Work Salary/Benefits Packages

Hi Christine,

The company that I work for is based in America. We are also a manufacturing company and I was transferred to Binh Duong as a director when my boss decided to open a second facility to help globalize our product.  I'll send you a message so you can get a better idea of what to expect.

Where in Binh Duong is it?

Jerry

Great, Jerry. I'm looking forward to your inbox message.
The company has several facilities, located mostly in the Thuan An district.

What kind of manufacturing? My place is British owned

as a minimum you should expect :
Salary
Housing - allowance
Health Cover
Work Visa
Temporary Residency Card

After that it depends on the company and negotiation skills. For example my place offers free transport to staff from HCMC.
Other firms offer expats flights home 1 per year typically. holidays entitlement vary again per negotiations and where you are from.

Hopefully Jerry has helped you out.

Hi Laidbackfreak
The company is a furniture manufacturing company for the American/western market.

Thanks a lot for the examples of what your company offers you, it's the exact kind of information I'm looking for. Flights back home once a year never would have crossed my mind. I've got some ideas now.

Should I expect to be getting paid by American wages standards or is the fact that I'm in Vietnam makes a difference in salary?

ChristineNguyen

Here's some info on what the US State Department pays it folks in extra allowances here in Vietnam:

http://aoprals.state.gov/Web920/locatio … yCode=1144

Regardless of what they pay their people your employer should not expect to pay you less than what the going US wages are. LBF mentioned the free yearly flights. When negotiating make sure they understand that's three free flights (assuming your on a three year contract) not counting your flight here and on the end of the contract, the return trip to Canada. Also if you accrue annual leave your travel time should not be counted. One other point is your HHG's and personal items. Will they pay to ship them to Vietnam or pay for the storage cost while your in Vietnam. When you speak about medical insurance make sure that just in case it's required, Air-Evac to BKK or Singapore is covered, along with of course the normal medical coverage. One other note if I may. Just in case that after your here and things go south for what ever reason and you have to return to Canada before the end of your contract, what will they expect you to reimburse them back.

Taxes
Your company should pay your Vietnam income tax for you but make sure they do so. They may even pay it as a bonus. Remember all taxes paid to Vietnam are a tax credit towards your US tax, I typically get 35 to 40K in tax credit per year.

Housing
Make sure they clarify your housing situation. I have a friend who was promised a free large furnished apartment. What they didn't tell him was he had to share it with 3 people.

VTD good input on the taxes. I just noticed though that from the profile the OP is from Canada. Here's a few links on how they do it:

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/tpcs … n-eng.htmlhttp://www.cbc.ca/news/business/taxseas … ional.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_taxes_in_Canada

ChristineNguyen I just re-read your post and yes you being already here in Vietnam makes a big difference, (I missed that portion and thought you were still in Canada) not so much in the salary but in the benefit package. Depending on if the company has real deep pockets and need to employ you quickly. more than likely about all you can expect is the salary.

The employer's contribution to your pension funds is another one that would add to laidbackfreak's list.

On this topic of pension funds, can anyone recommend a good and appropriate pension fund for expats working in Vietnam (preferably one that will pay out a lump-sum when we leave the country indefinitely.

All great help guys. I'm sorry I haven't been so active on this thread as of late but I appreciate all this information. I'll get to reading the links, making notes, etc and will get back to you shortly with perhaps some more questions.
I'm very glad I posted here on Expat.com.

Yes, Budman, I'm currently already in Vietnam but just on vacation. I've been here for a bout 3 months traveling. Would you think that still makes a huge difference in benefits?

ChristineNguyen If your recruited from outside of Vietnam you should be able to get the pay, allowances and benefits  as mentioned in the above posts. If your hired here in Vietnam they would consider you a local hire and might only provide you with a salary. It's like that all over the world except in some very rare circumstances. Best thing of course is to apply back home and get selected.

Hi,

Me too, I have the same query with her. Would appreciate if you can send me details as well.
Thanks!

brainyvillasor wrote:

Hi,

Me too, I have the same query with her. Would appreciate if you can send me details as well.
Thanks!

You have posted on a 4 year old inactive thread.