Thailand - how much for a relocation package and decent life in Bangkok?

[NCnumber3]

Hi!

I'm currently in the UK, and have an interview coming up as a mid-senior inhouse lawyer with a global company in their Bangkok office.

The role offers an unspecified 'relocation package' and has also not specified the salary range beyond 'competitive market rate'. I want to go in there with an idea of what to ask for and Google searches etc are coming up with wildly different monthly rates!

For context I earn £105k in the UK. I have spent a lot of time in thailand but either on holiday (both as a backpacker on a shoestring staying at hostels, and at much nicer hotels when older!) or staying with friends. I do have friends out there but not in Bangkok so they're not hugely helpful with costs etc.

I'd be moving with DH and he would be unlikely to get work, or at most something casual/low paid so I'd need to support us both. I'd want a two bed apartment in a niceish area, but we don't have expensive tastes really in terms of eating out/trips/hobbies etc! I would want to go back to the UK at least once a year...

Does anyone have any idea of what I should be asking for? I was previously looking at roles in eg Singapore and there is a lot more info about salaries and costs of relocating there, but not so much on Thailand...

No idea, but you could try the link below or similar sites if no one has any knowledge here - and good luck, I've enjoyed Bangkok whenever I've been there:
https://www.expatforum.com/forums/thailand-expat-forum-for-expats-living-in-thailand.24/

For an idea of accommodation costs, have a look online for condos I'm the Thong Lo or Phrom Phong areas. Your office location will likely dictate where you can live as it takes a long time to cross the city in rush hour, but these are nice areas and should give you an idea.

If you don't have kids, you won't need to worry about schooling. This is a huge consideration for expat packages!

Annual flights home and medical insurance for both of you should be included in a decent expat package.

Beyond that... it's very hard to say! For context, international school teachers at decent schools with a fair bit of experience take home somewhere in the region of 130-180k THB a month, often including some housing allowance. If you're earning so well in the UK, I would expect a lot more than this.

You should be asking for the max! The flights came be pricey depending on time of year.
WHere will your office be?Because that would determine a lot where you might consider living given Bangkok traffic which is not to be underestimated!
A spacious top notch 2 bed apartment with all amenities in, say, Phrom Pong would be max 100,000 baht but you can find very nice places for a lot less too.
Electricity costs can be high if you run AC a lot. Even up to 10,000 baht in the summer and if your building charges extra (not actually legal but they use a loophole)
Food depends if you eat local or imported. Local food, including eating out, is cheap. It adds up if you eat imported food or food that Thais don't really eat a lot like cheese or wine. Maybe budget for 20,000 baht a week? THat's on the high side again and you can certainly do it for less and feel deprived!
Transport is cheap but buying a car can be surprisingly pricey. If you can be near the BTS or MRT your lfie will be much easier.
Household help is also cheap. 1,000-1500 baht a day is a decent salary or 150-200 baht an hour if employing by the hour.
Don't forget to leave money and annual leave days for enjoying Thailand and the rest of the region!

Those numbers!!! I worked in Thailand 30 years ago (accom provided) and in my monthly salary was 1/6 @Eledamorena ’s suggested WEEKLY food budget!!!! I feel sooooo old

(This isn’t helpful to you I know but I am marvelling!)

Mmmm. Also ask for your contract to be a continuation of your current one, not a fresh one or a secondment.

Have they suggested the move or have you? If it's from them then 1. Be careful of their motives and 2. Ask for everything you need and a bit more.

Prices have gone up a lot in Bangkok as it's become very popular with organizations and all the digital nomades and there's a bit of a parallel market for anything catering for expats versus locals.

The prices I put are definitely to the higher end and with the expat premium. You can live well on a lot less if you go local and leave the expat bubble - but that's a choice and not for everyone,

Ohhh, I think you may have been referring to my post. SOrry that should have been 20k a MONTH not a week! You could spend 20k a week in Bangkok but you'd most certainly be living the high life to do that 😅

Have you lived in Bangkok to make such a strange comment?

Yawn, Hermione. Not sure I can roll my eyes hard enough, you stay in the Cotswolds.

When I was an expat (in Europe) my expat package included:

• all removal costs
• a one off payment for extra incidental costs
• storage costs for items not coming with us
• extra payment on top of my salary to reflect the higher cost of living in the country we moved to.
• annual allowance for flying home

Do also look at the return at the end of the expat term. What is the plan for you at the end of however many years?

Oh well, I lived there and elsewhere in Asia for a bit longer. Would rather err on the over zealous side fighting for equal representation for women than dismiss a place where 'other' people live. Also not so brittle/bored that I'd search someone's posting history.

Too bad for you. Bangkok is an amazing city. I've lvied there for more than 4 years and I can assure you that we live a more than decent life.
Why do you think it's not decent? WHat were you doing there?
I think your comment says a lot more about you than it does about Bangkok.

Ask your business network? Do you know people already working there? As part of interview process ask to meet a member of team, ideally who relocated too?

My partner accepted a job in Bangkok which included a 3 bed condo in a gated complex with cleaner & pool, plus a car a driver to get him to work and back.
I can’t remember his salary but it was the equivalent of 6 figure over here. He negotiated 2 weeks off every quarter to come back to the UK.
Everything there is cheap as chips as you know. Non Thai couldnt purchase property apart from leasehold in a complex, but that was a few years ago so may have changed I don’t know.

Sounds exciting good luck !

@leavesontheroad and @soidogs Yes, this was not my comment and I was shocked at 20k a week haha!! I agree cheese is pricey but you'd have to eat a boatload to spend that! Although, shopping at VillaMarket sure does add up quickly 🙈

@myhangrywriter Bangkok isn't for everyone, sure, but which location is? I spent 6 years there and it was great. I think it's an easy expat location. And my income was a lot lower than the sort of thing the OP is looking at.

I was in Bangkok for a while on an expat package. You should aim to get everything in a standard expat posting (school fees, housing allowance, annual travel allowance,
cost of living uplift etc). In terms of costs, Bangkok housing can be a lot (we paid over 100k baht a month for a town house), electricity as mentioned is CRAZY expensive and you need it all the time for aircon, and international school fees if you have / will have kids. In general terms, bear in mind that the city is huge, congested and boiling - pick your area well as getting round the city takes ages and you can’t walk / bike very far without getting super sweaty!

Or you could buy imported grapes at Villa market for a cool 1199 baht for 800g 😀

Oh whoops yes I quoted the wrong person! Sorry! Still marvelling at the numbers - I worked in a school and a good school lunch was 3B, and a really good market lunch was 10B! No cheese bought on my salary, to be sure!!

I couldn’t live in Thailand again… am sure much has changed but the discrimination against women was sooooo deeply ingrained and troubling.