💰 Everyone back home thinks 6,000 riyals is a lot of money

Whenever someone back in Hyderabad hears a Gulf salary they do the conversion in their head and stop there. 6,000 riyals, that's 1.3 lakh, done, you're rich. Nobody counts the rest. Rent here takes a big bite first. And since 2020 there's the dependent fee, 400 riyals a month for every family member on your iqama. Wife and two kids, that's 1,200 riyals gone before school fees, before groceries, before anything. And that's not even counting the summer tickets, which nobody wants to talk about. School is the next shock. Even the cheaper Indian schools here charge a few thousand riyals a year per kid, plus books, uniform and the bus. Then family medical insurance, and the exit re-entry visa every time someone flies home. All out of the same 6,000. So a lot of people do the math once and send the family back home. Then it's one guy in a shared room in Khobar and the family in Hyderabad, which wasn't the plan when he came. What people quote back home and what's left on the 28th are not the same number. If you're thinking of bringing family over, ask people who already live here what they pay for rent and school. Not the agent.

Same with dollar salaries. Everyone converts it to rupees and forgets the rent is in dollars too.

The dependent fee is what catches people. The offer letter shows the salary in big numbers and nobody puts the iqama fees next to it. Ask the company in writing if they cover family iqama and a school allowance before you sign. Some do. Most don't, and you only find out after.