This informatin is based on my personal experience in the country and is being provided in good faith; there can be variations to this based on one’s lifestyle and need to be taken care accordingly. Below is the split of costs in general in Dubai for a family of 2 adults and one pre-school kid and one primary school going kid.
Food – AED 2500/month
Electricity, Water – AED 600/month (summer); AED 350/month (winter)
Maid (2hrs a day) – AED 700/month
Newspaper – AED 400/year
House Rent (2 BHK) – AED 90,000 – 100,000/year in Dubai in areas like Karama; about AED 10,000 less in Ghusais; about AED 20,000 less in JLT, TECOM, International City area (these are new developments and lots of them still have many buildings under construction; dust prone areas; community facilities like shops for daily needs etc are not easy to find around)
(If one stays in Sharjah – then about AED 20,000 less, but travel time shall increase by about 1.5-2 hrs/day along with about 60km additional distance)
House furnishing – about AED 25,000 is okay for 1BHK house furnishing with all amenities and 32″ LCD TV.
Taxes – No direct taxes; but this place has cost for everything including visiting parks (about AED 3-10/person)
Medical – extremely costly (in general medicines are 10 times the cost in India and consultation fees about AED 100-400/visit). Hence comprehensive medical insurance including dental should be taken for self & family members. Insurance costs are about AED 1700/person/year (Oman Insurance).
Car travel – driving license costs AED 5,500 including training (one time cost) – many countries have their licenses pre-approved and can be used to get Dubai license without going through the process of obtaining fresh one here, car lease charges are about AED 2,200/month (1.8L, fully automatic, Toyota) and petrol of about AED 600/month (consider about AED 0.12/km cost).
If company takes care of home-office-home and official travel then about AED 700/month in taxi expenses for moving around (metro though opened on 9/9/9 is still limited in reach due to only 2 stations on Sh. Zayed Road) with family for outings. This place has pathetic public mass transport system as yet.
Recreation – cost of about AED 150/eating in okay kind of restaurant, if going for movie then it would be about AED 105/movie for family (kids below 2years of age are not allowed in cinema halls).
Telephone / mobile – about AED 300/month, if not many international calls.
Internet – AED 149/month for 256kbps broadband connection at home (PCs would cost somewhere near to AED 3000 in ongoing specifications).
Visa / health card / labour card / e-card etc. – all these expenses for self (AED 2700) & family (AED 2400) once in 3years.
Education – pre-school fees is about AED 2000/month (including transportation) and one time enrollment expense of about AED 1500/-. School fees varies and a good school would charge about AED 3400/month in tuition, AED 500/month in transport and other expenses (one time expenses every year can be about AED 1200).
Miscellaneous expenses – on birthdays, parties, socialising – to be considered about AED 500-700/month.
In my view salary level below AED 15,000 excluding housing makes little sense for any family to come and work in Dubai/ Abu Dhabi / Sharjah.
As a next step if you decided to move to Dubai, then read about setting up house in Dubai.
Updated 5/10/9
