6400 SAR basic salary + housing allowence of 2500 SAR. GOOD offer?

The Company's offered my husband 6500 basic salary plus 2500 housing allowence. He is chemical engineer with 3 years of experience.

Is this salary enough to provide good life for a couple with a baby?
If not enough how much should we ask for?

Ideally, we want to find accomodation in western compounds.

Any comments and advicec will be highly appreciated☺
cheers ;)

6500 SAR would only just cover the rent on a western compound for an apartment. You could get accomodation for a lot less though but that deal does not sound much for a western contract.

Stu13 wrote:

6500 what ? $ or SAR. If its SAR that would only just cover the rent on a western compound.


Yes, after some research on compound prices I know that it is impossible with this salary offer. I try to get company raise basic salary up to 7500 SAR and Housing allowence up to 4000 SAR.
How about that?
sure I even don't dream of compounds maybe decent furnished flat would do.

Just negotiate for higher basic salary! Housing allowance is standard 25% from tue basic salary and transport allowance is fixed. The higher ur base salary the higher will b the housing allowance

vramakr wrote:

Just negotiate for higher basic salary! Housing allowance is standard 25% from tue basic salary and transport allowance is fixed. The higher ur base salary the higher will b the housing allowance


Well, That makes sense now. Thanks for that info☺

Housing allowance is only standard 25% for the very big companies and for Married status jobs. other companies can be different, Best thing to do is try to get out with a company that provides housing. 99% of people are better off with that sort of deal as the company can negotiate better rentals than a private person

to be honest with you, this salary is nothing for an engineer. and  in saudi arabia everything is depend on your nationality as much as your passport goes west your salary goes up in paralel :)

I believe for a junior engineer with 3 yrs of experience the normal salary should be not less than 10k of basic. additionally, forget about living in a compound. In 2015 all prices went high and a basic 2 br apartment (not in compounds) is now around 30-40K / year. apartment in small compound prices are starting from 50-60k

They did not raise it more than 6800 SAR basic. My husband is Egyptian so maybe that explains salary range. They can easily find Egyptians who will happily agree with that offer :)

what about housing in Jubail, I've found unfurnished 2BHK flats in range of 1500-1700 SAR per month. Not sure of good location , flats seemed pretty  neat and comfortable though.

All in all, He decided to accept the offer and we hope for better chances there :)

If you dont mind me asking where are you coming from as UK salaries are much higher than that even with the tax you have to pay.

My husband is Egyptian and I come from Georgia. Salaries here is Egypt is very low.

yes, unfortunately this is very common in gulf... salaries are based on your nationality as much as your experience and work quality... I know an egyptian guy, working as junior software engineer experience. his package is 12k... and he is working as an outsource... so a company is making profit on him...

Georgia? Do you speak russian at all? You moving from working in Egypt explains the package yes Egyption packages are lower than western packages here becuase they base offers on salaries in your home country. Good luck with the move, hope you settle well here.

No I talk very few russian.
Thanks for some helpful info   :)
best wishes for you as well.

No problems any more questions ask away and people here will help as much as they can. :-)