Ot - Working in Saudi Arabia?

Webley91 · Jul 17, 2013

I have heard from someone that "they know of someone" who is roughly my age (22) and is working in "engineering" in Saudi Arabia. They didn't have any idea of what sort of "engineering" it was, but they were supposedly earning £80,000 a year tax-free. If this is true, I would be interested. Can the average person really earn that much out there? I suspect that this is just bad secondhand info.

Thanks for any replies.

Fabitfast · Jul 17, 2013

Check the link . It has some information/survey about their salary.

SND · Jul 17, 2013

I think if a person offered me $80K to get on a plane, fly there, put my nose outside, and turn back around to come home 1 minute later, I still wouldn't go.

Btw, all those countries use mainly cheap $3 a day labor from singapore, malaysia and india. They do hire engineers and whip crackers to over see it, but you need to know your stuff, and if you do you know 80K ain't sh*t.

JRIowa · Jul 17, 2013

Look up petroleum engineers. Right now, that's who makes the big bucks. Usually, you live in a compound.
JR

Sea Farmer · Jul 17, 2013

I have quite a few acquaintances who have gone there for work. They did make big bucks.

The tradeoff is the quality of life. As JR noted, you usually live in a compound. You have little or no contact with the country or its people, might as well be on the moon.

And you WANT to live in a compound too. Where you can have some vague resemblance of a normal life, maybe even talk to a woman or have a drink. Possibly even express an opinion or two. Both are possible in some of the large communities for Western workers. None are possible in the very small compounds, or if you must seek housing on your own.

It's not a very dangerous place, but it doesn't sound like much fun. The locals really don't want you there, they need your skills. You may make a friend or two if your work provides contact, but its unlikely. So you find a job that specifies, in great detail, what living conditions it provides, and if they sound acceptable, go for the cash.

Pity really, its beautiful countryside and fascinating history.

Bondo · Jul 17, 2013

I knew a builder from NJ who went overseas with his construction company and in a few years came back with quite a few millions. This was building for the US military and rebuilding stuff we blew up.

It is still up to chance though and right time, right place, right friends, right background, right amount of BS!

moonlight machine · Jul 17, 2013

I know someone that was over in Saudi, He made great money working 16 + hours per day in a 120* non AC shop fixing trucks, 7 days a week. You live on the compound and only leave to go to the airport to leave that shit hole. You can make more in Afghanistan, better chance of dying though. You are not allowed to have a gun, only your guards can have one. Basicly all you do is work your ass off and sleep. Up to an amount that I think was about 80,000.00 is tax free, more than that is taxed. I don't know if he is stateside now but if he is he could fill you in. PM me if you want me to track him down.

JRIowa · Jul 17, 2013

Jobs in Saudi Arabia - reed.co.uk

One of my cousins was a private pilot. He used to go there for 6 months at a time just to fly the oil people around. He loved the money, but was always glad to come home or better yet, take the plane to Germany for service.
JR

sch · Jul 17, 2013

From the salary link, petroleum engineers get about $75K or 50K in pounds, unclear if that refers to expats working in country or to citizens. Taxation may be nil in Saudi Arabia but the OP would have to
know what HM gov't attitude is. US citizens salary in other countries is fair game, depending on how much you bring home, and the feds are really interested in your foreign bank accounts. 12 hour days
more than 5 days/week would make such a salary not quite so interesting. Saudis have a jaundiced attitude toward alcohol as well.

Webley91 · Jul 17, 2013

Thanks for the replies. I understand that it would be living on a compound and rarely leaving. I think I could cope with that if they had internet access. I spend a lot of time at home here anyway as I am not really interested in London, just stuck here with my job. I can also cope without alcohol. I'm not interested in the country itself, wondering if the wages are as high as I was told is what made me curious.

RDL · Jul 17, 2013

Webley91 said:
... Can the average person really earn that much out there? I suspect that this is just bad secondhand info.
Thanks for any replies.

Been there - done that. Right now you are focussed on the money but unless you have travelled you have not felt culture shock. At that point money ceases to be your highest priority. Working conditions are not bad, the people are generally quite pleasant, and it is warm in the winter but you will be a second class citizen and things will not always make sense. Living in compounds, the restrictions during Ramadan, losing many rights taken for granted, and generally being far away from the familiar makes it more of a challenge than you are thinking now. Check the UK tax laws because if you don't follow them you may end up paying the taxes regardless. Personally I preferred living 1 block from Selfridges.
Raymond

jdj · Jul 17, 2013

moonlight machine said:
I know someone that was over in Saudi, He made great money working 16 + hours per day in a 120* non AC shop .

That would have to be enough money to buy the WORLD, to make it worth that temperature. F*CK all that...let alone being in an Arab country of any kind, for more than 2 seconds!

kpotter · Jul 17, 2013

I have two close friends who are engineers, they both worked there for one year each. The consensus was it sucked and the money was not that great. The saudies are not stupid they will extract every dollar from you. They were both in the oil drilling business and mining business. They will not go back, the main reason you come back with some cash is because there is nothing to do but work and nothing to spend the money on.

motojoel1 · Jul 17, 2013

Saudi isn't bad. I enjoyed the short (1 month) time I worked there.
Ramadan is not fun. Got to be there for a week of that.
People were as a rule, friendly.
Rules were followed (rules of the road are far different than most places though).
If you like beer, do not go.

redlee · Jul 17, 2013

Come to Canada! I can make more than that with OT, Im just a lowly machinist. All the beer and babes you want!
And its not 120 deg in the shade.
Just saw your location, Ok we get paid in Dollars.

WAS Jr · Jul 17, 2013

I'm an airline pilot and I know several people who work for one or another of the Gulf state airlines. Despite the huge pay its typical for some of the airlines to keep expat passports and just issue them back when you need them for work and to take them back when the trip is completed. This keeps people from leaving before their employment contract is up. What does that tell you about the conditions over there? When I was a child, growing up in the 60's, my father worked in the oil business in the Middle East. At that time, everyone in the industry over there was from the US, the UK, Australia or New Zealand, with some Europeans. It was believed that Saudi Arabia was a destroyer of families due to the conditions, everyone became an alcoholic or got divorced, or both, both men and women, who were not allowed to work. And at the time, there was far less hostility to outsiders. Regards, Bill S

opscimc · Jul 18, 2013

I've worked for short periods in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, and my next trip to the region will be in October. In light of my experience it's interesting that the responses to the OP's question fall fairly nicely into three groups:

Never been there: It's a horrible place with horrible people and working conditions worse than on a crab fishing boat in the Bering Sea.

Knows someone who had been there: Not so bad, but overall a somewhat negative view of the place.

Actually been there: Fairly positive view with realistic grasp of the negatives (e.g. no BBQ pork sandwiches or beer...).

As for pay, the same laws of supply and demand apply there as anywhere else. If your expertise is fairly common there's no reason whatever they would throw large amounts of money your way to get you to work there. With expats of any kind, if you have expertise they need and a company wants to convince you to move overseas for a job, there will be a premium to entice you to do so. But, that premium will be the minimum needed to get you to take the job. That might be 20% more than you're making now, plus round trip airfare home each year, tuition at a private school for your kids. Some of the "extras" (like tuition and airfare) aren't really extras because you wouldn't have had those expenses if you had stayed home. Overall, if you're an inexperienced 22-year old like the OP, if you do find a job for a year in KSA the only reason you will return with more money than you would have made doing the same job at home is you will have had fewer opportunities to spend it trying to impress the ladies at the neighborhood pub.

vettedude · Jul 18, 2013

Webley91 said:
I have heard from someone that "they know of someone" who is roughly my age (22) and is working in "engineering" in Saudi Arabia. They didn't have any idea of what sort of "engineering" it was, but they were supposedly earning £80,000 a year tax-free. If this is true, I would be interested. Can the average person really earn that much out there? I suspect that this is just bad secondhand info.

Thanks for any replies.

I worked in one of the more liberal middle east countries for over a year, we had pork, boose, and other things you don't get in saudi. I am american and the tax benefits are dependent on many different things. One only about 80,000.00 is tax free IF you spend 335 days in any 365 day rolling period there + other complicated crap. Taxes for a few years after wils SUCK, my tax returns were 100 pages plus.

I you are an engineer, Mechanical/chemical, you should not be going to saudi for money, lots of people will pay you double what you have put up there to work for them at a us based job. The energy sector will pay if you hone your skills in the right direction.

If you go, you should be over there because you want to go to saudi or see the world, not for 80,000.00

PS. My passport was used (out of my possession) for visa processing, took a few weeks, if they retain your passport for a long duration go to your consulate, that is not acceptable.

Are you british? if so it is much better for you, i believe all of your wages up to any amount is tax free. I worked with a few british expats, they were much more common, i have a feeling due to a discrepancy as to what you can pay americans vs. europeans.

Pattnmaker · Jul 18, 2013

redlee said:
Come to Canada! I can make more than that with OT, Im just a lowly machinist. All the beer and babes you want!
And its not 120 deg in the shade.
Just saw your location, Ok we get paid in Dollars.

Good advise. Look specifically in Alberta, there are lots of high paying mining, oil and oil sands jobs out there. Only problems are, housing costs are very high and there is a scarcity of housing, but probably not that much worse than London. And Northern Alberta gets COLD in the winter 40 below is not uncommon. And unfortunately not tax free.

Heavey Metal · Jul 18, 2013

I know several people from here that work in the north sea they make enough just riding the crew boat instead of the chopper to pay their taxes for 10 years.

Ot - Working in Saudi Arabia?

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