Family accomodation in Riyadh

I think this is a good offer, even more than just good. It gives you an extra advantage that both of you are working.
Imagine you can rent a two-bedroom flat for 30K SAR/year, 3-4K SAR/month for food (for whole family), travel allowance at least 1500 SAR/month would be enough, tution fees varies depending on quality, a decent school's fee starts from 15K SAR/year, british schools are more expensive. Now you can calculate how much you can save, I'm sure that's more than 70%. Go for it! Good luck!

sorry, when I mentioned travel allowance - i meant car monthly installments

Thank you for your help. It was very informative. We will be working at King Saud University. We have 3 girls ( 7,5 & 2). Would we be able to put them in a good school on that budget? also I have been going on various blogs/forums etc with regards to accommodation - would we have to pay upfront for a years rent? what  bills and extra costs do we need to be aware of? we have been advised to go for compound life rather then private but it seems soo expensive.. what are your thoughts?
transport - we would not have our own till we have some income saved up - until then how easy is it to get from one place to another? school runs, work etc
What leisure activities are there for us as a family? Will the girls and myself be restricted to the house?

Would we be able to put them in a good school on that budget?

yes for sure average school fees is 20,000 SR per kid a year 

would we have to pay upfront for a years rent?

No you will have to pay 50% in advance and 50% after 6 months , usually KSU provide housing for their staff since they have their own compound, but if this is not the case I think they can provide you a 0% interest loan to cover that.

what  bills and extra costs do we need to be aware of?

me personally I pay the following bills : mobile phone, high-speed internet connection, TV on demand , electrical,  and water.
but for additional costs you will need to think about travel cost coz you might be traveling a lot in holydays and specially in summer. also since your girls will have a lot of time at home then you will be spending money on electronic gadgets and video games.  also if you want a house made and a private driver each will cost you 1500 SR a month at least.

compound or private .. what are your thoughts?

I would go for private , its quit safe to live outside compounds and you will have easy access in and out also a lot of friends can visit anytime and on top of that you will save a lot of money. the down part is you will have to ware Abaya all time when you leave the house.
in compounds girls can wear shorts and walk around the area or wear swimsuits at the swimming pool with their friends. since you have young kids that would not be a problem
if you can rent a private villa which has a swimming pool so you can enjoy it, but it will cost around 120,000 SR a year

transport - until then how easy is it to get from one place to another?

Not easy at all,  you will need a car since day 1, so you can rent one until you buy one.

What leisure activities are there for us as a family?

outdoors and shopping malls and restaurants, if you are lucky you will get to know other families and start doing your own activities.

Will the girls and myself be restricted to the house?

No not all the time, you can go out alone but only to shopping malls or to visit friends nothing more.

at the end I know some families take a 9,000 SR monthly salary and they are doing just fine , and some families can survive by taking 4,000 a month... so 32,772SAR/month  so depends on how much you are welling to spend

Thank you sooo much guys.
We also have interviews for Al Ahsa? so will decide which to take based on the contracts...
Very nervous about the move and the impact on my daughters more then anything.

HI guys,
The other offer does not start till late summer but we have had an offer with Berlitz which is offering immediate start but the pay is considerably less-  starting about 8000SAR/month (including all accomodation,transport etc)
Is this affordable for a family with 3 children, tuition fees etc.
Thank you in advance

If you want your daughters to go to a proper British-managed school, factor in about a month's salary (KSU, not Berlitz) for each one per year.  Compound would run at least 3 salaries per year, but more likely 4.  For other expenses, let's say 2 salaries.

That leaves you with 3-4 salaries untouched.

Of course, the schooling and accommodation can easily be cut in half if you are happy with any generic school and non-compound housing.

NOTE: The 2nd sentence in your OP is not clear.  Are you getting 33k as a total package?  Or, are you getting 33k as basic salary and will receive a separate housing and transport allowance?  My answers are of course, based on the first scenario.

Google british international school riyadh and check their fees.

Thank you Trapezius.
The 33k figure was including everything as a package- accommodation, travel.

I just checked the fees of BISR and it is more expensive than I thought.  From age 4 until Year 6 (age 11 or so) it is about 45k.  Age 3 is around 30k.

Other schools which use the British curriculum but are run by Asians or Arabs will be anywhere from a third to half of that.

8000 per month is too less.. One of my friends lives in a compound ( paid by the company). Need not to pay for electricity, telephone and internet. Got a car for free and earns 12000 per month. There are just 3 members in his family - self, wife and 1year old child. but he is not able to save anything for the last 6 months. Everything is expensive here except food and TV.

for your family, you will need a minimum of 15000 per month just to live decently.

Regards,

Thank you for your response. I will defiently consider them points when accepting an offer

we have three daughters ,7,5 and 2yrs old in April. with both of us working im expecting to pay childcare also for little on.

@iahmed

She did post how many children and their ages way up, and I already posted the approximate school fees for the British and American schools.  70,000 is only for the upper grades, she won't have to pay that much, but still quite expensive at around 40k per child.

@iahmed

I like the way you think..

oh wow!!im panicking now!we're currently being offered contract for just over 200,000SR/month (including transport/accommodation etc)
will we be able to find a nice place, send the girls to a school which is of good academic standard ( English speaking, preferably British curriculum, good results etc) and then cover all our basics of food, clothing etc and possibly save some too  or is that just asking for too much??
......

200,000 per month?

yes

that's a huge money even for an oil industry 

you went from 32K SAR to 200K SAR ? how do i get a 100K SAR offer )

There must be a typo, probably she is trying to say 200K per year.

Lol woohoo must've done something right then lol
No sorry guys that was a typo on my part!!
We would be paid about £1900 GBP each per month.
Two salaries

So about SAR 23,760 per month

What happened to the 32k offer from KSU?

that one starts in August, my husband would have to travel back to USA for his visa, we would have to leave the kids behind and apply for them separately... cant leave the kids behind especially since everything seems to take so long to process from what I'm reading. We are wanting an immediate start but where either we go together or I come with the kids later. leaving the kids is not an option...

tansari wrote:

So about SAR 23,760 per month

yes about that much

I am a little confused, sorry for this! did i miss a post about where you guys live + stay now?

I thought you were currently in Manchester? but you have mentioned your husband is from US?

Is there a reason why you are looking for an immediate start? I didnt really understand why if it starts in August you would have to leave your kids somewhere?


Firstly if you are talking about a 10k sar difference per month between taking a job immediately and august then you should really think about things carefully. sometimes some patience (if circumstances allow) may make a big difference in the long run (over the year we are talking about 10,000 GBP!)

Secondly there is an option of entering KSA through Bahrain to get a visa quickly. i dont know the ins and outs of it completely but know people who have done this. maybe someone on here can advise better if visa time is an issue?

Where is this new offer?  You mentioned your girls and the effect the move would have on them as a priority.  Keeping that in mind, I hope it is not in some small town, nearly all of which are very conservative!

We are both in the UK but husband is American and the issue we are having is that with nearly all the companies he needs to go back to Washington and apply for his visa- wait & then get flown to Saudi.
I'm not sure why but they stated that we would both go and then he would apply for visa and call over the girls??
We want to avoid him having to go to USA  ( flight accommodation etc whilst it processes isn't an expense we can afford right now as we don't know how long it takes)

So are you saying that the 24k sar offer is saying that you can all come over together from the UK? If that isnt the case then I am not sure why you would choose that over KAU?

I think in nearly all cases you are right that he will be required to apply for a visa from your home country (the US), this is not uncommon.

Firstly the University would apply for the visa from their side in KSA and it is usually this part which takes a long time (I was waiting for two months) ( but your husband can be in the UK while this takes place).

When a visa number is issued then you would apply to the Embassy in your country (in this case it may be the U.S). This part of the process is actually very quick if you have got all of the documents attested by the appropriate cultural attache's etc and can take a week (of which he would need to be in the US to have the medical etc).

Is it not a possibility that once this is done he goes over first to KSA while you and the kids stay in the UK. Then he applies for the family visa and you arrange your own work visa? then you can go over together?

This would actuallly work in your favour if the position started in August rather than an immediate start as things can take a little while to sort out.

I hope that makes sense and if I had made any mistakes I hope someone can correct me.

UmmeZahra wrote:

We are both in the UK but husband is American and the issue we are having is that with nearly all the companies he needs to go back to Washington and apply for his visa- wait & then get flown to Saudi.
I'm not sure why but they stated that we would both go and then he would apply for visa and call over the girls??
We want to avoid him having to go to USA  ( flight accommodation etc whilst it processes isn't an expense we can afford right now as we don't know how long it takes)

See, your husband has to be back in US to apply for work visa anyways unless your potential employer can find a connection at UK embassy and make an exception (which is possible, if they are willing to do so).

Easier approach would be that your husband processes his papers and comes over to KSA as soon as he can and applies for family visa for the kids (or visit visa if that's not possible). You can also process your employment visa and then travel with the kids as soon as they have secured their visa.

If kids come on visit visa, either you or your husband can apply for kids' family visa and then they can go back and get it stamped. On visit visa, your kids won't be able to attend school or apply for healthcare insurance.