# Please Help...Moving to Qatar from USA



## qatarliving (Dec 17, 2014)

This Forum has been a great inspiration for me and I hope that it will help us as we are planning to move as a newbie to the Middle East. I would greatly appreciate input from Qatar Residents as I am bewildered at this point. I have an offer to move to Doha, Qatar from US at a Senior Financial Management Role but despite my repeated requests I am being offered an all in all lump sum package of QAR 44K/PM and I would greatly appreciate any feedback and experience from Western Expats residing in Qatar. I have 2 kids in elementary schools who will be moving with me to Qatar. I have been offered a monthly compensation package of 44K QAR/PM inclusive of everything plus 1 month year end bonus. The only additional thing offered by the employer is Family Health Insurance plus the initial mobilization flight for family with some mobilzation cost covered. In your experience is it an OK package for me to move with the family to Qatar and do some savings as I would need pay for the lodging and kids schooling myself. We are not a lavishly spending family and prefer to live a modest lifestyle. 

I am a newbie at this forum but I sincerely hope that your help will also enable me to one day help our forum fellows.



Cheers
POB


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

I'm in the UAE, not Qatar, but I have some idea of the cost of living.

On your offer you *can* do it, but housing is very expensive and school fees are even more expensive than in the UAE. Look around the internet for American schools in Qatar to get a sense of their fees, plus the chances of getting a place as well. With so many families moving to Qatar school places are increasingly difficult to find.

My rule of thumb has always been 50K/month for a western family of four wanting to maintain a western middle class lifestyle with children at the good to better schools and a villa in the more established expat neighbourhoods. Your offer is below this benchmark. It doesn't rule it out, it simply means you have less savings at the end of the year and / or will need to compromise on the schools and where you live. 



qatarliving said:


> This Forum has been a great inspiration for me and I hope that it will help us as we are planning to move as a newbie to the Middle East. I would greatly appreciate input from Qatar Residents as I am bewildered at this point. I have an offer to move to Doha, Qatar from US at a Senior Financial Management Role but despite my repeated requests I am being offered an all in all lump sum package of QAR 44K/PM and I would greatly appreciate any feedback and experience from Western Expats residing in Qatar. I have 2 kids in elementary schools who will be moving with me to Qatar. I have been offered a monthly compensation package of 44K QAR/PM inclusive of everything plus 1 month year end bonus. The only additional thing offered by the employer is Family Health Insurance plus the initial mobilization flight for family with some mobilzation cost covered. In your experience is it an OK package for me to move with the family to Qatar and do some savings as I would need pay for the lodging and kids schooling myself. We are not a lavishly spending family and prefer to live a modest lifestyle.
> 
> I am a newbie at this forum but I sincerely hope that your help will also enable me to one day help our forum fellows.
> 
> ...


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## qatarliving (Dec 17, 2014)

Tally Ho,
Thanks indeed for your feedback. I greatly appreciate it. Of course, I realize I would not be able to send my boys to the American Schools due to the exorbitant fees and expenses. But I hopefully would be managed ot send them to good english schools with around QAR 4500/PM per child. The only thing that hits me hard is that the employer is not offering any annual air tickets. I thought it is a norm to be offered that as Western Expats, do you by any chance know if it is manadatory in the Middle East.
Thanks 
POB.


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