Q Hi Louise, I´m a danish and my husband has been offered a job in Dubai. I have to know how our standard of living will be. I will have to give up my job, and might not work in Dubai. My question is how much does he have to earn, if we want a good living standard..? We have 3 children and they would have to go to kindergarten and school. Offer from the company is 500.000dhm/ year in salary plus 200.000 in housing allowance.

A Hi, One of the most expensive parts of living in Dubai is housing and Dhs200’000 is reasonable but it all depends where you choose to live. Schooling is the next expense and this goes up as they get older but depending on what primary school you go to it will range anywhere from Dhs37’000 through to Dhs65’270 per year and kindergarten would be slightly less depending on how many days the children attended. Electricity can be expensive and for a villa you would be spending about Dhs36’000 per year and food would cost on average Dhs7000 per month. Other expenses include your phone, internet, satellite television there are many packages available for this but they are more expensive than they are in Europe. A 5% municipality charge is also applicable on your rent which is calculated at 5% of your rent. Going out to eat is not much more than in Europe except for when you drink alcohol and that will make the cost a lot more – a decent bottle of wine will start anywhere from Dhs 150 and up. Should you think about having any help in the house a full time house maid will cost you approximately Dhs1700 per month plus sponsorship fees which amounts to nearly Dhs6000 and is paid annually. Cars are cheaper than in Europe and petrol is very cheap (Dhs120 for 90 litres). Hope this helps.