Job Offer - Advice needed
Hi I posted this in the wrong place yesterday (Doh!). My husband has been offer a job in Qatar and we're trying to work out if it's realistic for us to relocate from the UK. The basic salary is QR20,000 per month, plus family accomodation is provided and utility bills paid. We have one school age child and we are negotiating for those fees to be covered, possibly only partially. We would also hav eto find domestic help at our own cost. We like the idea of moving abroad and the contract is only for one year, so we can come home if we don't like it.
I am a canadian citizen making CAD 100,000 Gross.
Is an equivalent offer good enough in Qatar?
Without fully paid education in writing for both children, knowing your accommodation, full health bens and relocation allowances I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.
The issue with getting a school place is a non trivial problem for all expats.
It will cost you a fortune to set up here just for one year. If both of you drive you can kiss goodbye to 5k QR a month on car hire alone.
Think SERIOUSLY about this. You will not save money and I honestly do not believe Qatar is worth it for the experience of being abroad .. it is one of the most frustrating places I have lived and I've lived in a few.
I understood it as she had one child that would be going to school. If her other child started school in two year's time, from my experience, she'd be getting a salary increase for sure by then.
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you're right! I was given an emergency code! Nobody mentioned that to me though!
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when you fist start work, they give you an emergency tax code, until your correct tax code is sorted. You do however get money back if you have overpaid on the emergency code.
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Not only does schooling need to be paid for but your kid may not even be able to get in a school without sitting on a waiting list for a very long time. It's a big transition with a school age kid if it's only one year.
what's that?
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Sounds as if you came cross emergency coding!...........Ouch!
@orange, if he had that salary in the UK, half of it would go to bills, taxes and rent anyway.
Plus when I was in the UK, my education cost me 12,000 pounds, that's over 80,000 riyals. University is always much more expensive for foreigners in every country.
I remember 5 years ago when I had my first job in the UK and got my first cheque, I thought there had to be some sort of mistake... sadly the UK government took whatever they thought was reasonable before I could even see the numbers on paper :P
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Personally, for the salary being offered and the fact that you'll be coming here from the UK, I think the package is too low.I would reject the offer if you asked me.
as miss cat and abc said ... good schooling here is expensive. It is a norm to be included in the package fully covered.
As abc150 said the fees for DESS are QR22,620 per year but forgot to mention the registration fee per family so add another QR1,500 plus there is also the Assesment fee QR250 thats just one school. but you will find that to get into a school you will have to apply to more than one and all the fees vary some are more than this and will also requirea refunduble QR10,000 deposit (refufndble only when child leaves the school and providing all fee's and charges are paid). I am not tryng to scare you of coming but as abc150 also said earlier its also the reason why a lot of people dont cope so well here. attached is a link to a website with most of the schools here in qatar listed so do what I did go through it sought out the ones you want to apply for and apply for them all. the only thing is It does not include Cambrigde or Newtown schools. This might also help when negotiating for the school fee's as you can get a good idea of how much you will have to out lay in this area.
www.indexuae.com/qatar/qatarcat.php?keytext=Schools - 10k -
Term fees for DESS (Best British School in Doha) is QR 22620/year. Add another QR 500/month for transportation. Fees mentioned above is for year 2007-2008. For the last two years, DESS is increasing their fees by around 10% per year. This is just to let you know cost of education if you will be paying for it from your pocket. Please note that this fees is till year 6. For Year 7 onwards, you need to send your child to Doha College where fees is around QR 40000/year.
i agree wid ammensia... 20K really iz a lot of amount to get in qatar.. he shld take the job.
20k with accommodation is a great deal. ESPECIALLY for a basic salary. That means it'll go up inevitably within the year. To be honest, even if education wasn't included, it would still be a good deal for 1 child.
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Package is good if child education is included. However, please check for availability of place in British schools since places are very limited and many people leave a few months after coming here solely due to this reason.
Good schooling is expensive in Doha, if you have to pay for it out of salary, 20K will not go very far for a family.
"only mad dogs and englishmen go out in the midday sun"
Thank you Sajjadsa. I appreciate you taking the time to answer. At the moment my husband earns a little less than this, but we don't pay school fees and the help I hav eat home is from family, not paid. I think the deal breker is going to be school fees. We really like the idea of a change from the usual and to show the children a different way of life.
For most this would be a good package to come on, as the housing is provided, that one can be a real killer, just ensure the quality is upto expectations as that is difficult to come by.
Another way to evaluate the package would be to compare it against your current earnings that should give you a decent indication.
Hope this helps!