How Much Should I Get Paid?

At least twice a week I receive an email from someone who is thinking about making an international move. Most of the emails are looking for practical information, others are a little more emotional  “Do you think my dog will like it?”  The most common question I’m asked is  “How much should I get paid?

I worked in the recruitment industry for years. I know that no matter how much a position appeals to a candidate, if they can’t afford to eat they’re not going to take the job. For an expat position it’s a little more confusing, it’s all about the unknown. You may be incredibly keen to work in another country and while the offer looks good, you’re just not sure. What are the living costs? Is it possible that this assignment could end up costing you money?

Today I’m going to give you 10 years of recruitment combined with 15 years of expat experience in one blog post. I can’t tell you how much to ask for, what I can do is show you how to work out how much money you’ll need to make a well informed decision. Here it is. The top 10 things to consider when taking that assignment overseas.

1. HOUSING

When we moved to North America it was easy to gain an idea of the rental market. I went online, got a feel for the burbs, and spoke to real estate agents. In Libya it was a little bit trickier, there was no such thing as a real estate agent, and there were no burbs. Each location is different, a posting in Hong Kong opposed to a posting in Abu Dhabi will mean completely different options for housing. Will you be required to live on a compound? Can you live in a local house/villa on a street? Will you be limited to living in an apartment? Is it furnished or unfurnished. Will the company pay to ship your things? If so, how much can you take? Is there an air freight allowance? That first move with the 20 suitcases can be a killer with excess baggage.

Your first question should be if housing is provided. If an allowance is offered ask if it covers the deposit and the rent you may be required to pay upfront. In some cases you will be asked to pay a year’s rent in advance. If the company provides housing, does it have a particular house in mind for you. Yes? Where is it? Ask for pictures. Ask if you can speak to someone who is currently based there. When I moved to Qatar I pretty much knew which compound we’d be on, I then found an online forum and asked if there was anyone who’d be willing to speak to me about it. I can still remember standing in the backyard of my sisters house in Australia chatting on the phone to my future neighbour in Qatar. She was very kind and sent me pictures of the house and gave me a feeling for how it all worked. Never be afraid to ask, everyone has been in the same position as you. They get it.

2. SCHOOLING

While public schooling is easily accessible in most countries, this is not always the case for the expat child. My children do not speak Arabic (they may dispute this, they know how to count to 10) so a local school was not going to work for us. Private schooling is expensive, private international schooling can be heart attack inducing. Make sure you’re covered. Getting a place in schools in the Middle East is incredibly hard right now. Ask yourself if you’re prepared to home school while you wait? Can the company assist with securing a spot? Is it a British, American, Indian, German, French, Dutch, Italian, or Australian Curriculum that you’re after? Are you allowed to change schools if you’re unhappy? Does the school cover all years of schooling or stop at a certain point? If so, does the company cover boarding school fees?

3. HEALTH INSURANCE

Health Insurance can work in a few different ways when you’re traveling. Many international companies sign up with a health fund and designate packages to their employees. You need to find out what you’re covered for. Are you planning on starting a family? What happens if you break a limb or have a heart attack? Do you feel comfortable undergoing major surgery at your new location or would you like to be medivaced out? It’s possible the company will have its own clinic, ring them and ask to speak to the practice manager. Go online, see if you can find someone in a forum who has had a personal experience with the clinic.

4. HOME LEAVE ALLOWANCE

How many times would you like to go home? How many times will you need to go home? Every expat has a story of the flight home that happened in a heartbeat, the ticket that was booked on the spot. The unexpected death, the diagnoses of an illness for a parent, the natural disaster; for Aussies maybe its a bushfire, for Kiwis an earthquake. Being offered a business class ticket home may sound fabulous, but perhaps you’ll need to stretch it out to two economy fares instead. Are you given a cash allowance or are you required to purchase the one ticket? Do you have to use all of your holidays at once or can you break them up?

5. PASSPORT AND WORKING VISA REQUIREMENTS

Are you going alone or taking a partner? Will they be able to work? Don’t take it for granted that a work permit or visa will be granted. Do you need to married to live together? Do you have an embassy at your new location? Will you need to fly to a different country to obtain a new passport or attach visa documentation? In Qatar the Australian embassy comes to visit each month, if they didn’t we’d be flying to Abu Dhabi every time we needed to update a passport or visa. If you’re going to be required to fly somewhere make sure you’re covered, a weekend in Singapore may sound glamorous, but if you need go three times a year you’ll want to factor in flights, accomodation and incidentals into your contract.

6. WHAT ABOUT FIDO

If you’re planning to bring the family pet you’ll need to consider more than just the airfare. Getting the beagle from Houston to Qatar was relatively cheap and easy, getting her (and our newly inherited spaniel) home to Australia is going to be a little more involved. Investigate quarantine requirements and vaccinations for your return as much as you do your departure.

7. GETTING AROUND

How long will it take before you can get a valid license? Will you need to hire a car? Are you allowed to drive at all? Will you need a driver? In Jakarta neither G or I were allowed to drive, we began with one car and one driver and then realized we really needed to have two.  It wasn’t cheap and it wasn’t something we’d factored into the budget at all. In Libya we had to pay cash for our second vehicle. In Malaysia we paid a fortune to rent what looked and felt like a dodgem car. We had a driver for our first month here in Qatar which helped immensely, I’ve seen others get off the plane, hire a car and never look back. You won’t know how you feel about it until you get there, factor in a cost for taxi’s, drivers and car hire until you’re on your feet.

8. WHERE WILL YOU STAY WHEN YOU FIRST ARRIVE

Temporary Housing can go two ways. In Jakarta we were picked up from the airport and taken to a 5 star hotel. It was glorious, I was happy to wait for permanent housing for as long as it took. Grabbing a taxi was easy, finding anything involved the assistance of the concierge. Every night was date night. It was bliss. Moving to Libya provided a somewhat different experience. I shared a three story house with 60 men who were rotating in and out of the desert, we shared all facilities and ate in a communal kitchen. G, myself, our 2  year old and 4 week old baby bunked in a room together. I could not wait to find a house of our own, it took 4 months for that to happen. Be very clear on what that temporary housing process looks like. You may be lulled into an offer of “we put you up in the Ritz Carlton when you arrive” only to find out that that offer lasts for 5 days until you are moved to a cockroach infested bedsit under the flightpath of the airport.

9. FIND AN INTERNATIONAL TAX PROFESSIONAL

Tax rules change, constantly. Find yourself a tax professional who understands working abroad. We’ve bought houses in some locations and rented in others. Our tax lawyer in the US saved us from what could have been a $50K mistake when we sold our house in Houston. Talk to a professional in your home country, if you own property it may be better to sell rather than rent it out. Make sure you’re clear on the currency you’ll be paid and the implications of transferring money to your account at home. Will you be stung by fees? Is it as easy as pushing a button or will it be a long and drawn out process each time.

10. BEFORE YOU SIGN ON THE DOTTED LINE

Are there penalties for breaking your contract? How easy is it to leave? What happens when you repatriate? How do you get your belongings home? Do they pay for the flight? Do they withhold money e.g. a bond on your apartment, or the bonus you’ve earned.

Have I missed anything? Have you encountered a surprise financial setback when moving?

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Comments

  1. Sydney Shore says

    I would add cost of shipping household goods into the equation.

  2. Evelyn Simpson says

    Don’t forget the partners!!! Ask if they are going to be able to get a visa, what they are going to do if they can’t and what support they will get from the company. We see a lot of partners making assumptions about their ability legally or logistically to work. We also see that the partner’s needs are often just lost or forgotten in the process and they’re important too.

  3. expatriababy says

    One thing I’d add to the housing question is whether or not the house is furnished, and what does “furnished” include? For example when we lived in Japan, we learned that apartments come as empty shells, basically, without any appliances whatsoever. Whereas in China, our apartment had basically everything we could have possibly needed, including a tv in the bathroom! So, it can be helpful to know what sort of budget you’ll need to set aside to get the house set and ready!

  4. Noelene Scheepers Martin says

    I would like to add something about schooling….As we all know International Schools cost a fortune! When we moved to Switzerland, the company once again paid for our children’s schooling. Thank goodness my hubby had the foresight to ask the question, ‘Who covers the tax on this benefit?’ Fortunately for us the company agreed to pay the tax on this….We have some friends, who did not ask this question, and have had to pay a big chunk of money towards the tax on the benefit.
    As for the housing, ask if the company will pay for all utilities/ part of the utilities. In some countries the utility bills (water, lights, electricity) can be quite expensive!

    • Well done for asking! That’s a good one to remember. I agree about the utilities, horrendously expensive in some locations and really hard to trace e.g.. how to even get your electricity and phone bill can be tricky. I know people who waited for a year for a phone bill. Kx

  5. Clelia Douglas says

    I would also add the cost of electricals. Changing plugs is irritating, changing voltage is pricey! Think of all this electrical goods – fridge, washing machine, dryer, tv, vacuum cleaner, iron etc etc etc it is a loooong list. When we are buying sound and av equipment we always buy Bose because it is dual voltage. You can buy a converter (which I have done for kitchen appliances) but realistically you are looking at a lot of cash!

  6. Singapore living says

    Further on from the tax professional section – where will you be paying personal tax? And what are the tax rates there?

    The figures when moving to Singapore didn’t look too impressive vs the figures that we were being paid in Australia. What we neglected to budget in was that the tax rate in Singapore is less than half of the rate in Australia. Winning…

  7. Donna Coghill says

    We have found some companies only offer you an airfreight allowance. If you have a household to ship ask if the value of airfreight can be put towards sea shipment instead. We have often had to argue our case on this one.

  8. Wow… you have just completely put me off ever traveling for work.

  9. Falls under your tax point – Don’t forget for all the U.S citizens out there – you owe U.S. tax on all income, school, housing etc…and you need to find out if you are tax equalized or how you are to pay that tax. You mentioned pet shipping – our dog from the U.S. to Singapore cost $4000+ and my husband’s company finally agreed to pay – she was $2000+ to ship back to the U.S. on the end of his contract. Huge expense if it was out of our pocket. This is one of many benefits that seems to be disappearing – at least in the high tech world of expats.
    Also, I found one of the best things was making a “we can’t go without list’ – I stocked up on Costco and Target must haves and added them to our container shipment. Anytime anyone else from the company moved over – they did the same and shared the goodies. We found our “can’t live without list” got smaller and smaller over the years, as we adjusted, kids outgrew certain products and now we beg friends coming to the U.S. from Singapore to bring us all our can’t live without Singapore goodies. Not a must do before you sign – but a nice to have once you are ready to move. Your #10 is so important – too many families do not think to that level and ended up with huge costs to move their families out of Singapore (you can only stay a certain amount of time without a job on your green card) if their job ended/company reorg etc…management changes – so get it all in writing.
    PS I so enjoy your blog – not sure how it ever ended up on my radar – but we are now back in the U.S. and slowing adjusting back to life at “home “- never thought it would be so hard for all of us. (the dog seems to be the happiest since she can play in the rain, romp in the snow and enjoy a swim without the heat of Singapore). Hoping for more international opportunities or we may have to cash in the kid’s college fund and travel.

  10. teacupsandsilver says

    perfect timing for me Kirsty – have been looking at expat positions in your neck of the woods and others and I have been trawling forums looking for answers to lots of these questions so thank you,thank you!!

  11. Crystal Russell says

    This post is fantastic! I have to say I feel very fortunate to have moved for my husbands job with the government as they had someone walk you through every step of the process from visas to shipment to even having a sponsor in country to meet us once we arrived. Moving from the US to the UK we call it expat light it’s a good medium where at least we kinda speak the same language ;D. I wouldn’t suggest an international move espesially with children for the faint of heart. You are basically starting all over

  12. These are great tips. The only other i’d suggest is general cost of living – groceries and bills. We have been very surprised by the cost of food in Singapore, which was unexpected. Increasingly, too, expats are with small or self-employed companies which don’t have big budgets. The move was sold to us from a tax savings perspective, but when everything costs so much more we are worse off financially being here. At the end of the day we should have done more research prior to accepting.

  13. Andrea Hamann says

    There are some good blogs/websites that do wage/package/ comparisons for different gulf countries, and some good forums that discuss cost of living breakdowns for families. We are starting to look at qatar right now….I’ve done it myself before..but much more daunting with pets and famil.

  14. Banking is another hassle to try to understand before you move. We were advised (by fellow expats) to just take a few hundred dollars with us upon moving. Needless to say we racked up lots of international fees on our bank cards and even had to borrow from the people who advised us! Many things will be covered by ‘the company’ by reimbursement so you still need to have the cash flow to pay for them. For example, we had to pay $50,000US school fees and tuition to be reimbursed! Not easy to scrape that together especially when you don’t yet have a local bank account.

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