Hi folks, I've had a search through this section of the forum and appreciate majority posts are from people from Indian sub-continent.
I've been approached with an offer (to apply for) job in Muscat in the Project Management field.
Current personal status is I have a wife (not working) and 3 young kids at state school.
my basic salary is £50k, my employer adds 10% into my pension pot and i get an annual discretionary bonus of about 7-10%
So after my voluntary deductions (pension/shares/charity) my basic net is about £2800, which equates to about 1400 OMR
I also get £190/month Child Benefit
Obviously we pay NI/tax which looks after our healthcare and education needs (amongst other things).
Own a house which have a mortgage on which isn't an issue as I would just rent that out whilst abroad (if we all moved a a family - more on that later). It's a nice house in a modestly affluent nice area
Live a fairly modest lifestyle so managed to have a fair bit left over each month (£500-£800) for savings etc.
What's on offer? - Remember it's not an offer of employment, just a recruiter contacting me to see if I'm interested in applying, hence the hazy detail & assumptions on my part
It's an initial 12 month contract, subject to renewal, so I probably wouldn't uproot my family until permanent.
Net monthly Salary 2200 OMR (I presume there's no income taxes to pay there anyway?)
Free Medical insurance (presumably for me only)
Annual flight ticket for vacation
Relocation assistance
Firstly, it's not worth me leaving a good employer for just one year, unless I was offered a voluntary redundancy package. I could try a sabbatical.
Secondly, kids. I've looked at school fees and something decent like International Muscat school is upto around 6000 OMR/year/child. I would have to negotiate that in otherwise it's likely to be a no deal for me.
As well as school fees, i understand rent is a bit higher too. If with family, it would have to be 4BHK villa. I would pay around £800-£1000PCM where I live now so equates to about 400-500OMR.
Again, I would like it to be a nice area with some amenities within reach (walking distance). Somehere nice to go for an evening walk with family etc. It doesn't have to be an exclusive compound/area and given that I'm of Pakistani descent, I would find it relatively easy to mix with people from Indian sub-continent if that was the case - though it's not what I'm specifically looking for.
It would only be worth uprooting my family if we were actually having a much better quality of life rather than the same quality of life but in a different location.
So... what are your thoughts?
Brit considering offer in Muscat
hi,
having 2200ro monthly is considering good IF the school fee and house rent both covered by the company. I have 3 kids as well, and all of them went to BSM (British School Muscat), the school fees are as their website with villa rent of 800-1000 OMR per month.
If I were you, I won't bring my family 
.
If you really consider to take it, try 6month by yourself here hence you will have better picture on how much that you need for monthly living.
ratih wrote:hi,
having 2200ro monthly is considering good IF the school fee and house rent both covered by the company. I have 3 kids as well, and all of them went to BSM (British School Muscat), the school fees are as their website with villa rent of 800-1000 OMR per month.
If I were you, I won't bring my family
If you really consider to take it, try 6month by yourself here hence you will have better picture on how much that you need for monthly living.
Hi Ratih, thanks. You're right there's no way I would bring my family over without decent school fees covered. I considered BSM but their fees are much higher. I would obviously check both BSM and International Muscat in person if went.
Reading between the lines here but are there others reasons why you would advise not to bring family here?
loofer wrote:ratih wrote:hi,
having 2200ro monthly is considering good IF the school fee and house rent both covered by the company. I have 3 kids as well, and all of them went to BSM (British School Muscat), the school fees are as their website with villa rent of 800-1000 OMR per month.
If I were you, I won't bring my family
If you really consider to take it, try 6month by yourself here hence you will have better picture on how much that you need for monthly living.
Hi Ratih, thanks. You're right there's no way I would bring my family over without decent school fees covered. I considered BSM but their fees are much higher. I would obviously check both BSM and International Muscat in person if went.
Reading between the lines here but are there others reasons why you would advise not to bring family here?
Hi Loofer,
I'm Indonesian that had been living in Jakarta, Perth, as well as Sunbury. In term of safety, Oman is very safe country compared to those 3 places that I had ever been before 
.
You will find your society here easily...even the local was the kindest among other Middle Eastern. So no...there is no other reasons other than school and whether you can enjoy better living compared to before Oman.
This is my 5th year in Oman, while my husband has been here since 7yrs ago. Culture wise, you don't need to worry with your family and their well being...it's just the education that was the highest concerns. The best international school are TAISM, ABA, BSM, depends on your preference. There are some other new International school but I have no further reference, they offer decent fees but again...do research first.
On the housing, there are so many choice here...however to have a nice place of living like the wave or Madinat Qaboos or Qurum, you need to prepare minimum amount as I mentioned before.
Hope it helps
Hi
I recently received an offer which is more or less similar to yours. A bit lower overall tho. The monthly total was about 4050 OMR base salary being 2600 OMR and schooling separately 1500 OMR.
I've done a fair bit of research and found that it is a decent offer however the schooling is a bit on the lower side just like you mentioned the better known schools are upwards of 3000 OMR.
That being said I am planing a trip to Oman on the 8th to see things for myself and try to come to a final decision. But based on my initial research I'd be negotiating for an additional 15% and also for schooling allowance as that is far off.
The one thing that i dont like is the fact that the base salary is low as usually any bonuses or such would be based on base salary alone.
But I guess you win some and lose some.
Lastly for relocation they are only offering tickets and 2 months accommodation I think that is a bit under the norm but acceptable.
Keep in mind I'm a 10 year vetran of the world's largest telecom company. Hold US and European passports. Married with 1 child so maybe I'm more flexible.
Hope this info helps.
Best regards
One more thing the 1 year contract was also an issue for me and i asked about it and seems its the norm amd requirment by the ministry of manpower that all expat contracts be renewable yearly.
Thanks
Hello all,
How much is base salary in muscat?
Lol.. Not that easy a basic salary can be anywhere from 300 OMR to 10000 OMR.. Go through the forum you will find plenty of example that were very useful for me...
Okay I'll read more:) thank you
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