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Many people who would have never considered working overseas a year or two ago are starting to take a chance on the many opportunities out there around the world. With the unemployment rate in the U.S. closing in on double digits people are taking jobs where ever they can find them even if it means taking a job in another country. Many of those who make up this new wave of expats have no overseas experience and do not know many of the questions they need to ask of a potential employer. Picking a location to work in can be tricky and with no overseas experience these new expats may not know what kind of information they need to find out about a country before they decide to work there. By knowing what to expect from your new location can go a long way to making your overseas experience a good experience.
Picking a location comes down to what you are looking for. You need to make a list of things you are looking for from your overseas experience. For each item you place on your list mark how a country rates from a scale from one to ten. After you have all the items you want to rate a country by place them in order from the most important thing to the least important thing. This will let you see how well each country rates and you can decide what countries have what you are looking for. Some of the things you will want to place on your list is
Taxes, Safety, culture, nightlife, environment, cost of food, cost of services, cost of housing, cost of transportation, how much money your can make, language, local laws, and population.
Taxes and Income
It is important to know about any tax ramifications for working in a country before you take a job there. As a U.S. Citizen you can qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion if you pass either the Bona Fide Residence Test or the Physical Presence Test . To learn more about these tests go to the Physical Presence Test and Bona Fide Residence Test at IRS.gov. The maximum amount you can exclude for 2009 is $91,400 according to IRS.gov. If you would like to read more about the foreign earned income exclusion and I highly suggest you do go to the IRS website’s section on the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion.
After you learn about how to file taxes with the IRS it is time to look into how much of your income will be taxed by the country you live in. Some countries will not tax your income and some will. It is important to know what to expect before you take a job in any country. If you take a job in Kuwait your income will not be taxed so the only tax you will be responsible for will be what the IRS charges you. If you take a job in Germany you will be responsible for the high taxes in Germany as well. If you were to rate the taxes in Germany and Kuwait on your list of countries Kuwait would be a 10 because they do not tax your income and Germany would be rated a 1 because they have a very high tax rate (if you make over 52,552 Euros you will have to pay a 42% tax on your income.) The amount of tax directly effects how much money you can make in a country. If you were offered a contract for $100,000 in both Kuwait and Germany you would pocket about $42,000 less in Germany than you would in Kuwait. Therefore on the item “how much you can make” Kuwait would be rated around a 8 and Germany would be rated about a 4 depending on what your high end and low is on your pay scale. To get an idea of taxes in different countries around the world go to worldwide-tax.com where they have a guideline for many countries.
Your income level will come down to your skill set and how much your skill set is in demand in each country. You will also make more money in high risk areas than you will in safer areas. If a job requires you to have a security clearance the pay will be higher than the same kind of job that does not require you to have a security clearance. You will also make more money depending on what kind of clearance you have. If you have a secret clearance you will make less than someone who has a top secret clearance if you both have similar jobs. If you have a security clearance you are more marketable than someone who does not have one. The demand for people with security clearances are high not only in the Middle East but in Europe and Asia as well.
Security and Safety
You can rate safety by finding out crime rates in the countries and cities you are looking for work in. If you find a job in a high risk area like a war zone and are considering taking it decide what percentage over the salary you can make in safer country the company will have to offer you for you to be willing to take the risk. Also look in countries that border that country and find out what you can make there. If you are offered $130,000 in Afghanistan and $120,000 in Kuwait you may find Kuwait to be a better choice because Kuwait is safer than Afghanistan and your standard of living will be much better. Instead of living in a tent in Afghanistan you can have an apartment and go to places like The Hard Rock Café and TGI Fridays instead of a chow hall for dinner. Any country in the Middle East is going to have a level of risk that comes with it but some of those countries are riskier than others. The Middle East is not the only place that has risks associated with it. Make sure you do in depth research on any country you consider living in.
Culture
Are you looking to submerge your self in a new culture or are you looking for a place that has a similar culture as your home country? If you want to experience a new culture do you have a preference or do you just want to experience something new? If you want to find a place that is similar to what you are used how important and how similar do you want it to be? If you are interested in experiencing a new culture are you looking for a country that has a more liberal environment or a more conservative environment? Some places may have a much more reserved culture or liberal culture than what you are used too or comfortable with. When you take a job in a country you must respect their way of doing things. If their culture is conservative and it is frowned on clothes are to revealing it is not a good idea to walk around in a G-string or Speedos at the beach. If you cannot respect a countries way of doing things it is best to find a different country to work in.
Nightlife
Not all countries have a great nightlife. If you are someone who likes to go clubbing or bar hopping on the weekend and that is very important to you some countries just do not have that option. You may find that you are offered a job in a place that is very remote where even going to a mall is out of the question. You need to read up on each country you are thinking of working in and find out what kind of night life it has. Than rate each country on a scale from one to ten according to how good the nightlife is. If a country has a great nightlife rate it a ten if there is no night life give it a rating of one.
Environment
What kind of environment you prefer can greatly impact what country you want to find a job in. If you are someone who needs to have the ocean nearby working in a place that is dry and desolate will probably not be a good option for you. It all depends on how important the environment is to you. If someone pays you enough are you willing to work in an area as far from your preferred environment as you can get or are you only willing to give up so much for the higher paycheck? You have to be carful not to give up to much for that higher pay check. If you take a job in an environment you hate your time overseas is going to be tough on you.
Cost of Living
You are going to have to research the cost of living in any place you are considering taking a job. What might sound like a high salary may not be as high as you think if the cost of living is a lot higher than what you are used to. You need to make sure you can afford things like a safe place to live, groceries, transportation and services like DSL, cable, haircut, heating, electricity, and other services you routinely use in you everyday life. Transportation is important because you have to be able to get to work. Are you going to buy your own car or are you going to take public transportation? How much does a bus ticket cost compared to the cost of a liter of gas? What are the annual taxes and registrations associated with having your own vehicle? If your company offers company housing, a company vehicle or some form of cost of living allowance you may find any higher costs than you are used to are offset.
Population
Do you like the city life or are you more of a country kind of person. Will you be able to take a job in a big city where there are going to be a lot of people and rush hour traffic? Do you prefer to live in a place where there are less people and a lot more open space than you will get in a city? You may want to live in a big city but get offered a job on an island with under one hundred people and you will have to decide if you can deal with that or not. Maybe one hundred people is to few for you but you are willing to live in a palace with at least fifteen hundred people. You are going to have to think about this because the chances are you will someday get an offer to work in a place that is very remote with a very small population or on the flip side get an offer to work in a major city.
Language
What is the local language in the places you are applying for jobs in? Do you want to work in countries that only speak a specific language or are you willing to learn a new one? Maybe you want a job where you speak English but live in a place like Korea where the locals all speak Korean. You need to decide if you are willing take the time and learn a new language or not. If you are able to communicate with the local population you are going to have a much better time than if cannot.
Example:
Lets say you are offered a $130,000 to work in Kuwait and you are given company housing and a company car. For this example money is the most important thing to you. The list is put in order from the most important thing to the least important thing. This list is made as an example your list will differ according to your preferences.
Preference rankings of Kuwait
- Net income (Rating 9) X 10 = 90
- Net income is the most important thing to you
- Placing net income on the top of the list shows net income is your most important preference to working overseas
- This person rates the net income of $130,000 as a 9
- Taxes (Rating 10) X 9 = 90
- Taxes directly impacts your net income
- Because Net income is the most important thing on your list to you Taxes will not be far behind
- There are no taxes in Kuwait so he gives it a rating of 10
- Cost of living (Rating 8) X 8 = 64
- Because money is the most important thing on this list cost of living is placed close to net income
- The cost of living will be taken from your net income and will directly affect how much money you have left in your wallet.
- The cost of living is rather high but the company pays for housing and a vehicle so this person give Kuwait a rating of 8
- Safety (Rating 7) X 7 = 49
- This person is somewhat concerned with safety
- This person decided they would give Kuwait a rating of 7 for safety
- Environment (Rating 4) X 6 = 24
- Lets say that this person want to be close to the ocean
- This is the next most important thing to this person next to money
- There is no ocean in Kuwait but there is a gulf but it is still not what this person is looking for.
- Kuwait is given a rating of 4 from this person
- Transportation (Rating 10) X 5 = 50
- Lets say money is important to this person but the cost of transportation is expected any where they go so they find this a little less important that the environment.
- Since this person is given a car by the company Kuwait gets rating of 10 because of the low fuel costs
- Culture (Rating 4) X 4 = 16
- This person wants to experience a new culture one that is different than what they are used to.
- Lets say they are looking for a place that is a little more liberal than conservative
- This is a different culture than this person is used witch is good but it is to conservative for them. Kuwait gets a rating of 4
- Language (Rating 10) X 3 = 30
- This person only speaks English
- They are willing to learn a new language to communicate with locals
- They can speak English at work and for the most part they can get buy in the country speaking only English.
- This person has no problem learning the local language
- Population (Rating 9) X 2 = 18
- This person does not care how many people live in the area where they are going to work.
- Nightlife (Rating 1) X 1 = 1
- No nightlife in Kuwait
Now that the person has finished making there list and rating the country it is time to total it up. The list is of ten preferences and to come up with a total it up the rating in the first spot is multiplied by 10 and the number in the second spot is multiplied by 9 and so on down the list. When you total it up it comes to 432 out of a possible 550. If you want to turn this into a more manageable rating you can then divide 432 by 550 and come up with .785454545 you then push the decimal in two places and get 78.54545454 then round it off to 79 Kuwait scored a 79 out of 100 on this persons preference test.
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