Queries about living Dhahran compound.

Tara
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Posts: 1

Queries about living Dhahran compound. Jun 23, 2013 12:45:09 GMT

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Post by Tara on Jun 23, 2013 12:45:09 GMT

Hi, I'm Tara. My husband has received an offer from Aramco as a petroleum engineer. We'll be moving to Aramco's Dhahran compound very soon. I have several questions about living in Dhahran:

1.We already have 4 boys and I'm six months pregnant. Do you think we will be able to get a house with at least 5 bedrooms (1 for each child and 1 more for me and my husband),and later on move to a larger house few years later? (because our fifth child will be born very soon and we hope to have a sixth child later.)

2.What will be the avee cost of living for a family of seven in Dhahran?

3.We all are naturalized Canadian citizens originally from Sri Lanka. I've heard of several incidents of racial discrimination in Saudi Arabia. Is this common within the Dhahran compound too?

4.We are devout Buddhists. Are we allowed to have a Buddhist shrine (including a Buddha's statue) inside our home? Or is this illegal?

5.What can you say about the quality of service at the Aramco hospital? (This is very important, because I'm pregnant.)

6.Is there an upper limit to the number of children who receive benefits like: educational assistance and repatriation allowance from Aramco for each employee?

It will be great if you can answer these questions.

vpainter
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Queries about living Dhahran compound. Jun 23, 2013 20:19:35 GMT

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Post by vpainter on Jun 23, 2013 20:19:35 GMT

Congratulations on your husband's new job and your new addition coming to the family.

I am sorry, I am not sure anyone on this forum will be able to answer your questions about housing, your situation once you have your baby is not on the new hire housing matrix. If you came with 5 children, you would be hired under an out of policy (OOP) exception.

1. My guess would be that you would initially receive a 4 BR home, which is the eligibility for a family with 4 children. Your children will not all have a room to themselves. But many people go to housing and get approval to enclose their gae for another room or enclose their patio for another room.

2. Family of four depending on what their spending habits are can be anywhere from 3000 to 7000SR/ month. To me, food is the largest expense with most everything being imported.

3. Within the Aramco compounds, the make up of the population is very diverse with people from all over the world. Most get along well. I'm not sure there is any place where everyone gets along, but Aramcons do a good job of doing so.

4. What you do in your home is your business. Inside Aramco there will not be a problem.

5. The Dhahran Hospital and medical system is quite good. They are also getting a new management company which is John Hopkins International. Several of our friends have had their babies here and have had a good experience. Not all the types of birth are offered here, but they have been satisfied.

6. Since more than likely you will be an OOP new hire, no one will know what benefits they will be giving you. You will need to get clarification from your recruiter or relocation agent.

Sorry, there are no official answers to your questions on this forum, that can only come from the company.

GroveWanderer
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Queries about living Dhahran compound. Jun 26, 2013 7:23:45 GMT

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Post by GroveWanderer on Jun 26, 2013 7:23:45 GMT

6. Unless something has changed recently that I'm not aware of, once you have been hired (though as vpainter says, this may require OOP approval if you already have 5 children) there is no limit on the number of children who can receive EAP or for whom you receive an airfare allowance. I know of two families who had 7 and 8 children respectively (most born here) and they received EAP assistance and airfares for all of them.