...