Can post for expat position or not?

I am currently working in Qatar, got a 2 yrs contract, but not direct hire (i.e. Through an agency)

here goes

Job Title : Contracts Engineer
Job Desciption : administer contracts, claims, correspondences, etc. manage tender activities
Age : 42
Years spent in company : 2 months +
Company : one of the Q companies
Industry : O & G
Tenure : contracted for 2 years
Employment Level : huh, what??
Experience before joining (years) : 15 yrs
Highest paper qualification/ education background : Engineering degree
Location : Qatar
Average Working Hours Per Week (incl lunch hours): 60 (6 day work week)

Monetary Payout
Basic Salary + Fixed Allowance : USD 250 per day worked (no work no pay) and USD 4000/mo for allowances
Contractual Bonus (months): in my dreams only
Performance, Variable Bonus & Commissions (months) : see above, only applicable at nights, or during daydreams

Benefits (where relevant) :
Health Benefits : medical card, which covers hospitalization, and life insurance under company's umbrella insurance
Transport Benefits : lumped in above allowance
Mobile / Internet / Gadget Benefits : zero - it's bring your own and pay your own
Flexi Working Hours : sort of, though officially it's non flexy
Other Benefits : 2 weeks off every 12 weeks worked, flight ticket to home paid by company (economy only, but at least they have to use Qatar Airways here, no LCC)

side note:
being in my position, I get access to some sensitive info... and I can say with absolute certainty, that what I got is far from a "good" rate here... it's just unfortunate that I joined after the global oil price crash... three years ago, I could have had much higher rate - maybe more than double.
but nevermind, to each their own... everyone's fate had been written... and besides, I can't really I complain with this much. Imagine, I made 13000 gross working in KL before this. so it's a big jump already, for which I am thankful.

Well, cost of living is quite bearable here.

I made a choice to live in Al Khor, much closer to work than Doha. This saves me about 120km of travel daily. I estimate maybe around 400-500 riyals per month on fuel.

I drive (just got it yesterday, second hand) an Accord, so I don't expect maintenance would be too expensive. Could've gone with volvo s60 (under same company & workshop as Honda) but I'm sure maintenance would be higher.

Fuel is currently 1.95 for ron 95, and 1.85 for ron 91

I spend around 150-200 riyals per week on food n drinks. This could be 50% highere, were it not for free lunch at the office (6 out of 7 days per week, that is)

I don't pay for air api & net, as it comes with the accommodation, which is a partitioned villa (1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1 living room, n 1 small kitchen area). I rent this for 2700 per month. There are cheaper alternatives, but I didn't have enough time to search for it, then. They only gave me hotel accommodation for up to 2 weeks.

I don't go for entertainment, too. I have a laptop with 1050ti, so my old steam games keep me entertained. Otherwise, there is YouTube and all that.

But mobile internet is expensive. I can only get weekly package, which is 20 riyals per 1GB per week. Instant messaging eats thru that quite quickly, never mind youtube.

I came here without my family, a conscious decision since schooling is very, very expensive. An average international school would be around 30,000 per child per year up to year 6...and it gets more expensive from there. There are schools that charge North of 50k...

This post has been edited by abu.shofwan: Mar 14 2018, 01:32 PM

When filling up forms, it depends on my mood, or my perception of the company asking for it.
When asked verbally, my answer would roughly be that I'm not comfortable at discussing current salary because it would lead to unfair comparison of salaries; because what I am interested in is the overall income (income! not salary), which means that I take everything into consideration: accommodation/transport allowance, insurances, and whatever else that can be represented with money. I guess that would make it a good "moment" to start asking what the company has on offer - you know, as a way to make a point out of it. Most of them are not comfortable at revealing the salary range that the job commands.
And anyway, the point of discussion should be what is the desired salary for the position on offer.
I kind of did that when I interviewed for a job in Brunei, years ago. Managed to negotiate my salary and got a 2k increase from the base offer. Unfortunately 2 of my friends did not negotiate and accepted the base offers. Somehow that company offered the same base salary for the same job grade (although each job grade actually comes with its salary band).

You can always try to nego.

I did that. I told them that I have 1800 for allowance, which add up to my total income. Then I compared the package (salary and allowance on offer). So the company agreed to up the salary.