There's a very good possibility that I will be moving to Korea to work as a contractor for my company. I was wondering if anyone knew what the State Department overseas housing allowance is for Yongsan/Seoul area.

I have a feeling I will be going into negotiation soon and I want to be prepared with any information about this. I tried googling it but I couldn't find anything...probably not sure what I'm looking for.

Thanks for any replies!

State Department housing allowance? I 'm not sure how that would come into play with a contractor? Perhaps your company can tell you what it will pay for you to be in this area. Even if you are contracted to the Department of State, or the American Embassy, normally your company would set the amount. If your company offers to send you here, don't agree unless your pay is at least 25% higher than at home, and expect your housing to be at least an additional $5500 per month in Seoul.
The above assumes you are a junior executive or a Certified Microsoft Technician of some sort. Higher levels should ask for up to 50% pay raises and $6000 per month. This is an educated guess. You may want to confer with folks in your company who are familiar with the standard overseas payments for your company. If you are single, really want to be here, and can be satisfied with a studio apartment, you could get by with less.

The reason I ask for the State Department allowance is that I hear my company acknowledges those rates and a coworker of mine said that I could use that as a reference if they pull out a low ball offer. Also, within my company, every project acts pretty independently in the sense that they will make decisions that would best benefit their project. So, there's no set global guideline within the company on how much they will offer for an allowance. I will take your advice and see if I can find some people working out there about their housing allowance.

The position is for a mid-level Software Developer. Do you mean $5500 a month just for housing?

Thanks for the reply Mr. Joe. It has helped answer some of my questions and also left me with some.

Keep in mind that for contractors, the landlords/realtors sometimes ask for the rent about 3 years in advance, or however long you'd be here.
5500$ sounds right, but it also depends on the area/building you would want to live in.That amount might include utilities or not, again depending.
Good luck

lakbum, here's the link to the DoS site with the overseas housing allowance. http://perdiem.hqda.pentagon.mil/perdiem/ Like Ralu said, many landlords require you pay in advance. In our case, we have a stand alone house in the Osan area (3000 sqft). We had to pay a years rent in advance, not including utilities. If you get an apartment you should definitely save on utilities. In our case, we have night time electric for heating/hot water v. lpg. I honestly don't know which one is better v. cost, but I will tell you I pay a small fortune each month for the electric heat. On the other hand, the families in my development who have lpg heat are also *****ing at what they're paying. Then again, keep in mind these are fairly large houses and despite what the utilities are, we're happy where we're at. Mr. Joe can probably give you a good run down on areas, prices, etc in Seoul. It appears he's been in country quite some time and has the "in" on quite a few issues. Good luck

Thanks for all the replies.

I'm still in negotiation so it might be premature to ask some questions....I'm sure I will have more questions when the time comes. I'm glad to know I can find some experienced people here.

Three years in advance? Do you mean you have to pay three year's worth of rent all at once? Surely that's not what you mean because that could easily amount to $100,000+ in the Yongsan area, and most contractors only get paid one year's worth of rent at a time. So most wouldn't have that kind of money to give to a landlord.

Active duty and civil service people get payed a set amount, and what they don't use, they don't get to keep. So the smart thing is to include utilities in your lease agreement since the amount the gov't will pay is pretty generous. On the other hand, most contractors pay their own utilities because they are basically on their own as far as housing is concerned. Most companies pay a set amount, and how you spend it is up to you. If the company pays $40K a year and you find a place for $15K, you get to keep the other $25K. Since contractors can make money from their housing pay, most don't go for package deals on utilities. It's better to pay them yourself and save whatever you don't spend.

mid level Software developer---
Don't bother coming to Seoul for less than 50K salary plus $66K
for housing/utilities. Other locations housing is somewhat cheaper. Check out our sister site USFKclassifieds.com.
If you have been living here before, or are married to a Korean, and really WANT to be here, maybe less.
Your company knows they have to pay you, no sane person will accept less except single inexperienced school teachers. They get by on 24K plus free studio apartments.

Well, I'm Korean...went to Osan HS...my mom is still living there with my younger brother. I haven't been back (just for short durations for vacation) since graduating from college and working in the US and would really like to be around some family. So, your saying if I make at least 116k with the housing allowance that I should be okay? Would that be a comfortable lifestyle or ramen and beer?

Go for it! You could even get a car for prestige! It is not necessary. (See my post today under Osan & cellphones. ) You can live fine, and even eat out as often as you like. I'm talking Seoul. Osan you could accept 10K less.
Thing here are very expensive compared to what you remember. I know, I lived at Osan once.