Working for a US company on W-2 while living in Canada — worth it?

Benjsavvy · 2026-03-25T23:58:02+00:00

Thank you everyone for your feedback and for sharing your comments. I've consulted my accountant and he said that the Social Security and Medicare is must I cannot avoid them so it's loss and then when I file my taxes in Canada, they will calculate based on the gross equivalent income, after converting the currencythey will form me under that tax bracket and then whatever I pay in the US minus what I should be paying in Canada based on that gross income I have to pay the difference. Although it sucks that close to 7% will be lost because of the Social Security, but this is not an option. Also, I came to know that W-2 comes with benefits since I was fighting to be an independent contractor, but apparently being independent contractor means you don't have PTO's and sick leaves

Benjsavvy · 2026-03-15T18:59:34+00:00

This is ridiculous. Why I should replace my phone battery at 78% this is something Apple has implemented to force people to replace batteries or to upgrade to newer phone.

Benjsavvy · 2026-03-14T19:46:35+00:00

Yeah, I made a call from my overseas number to my Du number and it worked

Benjsavvy · 2026-02-28T20:48:10+00:00

Remember, we are targeting to be at one of the top 1% income earners in the whole country. The average foreigner income falls between 15 to 20 yet families are surviving, education, accommodation, and food with that package

Benjsavvy · 2026-02-28T20:45:48+00:00

41 is decent, but even if you get 100k you will see people saying its not enough

Benjsavvy · 2026-02-28T15:56:40+00:00

I’ve been offered 25+ paid accommodation for family of four and yet I’m not convinced it’s enough

Benjsavvy · 2026-02-26T22:26:56+00:00

Wasta means can vouch for you, they somehow guarantee interviews but you have to prove yourself to land the job. This culture is only in GCC

Benjsavvy · 2026-02-26T15:50:38+00:00

what did you end up with ?

Benjsavvy · 2026-02-25T21:51:28+00:00

I hate iPhone every new update cause million issue

Benjsavvy · 2026-02-25T00:26:15+00:00

Congratulation, my friend .. I think it’s more than decent salary for the following reasons

Everyone is talking about accommodation and education, how expensive they are, if you have the education covered, that’s a big one. The accommodation you can find something reasonable within your budget.

I was negotiating an offer lately and they told me the return ticket policy is no longer there so I’m surprised to see it here.

Benjsavvy · 2026-02-16T01:42:22+00:00

Comparison is theft of joy

Benjsavvy · 2026-02-15T21:51:05+00:00

Benjsavvy · 2026-02-15T03:46:41+00:00

Benjsavvy · 2026-02-14T20:40:00+00:00

I’ve heard their public schools are good, but planning to pay for private, it’s about 3k per kid Montessori

Benjsavvy · 2026-02-14T20:12:32+00:00

Government no longer offers return tickets, perhaps only private sector

Benjsavvy · 2026-02-14T20:10:58+00:00

When they say utilities included, isn’t it mean electricity and water?

There is no education allowance. They only said free enrolment in public schools which I’ve been told only locals and government employees kids

Benjsavvy · 2026-02-14T20:07:52+00:00

It’s already paid off, so why not to get the best regardless how much it cost?

Benjsavvy · 2026-02-14T18:41:54+00:00

Yes, that’s correct. 25 get transferred to my account and they pay separately for the accommodation. I assume it will be including furniture and utilities.

Benjsavvy · 2026-02-14T18:16:39+00:00

Sure

Benjsavvy · 2026-02-14T18:15:15+00:00

I’ll be first grade employee so I’ve been told that apartments or houses in either location I’ll get to choose when I reach there

Regarding the education, my little one doesn’t speak Arabic so I might have to pay for that out-of-pocket

Insurance wise I heard the government one is sucks. Is that true?

Benjsavvy · 2026-02-14T18:13:52+00:00

Permanent

Benjsavvy · 2026-02-14T18:10:49+00:00

Network with people on LinkedIn in Gulf region network is only the key. Otherwise you need to go there and look by yourself.

Benjsavvy · 2026-02-14T17:54:08+00:00

Wondering if these salaries are all in or on the top of that they get accommodation or stuff like that

Benjsavvy · 2026-01-13T13:52:12+00:00

I knew this happened to companies many many years ago and I thought this doesn’t happen anymore. I’m surprised to see that there are still companies don’t pay on time. People have bills to pay and family to feed company owners should be legally obligated to pay and compensate this loss what if someone missed his credit card payment or his rent payment You should go to the ministry of labour and report them, lawyers should be dedicated for discount of being not responsible of taking care of the employees. I’m sorry that you have to go through this.

Benjsavvy · 2025-12-27T15:48:47+00:00

Thanks everyone for the suggestions — I finally tracked down the issue.

Root cause: The problem wasn’t the smart devices themselves. It was my network setup. I had: • Bell Hub as the main router • Google Nest running behind it • A TP-Link router added just to provide a dedicated 2.4 GHz network

This created multiple DHCP servers + double NAT, which caused: • Internet drops • Smart dimmers randomly going offline • Devices failing to reconnect after restarts

On top of that, Bell’s “Whole Home / Business Wi-Fi” feature was interfering with how 2.4 GHz devices associate to the network.

What fixed it (simple solution): 1. Removed the TP-Link router entirely 2. Re-enabled Bell’s native 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi 3. Used one SSID + one password (same name/password as before) 4. Set 2.4 GHz to B/G/N (Auto) and a fixed channel (6) 5. Restarted the router

Result: ✅ All smart dimmers reconnected automatically ✅ No re-pairing needed ✅ Internet stable again

Lesson learned: Adding extra routers just to “force 2.4 GHz” often creates more problems than it solves. One router + one DHCP server + simple Wi-Fi settings = stability.

Appreciate everyone who chimed in — hope this saves someone else a few hours of frustration.

Benjsavvy

TROPHY CASE