To people who live in UAE.

An agency based in Abu Dhabi wants me to work with them with a monthly salary of 6,600 AED. Including full year health insurance and travel ticket. No housing and transpo.

Can I survive? what lifestyle should i expect with that salary?

6600 United Arab Emirates Dirham equals 1796.90 US Dollar.
In my opinion this is very bad offer but I never lived there so I don’t really know.

As good freelancer / author / small entrepreneur you can always earn that money from home.

In my point of view. They have f**king law. The rules are crapy. You can’t get full independent.

I live somewhere close. But i cant be 100% accurate. 6600AED is not much, you will survive, without savings tho.

That’s not very much to live there. If you don’t have any of your expenses covered, you should be better in France

How expensive is health insurance? If they are giving that to you for a year, that should be taken into consideration also.

I worked in Qatar for 2 years. Qatar’s and UAE’s currency is not that different. My salary was 7000 QR. You can live a quite decent life in that amount. At first i thought that rate was fair enough but when i got there, there are a lot of graphic designers who are less experienced than i am and earning more than i do. I would suggest you demand for more like 10k to 12k (depends on your experience). You can demand for a free accommodation and transpo. A lot of companies in the mid east are doing that. Accommodation (this is just a room and not the whole flat) is around 1.5k. You can have a room mate so you can cut the price down. Food is not that expensive. I would say 1k – 1.3k is enough for the whole month.

2000 a month ? thats Rent only in some places.

We currently live in the UAE. You can survive with 6.600 a month, but don’t expect any luxury. Decent housing is rather expensive, and you have to pay the rent at least four months in advance.

Also, keep in mind that your visa is tied to the employment contract. So, if you lose your job, you’ll have a month to find another one, or establish your own business, otherwise you’ll have to leave the country. There is no freeloading around here.

Highly skilled personnel is in demand and usually better paid. As spinfx already said, don’t accept an offer under 12K + housing.

Cheers