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Potentially Moving To Kuwait

Last activity 01 December 2012 by doubty

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Mr.Benn

Hi Everyone

I'm currently considering a job offer to move to Kuwait at the start of next year with the job being based in the Shuwaikh Industrial Area.

Looking at the forum and other places on the web it seems a lot of expats are based in the Salmiya area. Whilst open to living in areas without many British expats eventually, to begin with I'd prefer to live in an area with a few other familiar accents etc!

Can anyone give me an idea of roughly how long it would take to commute between Salmiya and Shuwaikh Industrial Area on average?

Also if there are any other areas people could recommend with a reasonable amount of Brits living there and not too far to travel to work that'd be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

legacy

unfortunately theres no real time - the distance is about 30K (i think, give or take, u simply take the 4th or 5th ring road).

time to get there depends on a few factors - your mode of transport, how early you leave home, how fast you drive. the earlier you leave, the emptier the roads are, schools here cause a vicious gridlock of traffic.

shuwaikh does not have a residential area for expats, there is a shuwaikh area for Kuwaitis (villas). when choosing housing, do not go by proximity to workplace. salmiya is fine but also very congested. salwa is good but expensive. jabriya & hawally, same thing, congested (and partially expensive).

Req'ii is a good area i hear but im not aware of its place in the expat hierarchy, i know the minute im married im moving there.

so, the gist of this story is, do not judge a book by its cover, and keep your options open, m8 ;)

Mr.Benn

Thanks for the reply and useful info Legacy.

doubty

Hello Mr Benn,

we are expat brits who work in Shuwaikh and live in Maidan Hawally, the edge of Salmiya so we commute everyday.

Currently we take our daughter to TES and then drive across to Shuwaikh. This can take from 30 minutes to 90 minutes depending on the traffic!! We have to drive into Salmiya, escape and we use the 30 and the 2nd across to Shuwaikh. However we are thinking to put our daughter on the school bus and drive straight to Shuwaikh along the gulf road, a little further but generally a safer bet in terms of traffic.

From our experience a lot of Brits start in Salmiya and then either like in and stay here or move down the coast to get more space for you money. We are lucky and live in a great apartment in a great location so currently have no plans to go anywhere!

Good luck and feel free to get in touch if you want any more info!

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