# Easy for spouse to find work?



## Magpie21 (Oct 28, 2012)

Hi all
My company want me to move to Dubai in the new year and I'm currently weighing up options and if its financially worth it.

I earn circa £100k here in the UK and my wife around £30k. My company would like me to move to Dubai and my take home there would be 40000 HDR per month and that is to include everything. I have three kids 9, 5, 2 who would obviously all need to go to school which is a financial burden we do not have here.

Would this sort of money work in Dubai for us to have a good standard of living. We would probably only be in Dubai for 2 - 2.5 years.

Also how easy would it be for my wife to find work? She is a trained biochemist but currently is a successful saleswoman.

Any advice you could give would be much appreciated.

Cheers


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## blazeaway (Sep 28, 2011)

Well 40k dhs pm, assuming that is what you mean, is a lot less than £100k pa and if you are losing Wife's salary then even bigger difference.

That said a lot of people would be more than happy with AED40k, school fees etc would mount up though.


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## Magpie21 (Oct 28, 2012)

blazeaway said:


> Well 40k dhs pm, assuming that is what you mean, is a lot less than £100k pa and if you are losing Wife's salary then even bigger difference.
> 
> That said a lot of people would be more than happy with AED40k, school fees etc would mount up though.


Thanks for your reply.

Sorry, yes it's 40k dhs pm, (I blame iPad auto correct!)

40k dhs works out to be about £1600 more take home per month if I convert it back to Stirling or should I not look at it like that?


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## rsinner (Feb 3, 2009)

education for 3 kids would be c. 10K per month at least. Rentals for a villa would probably set you back by at least 10-12K per month. 
I think you would need a much higher salary than what is being offered. While take home wise it sounds high, you should factor in the higher cost of living (unless you are in London), the fact that you will need to spend money for most activities here esp. with kids, and that you are in the middle of the desert away from home.


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## Elphaba (Jan 24, 2008)

Magpie21 said:


> Thanks for your reply.
> 
> Sorry, yes it's 40k dhs pm, (I blame iPad auto correct!)
> 
> 40k dhs works out to be about £1600 more take home per month if I convert it back to StErling or should I not look at it like that?



You're assuming you have no UK tax liabilities? It isn't that simple, especially if you only stay in Dubai for a couple of years as you could be liable for income tax on part of your earnings whilst here.

If you are no better off before paying for school fees then you will be worse off. Rents are not cheap and the overall cost of living isn't really any less than the UK.


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## woodlands (Jan 13, 2010)

*Don't come*

You should be paid the same gross as in UK with a house allowance of c 200k aed, health insurance and school fees to make it comparable. Else you will feel miserable on a like to like basis... Not including your spouse's loss of employment. Sales roles here are not well pid generally...unless you sell defense equipment.


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## blazeaway (Sep 28, 2011)

If you work for same company you may also continue to pay NIH til end tax For a UK salary of £100k you would need at least 70 k dhs and maybe more.


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## vantage (May 10, 2012)

if you are only here for 2 - 2.5 years, i'd say no.
you are going from 130K UK (with no school fees) to approx 83K UK, with school fees for two children being approx 14K UK.
factor in an annual flight home for the family (approx 3,000UK)
so 130K taxed
or 66K untaxed.

You WILL be worse off.
the first six months WILL be expensive in terms of set up costs.. I can't see you properly saving anything (on the assumption that you live a relatively comfortable life in the UK, based on your salaries.)

If the spouse works, you need to factor in childcare for the 2 year old as well. The spouse package will be low, given that it will not include allowances for housing etc, which your package does.

It is a good salary here, but comparatively, for you, it doesn't sound like it's worth the upheaval.


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## Magpie21 (Oct 28, 2012)

Thanks all for your replies.

I agree on the face of it the offer does not look great. I will go back and negotiate, I refuse to bring my family for us to be worse off. The offer does include business class flights home for the family once a year and I will have no tax liability and they will make me a resident and I will receive a new contract from our Dubai office.

This still doesn't gloss over the fact that I will incur added expenses that we do not have here in the UK. Thanks again for all your advice.


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## Chocoholic (Oct 29, 2012)

You're biggest killer is going to be school fees, you really need to get the company to add that into your package.


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## ccr (Jun 20, 2010)

Magpie21 said:


> ...The offer does include business class flights home for the family once a year...


Just food for thoughts...

I don't know the exact cost for flights to UK, but to Houston, business fares are ~4 times coach fares (for the 16-hour flight)

So you might want to think about negotiating a trade-off flying coach home for family (of 4, shorter flight to UK) in lieu of housing/shool cost (or part of).

If the business/coach differential is same (4:1), then the total savings could be 12x coach tickets. 

Good luck.


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