Cost of living in muscat

siv108 wrote:

hai everyone,
I would like to know how much a mechanical engineer(fresher) is paid? the company i am offered job in, is an EPC company serving the Oil and Gas sector. the company provides bachelor accomodation, transport and medical insurance.

By fresher, I assume the experience of (Atleast) 2 years as I haven;t seen an EPC, hiring a fresh graduate with no experience.
Coming to the point, assuming your work responsibilities are mainly into Engineering and not designing, your salary package should not be less than 800 OMR. Nevetheless, I have witnessed people, who are offered much less than the actual market rates.

Trust this clarifies.

Hi
I see you guys are very helpful and have managed to get some info on muscat already from your conversations.
I need to know the following
Presently I have a ctc of 700 or in india. And I am living in my home town. I am happy with the current job
I have been offered 1060 or at muscat.plus hra+lta+car+medical. Is it good enough to relocate.
Need your help

indraneels wrote:

Hi
I see you guys are very helpful and have managed to get some info on muscat already from your conversations.
I need to know the following
Presently I have a ctc of 700 or in india. And I am living in my home town. I am happy with the current job
I have been offered 1060 or at muscat.plus hra+lta+car+medical. Is it good enough to relocate.
Need your help

Brother,
Im not an indian and hence, I may not provide you a proper analysis of the comparison of the salaries between your current package and the offered one. However, based on various discussions, I, personally feel that a difference of OMR 300 doesn't seem healthy enough to leave your contry and relocate. However, choice is purely yours. I'm sure the other indians on this forum will surely shed lights on your post.

P.S, Assuming that the HRA/Car and other allowances are separately provided, the offered package is considered to be good.

Hey,
          I really appreciate you guys putting in your time and effort to help us all out. I have a query as well. I am a 22 year old who just finished my engineering and got a job offer from Khmiji Ramdas for the role of a sales engineer. This my first ever job, and I wanted to know if I have been paid fair. They are offering me the following things:

1. 250 OMR as basic pay
2. Accommodation with all utilities taken care of
3. Medically insured.
4. Financial assistance to get my Omani D/L
5. Company car.
6. Assured annual bonus of 300 OMR ( minimum)

                                 This is offer is better than any of my Indian counterparts who are working here in Bangalore. Is this offer good enough?(For Muscat Standards), considering I have no prior work experience. Or am I being taken for a ride?

Dear Sir

I am from Mumbai, India.Mechanical  Engineer  & having 12 year exp. I am negotiating with an automobile Co. in Muscat & have demanded around 1500 Basic OMR plus family acc. , TA & medical etc.Company has is negotiating with me for same. Pls advise what would be good salary with considering my exp. & cost of living etc. I may or may not take my family (1kid-2yrs).

Pls help.

Regards
Manoj

ask for OMR 2000 + all other benefits you mentioned should stand still.

Thanks a lot... but 2 months back I had given them my req. as 1500OMR + others...they were offering 700 OMR Basic + Acc. & TA. which I had rejected.

is salahla a gud place to work n stay with family for a few years

Hi Guys,

I am being offered 650 OMR/month + Medical by an IT firm in AL-Khuwair, Muscat.

Accommodation and other expenditures are on me only.
How much will i be able to save ?
Whats the average room rent in Al-khuwair muscat for a bachelor guy

My present salary is 1000 omr after all tax deduction in India.. Can I expect something around 2500 omr to 3000 omr considering cost of living..what should one should check with employer while negotiating...pls help ??

aditi.yambur wrote:

My present salary is 1000 omr after all tax deduction in India.. Can I expect something around 2500 omr to 3000 omr considering cost of living..what should one should check with employer while negotiating...pls help ??

Your post is way too open ended. Please note that there's a BAN on issuing the work visas for female expats. However, on certain technical grounds, i know few females, whose employments have been confirmed too.
For getting an idea on the salary, you should be specific about the nature of your work.  Then you actually need to have an offer in hand that can be discussed accordingly.

hi,

i know i am asking on a 2 year old post, but currently i have got an opportunity from a newly established firm with 1100 OMR. Its a in hand amount and i have to pay for rent and transportation.
i am married and i guess my wife would be love to come to muscat. i am non drinker, non smoker with relatively conservative life style.
so in taking salary and my life style into consideration is this offer ok?

for small family 1100 OMR is good salary  including rent.

arharsh46 wrote:

hi,

i know i am asking on a 2 year old post, but currently i have got an opportunity from a newly established firm with 1100 OMR. Its a in hand amount and i have to pay for rent and transportation.
i am married and i guess my wife would be love to come to muscat. i am non drinker, non smoker with relatively conservative life style.
so in taking salary and my life style into consideration is this offer ok?

Hi arharsh46,

Not a bad deal given your family size and your lifestyle.

Out of R.O. 1,100/- deduct (monthly expenses)
(1) R.O. 150/- for a single bedroom house (if you are going to be living in Muscat),
(2) R.O. 150/- (maximum) for provisions / food expenses - for 2 actually it will be much less,
(3) R.O. 75/- for internet and phone,
(4) R.O. 50/- for entertainment,
(5) R.O. 50/- (maximum) for electricity and water,
(6) R.O. 50/- for transportation,

The above quoted numbers are all on the higher side, except the house rent.

Initially you would have to invest in furnishing and setting up your house which could cost you not less than R.O. 1,500/- (a one time expenditure). How much you spend here would depend on you of course.

So on an average you should be able to easily save about 50% of your monthly income (after you finish furnishing and setting up your house.)

Good luck.

hi, i got offer to work in muscat and salary will be 300 omr.accommodation provided by company but food cost have to bear myself. I don't have any bad habits and i am single also.
Now please let me how much i can save per month?

pijush wrote:

hi, i got offer to work in muscat and salary will be 300 omr.accommodation provided by company but food cost have to bear myself. I don't have any bad habits and i am single also.
Now please let me how much i can save per month?

Please read the post form sumitran as he has costs posted there.

No one can tell you how much you can save as this depends on your lifestyle, how much your monthly expenses will come to.
Do you get medical cover provided by the company. If not you may have to allow for this cost too.

Dear admin, please let me know that how much food cost per month for one person in a village area and city area.

pijush wrote:

Dear admin, please let me know that how much food cost per month for one person in a village area and city area.

Food cost in village per month per person - Approximately OMR 40 / 3 meals a day.
Food cost in City per month per person - Approximately OMR 60 / 3 meals a day.

Please note this is only the food cost and no other cost is included in the above amount. This may vary, depending upon your food selection.

pijush wrote:

Dear admin, please let me know that how much food cost per month for one person in a village area and city area.

The food would be more or less the same anywhere throughout Muscat. Other than the Wilayat of Muscat, Sohar, Salalah etc most of the areas are not very well developed with recreational activities, parks etc.

The food should cost you anywhere between 1.5 OMR - 2.5 OMR per meal in a standard coffee shop and about 4 OMR in a restaurant. Again this is dependent on the food that you have. Also, I believe your station of work is Muscat, whats this village area ?? Muscat is a large city and there are pockets of areas that are a little under developed.

Thanks a lot.

I have been offered 700 OMR.
The company will be bearing the cost of transportation, accommodation and food.
The company is a very big name in UAE, Oman & other middle east companies.

Kindly let me know, is it considered to be a good package?
Or should i reject the package?

Hello cmaanil

There are several threads in our Cost of Living in Muscat forum section where you could compare you salary and the cost of living. You may browse and consult them for gathering useful infos.

Regards
Kenjee
Expat.com Team

cmaanil wrote:

I have been offered 700 OMR.
The company will be bearing the cost of transportation, accommodation and food.
The company is a very big name in UAE, Oman & other middle east companies.

Kindly let me know, is it considered to be a good package?
Or should i reject the package?

If you had read this post from the beginning, you wud have never asked a query..... ! Please help yourself and read this post in detail (From the first page and you'll get all your answers.

please let me know that the call rate from oman to Bangladesh per minutes.

pijush wrote:

please let me know that the call rate from oman to Bangladesh per minutes.

Hi pijush,

renna mobile offers very competitive calling rates to Bangladesh. Look up their website for package details.

Hi,

I could not really understand exactly as to why a job in Gulf is not that career enriching. Though I have no experience to give a firm opinion.

I was of the opinion in a developed country (compared to a developing one) -

- The best of talents are available in one place hence raising the bars and knowledge among the peers
- People tend to get a global perspective when people across nationals live in the same place and work together.
- It give a competitive environment and capitalistic view of things

Is my opinion not correct. I have never lived in Gulf to give my experience but being in India I felt so.

premchandar_au wrote:

Hi,

I could not really understand exactly as to why a job in Gulf is not that career enriching. Though I have no experience to give a firm opinion.

I was of the opinion in a developed country (compared to a developing one) -

- The best of talents are available in one place hence raising the bars and knowledge among the peers
- People tend to get a global perspective when people across nationals live in the same place and work together.
- It give a competitive environment and capitalistic view of things

Is my opinion not correct. I have never lived in Gulf to give my experience but being in India I felt so.

That's a million dollar question. I really wish Mr. Sumitran could shed a light on it. I keep my comments quite till that.

Hi schaz, premchandar_au,

I feel we should take this topic separately since many others too may want to participate.

In any case, here are my thoughts on the subject :

To be honest, this is a very sensitive question to be put out in public forum like this. I will try and keep my comments as neutral as I can.

Compared to a country like India where one's career can grow, prosper and thrive (as long as the person is in the right organization), the same can't be said here in Oman. The reasons for this are one too many.

It must be first noted that not necessarily the best of talent is available here. Quite on the contrary, the best of talent do not wish to come and work here to better their career prospects. People come here primarily for the tax-free income, the savings potential and the overall good quality of life.

There is a lot of free time and many long holidays (much more than in India), which certainly helps in spending more quality time with one's family. A common off-the-cuff comment one can hear often, particularly around newcomers, is that in Oman out of the 12-months in a year work will take place only for 8-months !! The rest would go on holidays ! Summer months, Ramadan fasting month, Eid holidays – 2 of them, National holidays …

I've worked here long enough to tell you that most corporate decisions take forever to be made. Approvals do not come by very easily. There is a serious dearth of urgency on most matters. Things take their own sweet time to materialise as no one would want to take the responsibility or ownership to sign the deal or award the job. Multiple layers of approvals are required if the value crosses a certain amount, resulting in more delays. Plus there is this big issue of people (even at the highest levels) availing of numerous holidays, beyond what the government grants. All this I am referring to in the private sector only.

When you deal with the public sector, multiply the above concerns by at least ten times. An expatriate employee seldom gets any professional support or gets to learn anything from the locals. It is invariably the other way round. No harm in it as sooner or later all expatriates would have to pass on their knowledge and skills to the locals and head back home. But it can only happen later than sooner. Today besides training them on the job, the expatriate would have to supplement his / her time doing his local colleagues jobs as well.  There is certainly an expatriate-local work imbalance which is detrimental for one's personal career growth.

Now coming to the expatriate-expatriate professional relationships, there is a huge disparity in the salary scales between nationalities which is also a serious problem. People from certain nationalities get paid more just by virtue of their passports, even though they may be less qualified and sometimes even inexperienced. The levels of discontentment amongst expatriate employees are quite high. But most expatriates who happen to be the children of a lesser god compromise and carry on because of perhaps their school going children or because of a well-settled and less stressful life.

I can think of many more other reasons which do not encourage or provide for a very enriching career growth and development. In a multinational and multicultural environment only if there is free give and take of ideas and ideals can one gain personally and professionally. I have not seen that happen here. People coming from different nationalities do not mix freely with each other. Outside office environs socialising and family gatherings happen only between people from the same nationalities. There are distinctly earmarked geographical zones where people live and mingle. As they say, the birds of the same feather flock together.

I am not the least bit apologetic for any of my comments made above as these are all my personal observations, views and opinion, which I am entitled to. And I also do not expect everyone to subscribe to my views.

Now over to you guys !

Hi sir,
That was pretty thought provoking.

- People getting paid based on the nationality is pretty discouraging. Equal opportunity employment and employers are required for the market and people to prosper. But then Middle East is also looking for Western and European talent which are more expensive than Oman. They will get attracted only of the pay is significantly higher thus bringing this disparity.

- In my opinion applying concepts like Omanisation to private companies can have disastrous effect on those companies and drag them from growth. One fine day when they plan to remove this policy it will unsettle the whole job market and the companies. The better way would be to bring in more investments and make them more employable starting from better, subsidised and compulsary education to their citizens. They will learn to compete on their own.

I think a place like Singapore is a benchmark for others to follow. However, I am hearing that of late something similar to Omanisation is happening in a subtle manner.

Hello,

I have a offer for working in a Software Company in Muscat.
Company offered me 950 OMR per month(Inclusive of everything)

I am planning to move with family: myself, my wife,1 new born baby and one 1.3 years baby.

So my question here is how much i can save out of 950 OMR, if live a standard life.

Can you breakdown my offer 950 OMR as per the standard life style.

Thank you in anticipation
Vikram

vikram.P wrote:

Hello,

I have a offer for working in a Software Company in Muscat.
Company offered me 950 OMR per month(Inclusive of everything)

I am planning to move with family: myself, my wife,1 new born baby and one 1.3 years baby.

So my question here is how much i can save out of 950 OMR, if live a standard life.

Can you breakdown my offer 950 OMR as per the standard life style.

Thank you in anticipation
Vikram

Dear Vikram,
If you just thoroughly read the same topic from the begining, you'll get more than sufficient info, pertaining to the COL at Muscat. Once you get an idea of the same, then you can further ask any related query.

felipe11 wrote:

700 OMR is damnnnnnnnnn Good to live in Oman, You will be rich soon lolll..!! No, its a fact, i get 400 OMR and i can save 70% of my salary after having a good standard of life.

Please let me know how you arrange groceries, how you cook food, what are the transport name you can travel to any place. Have you done your own chore yourself. What are the internet and mobile cost details? What foods are valuable that usually we need as a daily necessaries?

It will be more helpful for me if you give your facebook email id or skype id. Thanks a lot again.

Hello,

I have a offer for working in a Software Company in oman.Company offered me 1000 OMR per month(Inclusive of everything).So my question here is how much i can save out of 1000 OMR, if live a standard life.

Thanks,
Ashwini

akpadhy wrote:

Hello,

I have a offer for working in a Software Company in oman.Company offered me 1000 OMR per month(Inclusive of everything).So my question here is how much i can save out of 1000 OMR, if live a standard life.

Thanks,
Ashwini

Please help yourself and read this post from the beginning and I'm sure the next message you'd post here will be a "thanks" !!!!

I read most of the comments and its very helpful for someone who is moving to muscat. I really like the way you reply to all queries and that too in detail. Appreciated!!!

Reading you replies, I think you have a good knowledge of Saud Bahwan Group(where I am going) and need help regarding my offer.

I am engineer with 4 yrs of exp and have an offer from Saud bahwan Group of 400 OMR/Month which includes 30 OMR for Food. Accommodation is taken care from SBG.

- Is 30 OMR enough for food for a single guy(as per SBG it is)?
- Do I need to pay utilities bill, Internet bill or phone bill if accommodation is provided my SBG?
- I read in 1 of your comments that SBG has many buildings build for employees, Assuming I have been given place to stay there. What will be the transport cost from there to SBG?
- Considering accommodation and transport is taken care by SBG, what would be my saving?

Regards,
Raman

Dear Raman,
Before I reply to your queries, do you really think that the worth of being an Engineer is  OMR 400 ?? Ask yourself (only if you really own an Engineering Degree).  If you get satisfied with it, please proceed.

Anyway, replies to your questions in RED as below.

RamanjiRai wrote:

I am engineer with 4 yrs of exp and have an offer from Saud bahwan Group of 400 OMR/Month which includes 30 OMR for Food. Accommodation is taken care from SBG.

- Is 30 OMR enough for food for a single guy(as per SBG it is)? It is only enough for 2 simple meals a day. If you want to add one more meal, it may increase to OMR 50/month. Please be informed that this amount is only for a ready food, which may available at small coffee shops or the local small restaurants. The cost may vary depending upon the meals selection.
- Do I need to pay utilities bill, Internet bill or phone bill if accommodation is provided my SBG? No. SBG has its own residential complexes and generally they accommodate their employees, taking care of all utilities expenses (Electricity /water and gas)  but i'm not sure whether they'll take into account, the internet ?  If not, then you probably have to add another OMR25 / month for internet usage.

- I read in 1 of your comments that SBG has many buildings build for employees, Assuming I have been given place to stay there. What will be the transport cost from there to SBG? SBG has many buildings all over Muscat. I don't know which area they will provide you the accommodation. Its an open query and I can't reply on that. Also, SBG, being a group has many companies. We would be more flexible in answering you if you could mention the company's name, as SBG is into automobile / Engineering / contracting and various other businesses.

- Considering accommodation and transport is taken care by SBG, what would be my saving? Since the main expenses are being taken care by your employer, you can easily save 70% (Or may be little more) of your total income.

Regards,
Schaz!

I have an offer of 275 omr . Is that enough to live in Oman and yes the company is providing accommodation. .pls help me out guys. .

Hello sviper

please browse through the threads on the Cost of living in Muscat section forum to gather as much info as possible. Your issue has been discussed many times on the forum

Kenjee
Expat.com Team

sviper wrote:

I have an offer of 275 omr . Is that enough to live in Oman and yes the company is providing accommodation. .pls help me out guys. .

Hi sviper,

Instead of asking for help, why don't you help yourself ?!? Many answers are already available in the forum.

Okay, let me make this easier for you ... the salary offered is very low indeed.

Unless you are unemployed, or are earling lesser than what has been offered, you should not consider this salary.

Hope you are now clearer than you were before.