If I was being offered a job in Bora Bora as well I don't think the decision would be a hard one. My family is united against the idea so it's starting to seem unlikely.
A buddy of mine has done contract work over there. He said you have to be out of the country for a ridiculous amount of time before the money becomes untaxable. By that I mean you can not come in the country at all during that period of time. I think it was like 320 days or something like that.
I dunno what it is for Americans but for us it is six months plus a day contract length regardless of where you spend your vacation time (and how long it is, presumably). We don't get all our taxes back, though, just 80%. So we wind up paying about 4-6% income tax rather than 20-30% depending on our total earnings.
Could be a great opportunity to take, depending on the money, and your age/ place in life right now. If I was younger and single, I definitely would have considered something like this.
One of my friends took a job in Afghanistan and quit after he found out the company took out a life insurance policy on him valued at 10 times what he was making.
I hope you don't go, Speeds. The money may be nice, but I'd hate to see you do something so risky. Can't you go to someplace like Dubai?
Dubai isn't in great shape right now and the living expenses would be through the roof, but other opportunities may arise. After careful consideration I turned down their offer. Haven't heard back yet to see if they make another. Thanks to everyone who chimed in.
I spent a rotation in Qatar when I was in the Air Force. I was the last rotation that lived in the tent city. There are "nicer" permanent trailers now. I got to go downtown a lot. They have one of the worlds largest malls. Other than being deployed away from family and the heat it really was that bad of a living situation.
