Moving to Reykjavik

Hi there,

I have just got a rather attractive job offer from an Icelandic company which i am seriously considering. Would be moving from Ireland should i accept.

The company will be looking after most things like registration, tax, finding an apartment etc.

The salary on offer is 700,000 ISK a month.

After taxes i guess i am just wondering is this enough to live comfortably as the research i have done about cost of living makes grim reading.

thanks

Anyone?  :D

did the company mention what kind of extras are included? It's not uncommon for companies to cover:
-mobile phone for personal & work use
-home internet
-money for gym membership
-subsidized lunches

You definitely want to know if there are such things covered outside of the monthly salary.

I was making a bit more than that 3 years ago in Reykjavik, living in what I'd call a loft apartment (not exactly a studio, not exactly a one bedroom, covering the whole top floor of a building) in a really nice part of postcode 107. I didn't have a car so I probably saved a lot there, but in general I was living a very comfortable lifestyle with plenty of chances to save. There is always a problem with renting in Reykjavik as inflation is generally quite bad, and many rentals are indexed. My place went up quite a bit while I lived there but generally salaries adjust as well.

What do you mean by "registration" anyway?

leiga.is is a website where you can search for rentals. In Iceland, the apartments are listed according to number of rooms, so a 1 room is a studio (bathroom is not counted as a room), and a 2 room is a one bedroom. You probably want to search for Íbúð í fjölbýli, which currently seems to be going for at least 150000 isk per month. Bland.is is another website that has rental apartments.

Thanks for your help.

Phone is covered and have subsidized lunch.

Registration i mean the card(the kennitala?) you need to have to do anything in Iceland, They hope to have that in place when i arrive.

They will also provide an apartment for the first 6-8 weeks and have hired a company to find accommodation for new hires from abroad.

My biggest concern really was the cost of living as it's really hard to find accurate information.

Appreciate your help

the kennitala process shouldn't cost anything as an EEA citizen, and if the company's covering your moving & set up expenses it seems like you'll be doing fine.

Based on your post I'm going to assume you're only trying to support yourself, and I'm also going to assume your idea of living doesn't involve dining out every night and spending every weekend at the bars. If both of those are true, you'll have enough money for a better than average Icelandic lifestyle. I haven't a clue what owning and maintaining a car costs but the other living expenses will be totally manageable. The only really unfortunate thing is that it sounds like you're earning ISK, which means whatever savings you do make might be tied up in the country if/when you move.

I appreciate your help. Thanks a lot.

Delzer - May I ask what industry you work in (and/or position)?  I will soon be looking for jobs in the civil engineering industry so I am just curious for the sake of comparison/figuring out what my salary expectations might be.

Thanks :)

Its the biotechnology industry