# How much money to start working and living in Dubai?



## St0rMl0rD (Mar 6, 2013)

Hi guys (and gals),

I got an opportunity for work in Dubai. Now, I've been browsing the web all over the place, including this forum, but one question is still unanswered.

How much money am I going to need to move, start living and start working in Dubai? This of course has to cover all the expenses incl. medical, insurance, rent upfront (I'd have to ask my employer if they can provide this for the first 3 months for me), etc.

I'm moving there from EU.

Thanks,
-J


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## Asafa (Mar 8, 2013)

Well the company should offer you housing allowance if they dont provide any place to stay.

Rent and housing costs can be very expensive so watch out for it.


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## saraswat (Apr 28, 2012)

Have you tried the salaries sticky thread ?... It is a long read but loads of useful info on there... 

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/showthread.php?t=74339

Also this thread has great info about housing... (read the later pages things change out here ;-) )

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/du...4-ultimate-guide-renting-apartment-dubai.html


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## St0rMl0rD (Mar 6, 2013)

saraswat said:


> Have you tried the salaries sticky thread ?... It is a long read but loads of useful info on there...


It's not just salary, but expenses, that occur when moving to Dubai. What to get sorted out before moving, during moving and after moving...

Any info would be greatly appreciated!


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## m1key (Jun 29, 2011)

St0rMl0rD said:


> It's not just salary, but expenses, that occur when moving to Dubai. What to get sorted out before moving, during moving and after moving...
> 
> Any info would be greatly appreciated!


All depends on your circumstances. Are you moving stuff over or buying here? Just you or do you have a family? Do you have school age kids? What sort of area do you want to live in? What sort of place do you want (size, apartment, villa etc). All of this and more will massively affect your move and start-up costs.

The better the info you give the better the answer you will get. As it stands I could only guess between a few thousand AED and say half a million.

Now where did that piece of string go?...


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## St0rMl0rD (Mar 6, 2013)

m1key said:


> All depends on your circumstances. Are you moving stuff over or buying here? Just you or do you have a family? Do you have school age kids? What sort of area do you want to live in? What sort of place do you want (size, apartment, villa etc). All of this and more will massively affect your move and start-up costs.
> 
> The better the info you give the better the answer you will get. As it stands I could only guess between a few thousand AED and say half a million.
> 
> Now where did that piece of string go?...


I want a fully furnished one bed apartment, becuse I'd be living alone. I don't have a family, no kids. Dubai Marina seems like a good option for someone like me as what I could see so far.

Thanks!

-J


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## dizzyizzy (Mar 30, 2008)

St0rMl0rD said:


> It's not just salary, but expenses, that occur when moving to Dubai. What to get sorted out before moving, during moving and after moving...
> 
> Any info would be greatly appreciated!


All the info is in the forum but you need to look for it, is impossible to give you a figure since only you know your expectations and needs, it all depends on the sort of place you are planning to rent (studio? 4 bedroom villa?) if you're moving alone or with family, if you plan to use public transportation or buy a Porsche Cayenne, etc. 

For a single person looking to love the typical 'western expat lifestyle' (I.e. pretty comfortable but not luxurious either) I'd suggest you'd need around 150,000 dhs minimum to settle down, including 1 year rent in advance, deposit, agent fees, utilities connection fees and deposit, car downpayment, furniture for a 1bed, and miscellaneous expenses. Less if you negotiate several cheques for the rent, more if you are moving with wife and kids, etc. 

Having said that, take this with a pinch of salt as many people are able to set themselves up with way less than that (or more, if they are lucky enough to move here on an awesome contract). You will definitely not find a straightforward answer to your question (because there isn't one! ) but if you have a read through the stickies and posts and Dubizzle for rents, car prices, etc. you will definitely be able to find the information you need to put together your own budget.


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## St0rMl0rD (Mar 6, 2013)

I put the info one post higher


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## m1key (Jun 29, 2011)

St0rMl0rD said:


> I want a fully furnished one bed apartment, becuse I'd be living alone. I don't have a family, no kids. Dubai Marina seems like a good option for someone like me as what I could see so far.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> -J


Ok. Look on Dubizzle as you'll find listings there that will give you an idea of your options and price bracket. You'll be looking around 90k plus depending on the quality/location. You could pay less if you look hard and are less fussy on location etc. Start-up costs include:

5% security deposit
5% agent fee
Up to 1 year rent in advance
1k DEWA deposit
200 AED deposit for Du
Possible deposit for district cooling, depending on building/landlord

You will also pay a 5% housing fee, divided monthly with your DEWA bill.

All of this info can be found on page 1 of the Renting apartment thread at the top of the homepage.


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## St0rMl0rD (Mar 6, 2013)

The fact is I don't have that kind of money to give in advance for a year's or three month's rent. How are the companies regarding this? Are they willing to chip in for the three months worth of rent in advance? Is it possible to start living and working in Dubai with low financing possibilities?


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## m1key (Jun 29, 2011)

St0rMl0rD said:


> The fact is I don't have that kind of money to give in advance for a year's or three month's rent. How are the companies regarding this? Are they willing to chip in for the three months worth of rent in advance? Is it possible to start living and working in Dubai with low financing possibilities?


Some will help and some wont. You would have to negotiate with your employer. You could also look at cheaper areas and reduce your rent by half. Another option would be a serviced apartment. You can agree a long term monthly price with many. You will pay around 10k or more a month, depending on area.


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## St0rMl0rD (Mar 6, 2013)

OK, so I got the offer, and it's not what I expected. The whole offer is 7000 AED per month, 4000 of this is basic salary, 2500 is accomodation allowance and 500 transportation allowance. This is quite low and I am not prepared to move to Dubai and leave everything behind. I would require at least the double of this ammount based on the position I am offered (Business Development Manager). 

The accomodation is my responsibility, and since I have almost no financial resources to start with, I would have to pay the rent monthly, and prices for monthly rents are around 5000 AED in decent places, so that's an issue in itself.

At least they arrange my visa and plane ticket to Dubai.

What do you think?


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## dizzyizzy (Mar 30, 2008)

St0rMl0rD said:


> OK, so I got the offer, and it's not what I expected. The whole offer is 7000 AED per month, 4000 of this is basic salary, 2500 is accomodation allowance and 500 transportation allowance. This is quite low and I am not prepared to move to Dubai and leave everything behind. I would require at least the double of this ammount based on the position I am offered (Business Development Manager).
> 
> The accomodation is my responsibility, and since I have almost no financial resources to start with, I would have to pay the rent monthly, and prices for monthly rents are around 5000 AED in decent places, so that's an issue in itself.
> 
> ...


They are offering you 7000 AED per month for a business development manager job? That is absolutely ridiculous. The minimum salary they should be offering you should be around 20K monthly and even that is low!!

Needless to say, give it a miss!


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## St0rMl0rD (Mar 6, 2013)

Yeah, looks like I'll have to deal them...And to leave everything (family, friends, two bands, current job) behind and work from 8:30 'till 19:00 for this kind of job - I'll require at least 15k-20k, as you say. 

What are the usual working office hours? They say their working hours are minimum from 8:30 until 19:00 from Sun-Thu.


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## IzzyBella (Mar 11, 2013)

St0rMl0rD said:


> Yeah, looks like I'll have to deal them...And to leave everything (family, friends, two bands, current job) behind and work from 8:30 'till 19:00 for this kind of job - I'll require at least 15k-20k, as you say.
> 
> What are the usual working office hours? They say their working hours are minimum from 8:30 until 19:00 from Sun-Thu.


That is ludacris!
What type of company is it? Small? Large? Global? Local?

My OH "transferred" with one of the largest global companies and most of these things were done by the company:- 

Relocation company
Housing allowance divided up twice a year but in one go for your first year. 


Look around for other jobs. I'm sure someone with your impeccable English and skill set would be offered more. At least try negotiating with them. They do expect it for those roles!


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## St0rMl0rD (Mar 6, 2013)

Will let you all know, thanks.


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## raybar (Apr 14, 2013)

I am also moving very soon, but will have a place to live. Will be working in real estate, what would be a good amount to have for at least 3 months just in case


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## chris146 (Mar 10, 2013)

Do you mean to get you by if you don't get paid for 3 months? That all depends on what you want to do, if you have furniture to buy, a car and/or fuel to pay for etc.
If you are going to stay home every night, no eating out and no drinking and just need to buy food and the bare essentials then you could probably get by with 2000 - 3000 dirhams a month, maybe even less if you are really careful.
However, if you want to go out and socialise then you can at least double that amount. I've only been here a couple of months and you can spend a LOT on a night out here!
Also remember if you have a car you need to pay for that and fuel, if not you will need to pay for the metro or taxis. You will probably want to get a UAE sim card which again costs money. What about Internet in your apartment and TV and DEWA bills?
So, you can survive on a relatively small amount of money here but you will be bored to tears.
I know the reason I moved here was the chance to have more of a social life than I've had for the last couple of years (I worked in Kuwait before I came here), but a social life costs cash.

Others may have different opinions, I am by no means an expert, as I said I have only been here a couple of months but I have definitely spent more that I anticipated since I arrived here.


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## Eamon (Mar 5, 2009)

St0rMl0rD said:


> The fact is I don't have that kind of money to give in advance for a year's or three month's rent. How are the companies regarding this? Are they willing to chip in for the three months worth of rent in advance? Is it possible to start living and working in Dubai with low financing possibilities?


Look its your life, BUT reading that you dont even have 3 months money, you should give Dubai a re-think. You will be paying higher premium rent (as you cannot legally get a yearly one because you dont have a resident visa) even if you had the money to rent yearly.

You dont mention what kind of work you will be doing here, but if its commission based in any way, it could be months before you see a penny!

Hope this helps


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## Roxtec Blue (Jan 14, 2013)

raybar said:


> I am also moving very soon, but will have a place to live. Will be working in real estate, what would be a good amount to have for at least 3 months just in case


Hey Raybar. 

Seeing you're other thread regarding salary I would respectfully seriously suggest you save a much of your Miami salary as possible prior to hitting Dubai unless you have some other form of income/fallback.

Unfortunately, regardless of what you read about this part of the world the streets are not paved with gold, companies looking to pay inflated Expat salary packages or the rich and famous queuing up to buy mega villas.

Cash flow is king for an Expat unless you want to fall foul of the loan and credit card world.

A bit negative I know but the streets of Dubai are full off busted dreams.


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## dizzyizzy (Mar 30, 2008)

Roxtec Blue said:


> Hey Raybar.
> 
> Seeing you're other thread regarding salary I would respectfully seriously suggest you save a much of your Miami salary as possible prior to hitting Dubai unless you have some other form of income/fallback.
> 
> ...


I agree. I would not leave a lucrative career as in real estate in Miami to do the same in Dubai, no way. It sounds like a step down to me.


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## motojet (Mar 11, 2008)

Deleted


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