[Appi]

Hello - Just got an offer that is hard to know if the salary is "do-able" in HK. Approx $500,000 HKD Salary - I currently live in a one bed-room walk up apartment in NY - live a comfortable live style - go to the gym not one of those fancy facilities with designer water, take dance classes on occasion, eat out about twice a week. No kids and a partner who I will be supporting. Would like to live in HK Island if possible and save a little bit of money to travel in S.E Asia...let me know the reality of my current existence will be possible in HK.

Thanks

[carang]

beware that neither common law marriage nor gay/lesbian civil unions/marriages are recognised in hk. as such your partner would need to (most likely) find a job to sponsor him/her. a dependent visa would not be granted.

$500K/year (i believe is what you mean) is ok. is anything else included, such as housing, medical, flights? if not, it might be kind of tight if you are trying to support someone (depending on how adaptable you are to local tastes)

[Appi]

Thanks - as for my partner - he is my fiance - guess just getting use to stating this so I guess we will have to get married quickly before the visa process as my company will not pay that. I WISH they covered housing - but no - but they pay for all relocation cost of me - temp living (2 weeks), flight there (one flight home during the first yr), medical, ect

[carang]

if you are married before you apply for your visa, then you can apply for a dependent visa for him and he would be allowed to work. that being the case, you shouldn't have any problem making ends meet.

my hubby and i make about that right now between us. we are a family of four plus a helper and two dogs. so, just the two of you should be just fine.

if you are willing to compromise on some things, then it won't be a problem. if you plan on eating organic everything and imported everything and partying in Lan Kwai Fong every night, you'll quickly find that you don't have enough.

also, if you watch the costs on your rent...it is fairly easy to find decent places for less than $20k/month. the further out from central you go, the cheaper/larger it is, generally.

so, if you keep your mind open and know that life is going to be very different than what you are used to, you'll have a great time!

[carang]

ps> i would do some negotiating on the "package". you might be able to get some things thrown in that you didn't expect.

even ask for $1-2K USD/month towards rent... anything is better than nothing...

if they've sent people overseas before, then they would most likely expect you to ask for it...

good luck!

[gilleshk]

You'll be more than just comfortable with that salary even with supporting someone. More than 50% of household in HK live with half that amount or less.

You can find a two bedroom with about 600sq ft(HK style) in a nice building for less than 10K in Kennedy town which isn't far from Central.

Taxes will be much lower than in the US and so is the cost of living if you don't require too many special western luxuries.

[carang]

more than 50% of locals also live in gov't subsidised housing....

[Meerkat]

note that if you are an american citizen you will pay tax in HK and in the US... be sure to work out your net salary before accepting the role.

[gilleshk]

With a 500K salary, you'll pay no US tax. It's true that nearly 50% OF HK citizen live in public housing but even by deducting 20K a month for housing(and you can find a place for half that), you're still above the median household revenue in HK.

[aussiegal]

I'm not sure it's really relevant to compare foreign salaries with 'the average local wage'. I mean, us foreigners generally come here to get ahead financially otherwise what would be the point? With all due respect and I love lots of things about HK but do you want to suck up the pollution for no financial gain?