Moving to India | Move BAEC?
 

Hello

Either just before or just after Christmas I will be moving from the UK to Chennai, India for a period of 2 years for work. (First Manager position, scary!)

I will be returning to the UK approx 2/3 times each year, and perhaps the odd internal flight in India or across to BKK, KUL or SIN

Is there any benefit in moving my BAEC account to India or am I best to leave it in the UK?

For internal India flights, any method to earn avios?

What about for BKK, KUL and SIN? I assume my only options for those are with Malaysia Airlines

Thanks in advance for any advice on this

sticky

Leave it in the UK to take advantage of the knowledgeable and efficient UK call centre and UK point-of-sale availability.

When I was in Qatar I kept my BAEC account in the UK for these reasons.

One more comment: make sure you get advice on your UK tax liability for a period of only two years away - you may have to pay UK income tax on all or some of your income whilst in India.

Thanks - I did wonder how good/bad the call center in India would be

I am planning on getting advice on the Tax. I will still be contracted in the UK but not sure if its best to get paid all in the UK, all in India, or split...

I have kept mine in the UK until now as I had 2-4-1 vouchers attached to it. Once i have completed those trips however I will swap it. Yes the UK call centres can be more knowledgeable, but they're also a pain to get through to, and you may get country specific offers from BA India.

You will get region-specific offers from BA in India - I certainly did when I moved there a few years back. I never had any issues with the local call centres FWIW.

I personally would use Jet Airways for any domestics etc from India.

If you are paid in the Uk then you will need your company payroll (tax specialist) to do something called tax equalisation for you through a self-assessment. While a pain, it is the easiest way to get things done, it also avoids you having any currency problems eg the Local currency bombs and you can't afford to come home.

Do you get a monthly allowance as well as your salary? If so, get monthly allowance in local currency paid into a local bank and salary into your uk account and try not to touch your salary.

Thanks for the advice

I will consider moving my account to India, especially as i would only have to do it for 6 months and could then move it back.

Wasn't there some rumours that BA and Indigo were doing something together, any updates on this?

No idea on Salary or benefits info yet. It's only just been approved by the company MD, so i'm waiting for HR to draw up an offer

Avios earning opportunities do exist in India.

If you are going for 2 to 3 years as an expat manager, you should try and get the "Citibank PremierMiles Visa". You earn 4 PM per RS100 spent and if you are able to expense your living costs, you will earn a fair amount. If you are booking flights using their portal, you earn 10PM per RS100 spent upto RS500,000 per year. 4PM afterwards.

They can be transferred to several FF programs including BA at a rate of 1:1.

It is a visa card so easier to use for everday transactions.

Having been an expat and having friends who have become expats, I have a few comments that may be useful for you.

Being an expat is probably more expensive than you think. Even if there are tax advantages there may be hidden "taxes" (e.g. high rents in expat housing, high grocery bills for home comforts, flights home etc...).

Accordingly I always offer my friends and associates this advice:

i) never accept any pre-tax salary lower than your pre-tax salary in the UK, even if the after-tax salary is higher

ii) budget for at least three or four business class returns to the UK per year in addition to your salary

iii) find out the rents on expat housing (including service charges) before negotiating your package and demand a package that will pay for high quality accommodation with facilities (e.g. private gardens, pool etc...)

iv) in some parts of the world motor cars can be much more expensive than the UK due to high taxes and I understand that this is the case in India, at least for imported cars - accordingly you should build this into your budgeting and package and if possible I would take a company car rather than buying your own.

v) if you have children, ensure that your package will pay for their education at a high quality school, preferably a boarding school in the UK (if they are the right age)

If you cannot achieve the above, you may be better off staying in the UK.

Hope that helps! :)

I disagree with this point, especially somewhere as close to the UK as India. I find myself going home once or twice a year at most, and on a mid-haul destination like India I'm not sure I would shell out for CW.

On the other hand, if the company gives you a month's holiday, you can write off 2 weeks of that every year visiting family.

Some of the things that I already know I will be asking for include:

> 2 or 3 company paid return flights back to the UK per year (min-WTP)

> Salary increase, in addition to benefits package

> Min of €1500 per month for accommodation

> Car and Driver provided by company (public transport in Chennai is 0%)

> Furniture Allowance for apartment

Is it worth asking for a monthly living allowance in addition to the above?

I'm currently BA Gold until June 2014, not sure I would get enough flights to stay but should just about make Silver, especially if no Tier Point earning on Internal Indian flights

The Citibank Credit Card looks good, but it depends if they would accept me if all my salary is paid in the UK

I'm 28 and no children, so its a bit easier for me than most. My girlfriend is living in Taiwan, so we plan on meeting up for weekends in BKK, KUL or SIN

It is 4,191 miles to India. Definitely longhaul in my book and worth it for CW, but I can see that since it is not SIN, PVG or SYD some people might consider it a relatively short sector! :D

I would also ensure that your company will pay for all your removal costs, including all necessary administration and not just the cost of carriage.

if you want an idea of rentals in Chennai; check real estate sites like magicbricks.com; in Chennai, the location you want to check is Adyar (i believe it is the most expensive residential location there)

Moving to India | Move BAEC?
 

You lot don't half have expensive tastes!

Yes, anything over 9 hours is longhaul in my mind. I will see what they offer first, they might not mention anything about which class the flights will be, in which case I will book CW using the company travel agent without asking. The normal procedure is anything over 4 hours is always Business Class. WTP would be enough for me I think, but obviously CW is better.

I've done 5 return trips in CW to MAA in the past year and really enjoyed CW and the Avios that has come with it

It will be interesting to see what Avios/Tier Points you will be able to earn on QR when they join OneWorld in October. The flight times to MAA are slightly better for me than BA

According to you it seems I should be asking for quite a lot from my company each month.

> My Salary is very low right now, and jumping to a Manager position I was hoping for closer to 30% increase. I guess this is something I would have to negotiate hard for

> €4K per month for an apartment is a huge amount of money. I was recommended by a colleague already in India (different department) to ask for minimum of €1K and go from there. Accommodation in India is very expensive for good quality, and even more when you are a westerner...

> €10K for furniture!? I thought I was being cheeky asking for a furniture allowance at all! It is expensive, approx €800 for bed/mattress in India. The only reason I mentioned furniture allowance is because its much easier to find unfurnished apartments in India

> €2K for living allowance, again, I thought I was being a bit cheeky asking for this but I guess not...?

I'm not sure if its better to wait for HR to make me an offer first and then negotiate from there, or just to tell them exactly what I want straight off?

I'm in the good position in that there isn't anyone else they could send.