Working In Saudi Arabia

elkpark · Feb 8, 2004

I knew a nurse in the past who had done that and was v. happy with her experience, but that was a long time ago (like, twenty-some years ago). Seems like this would be a particularly bad time to go live in the middle East ...

You may want to investigate carefully what kind of social restrictions would be placed on you living there. For instance, it is illegal for women to drive cars in Saudi Arabia, and there are all sorts of other restrictions on women's behavior and activities that we take for granted here. The nurse that I knew who had been there said that the Americans all lived in a particular "compound" (gated, walled community) and the women just didn't leave the compound.

And I'm not sure of the details off the top of my head, but wasn't a compound of international/American workers just bombed recently in Saudi Arabia, or was that somewhere else? I do recall clearly that it happened, but I'm not sure _where_ at the moment.

Also, you often hear that income you earn working abroad is tax-free, and it is -- but only as long as you don't return to the US during the entire year. If you set foot in the US, all of the income is taxable income the same as if you were working here.

I would get a WHOLE LOT of information before I committed to anything like that. Best wishes with whatever you decide --