Work / Is moving from Moscow to Wroclaw worth it? (.NET software developer) [39]

Dears, thanks to all who have responded and commented, I truly appreciate your input.

My wife has given me a carte blanche of taking a 'trial' for a next 2-3 years so we could see if we can cope with staying away from homeland and building our future in Poland.

Work / Is moving from Moscow to Wroclaw worth it? (.NET software developer) [39]


I'm not a freelancer and thus not flexible in offers I (can) get.
Berlin is not smth. I can choose from (unless I'll be searching for something on the open market).

The choice is fairly stratight-forward:
Promo + generous package (PL-wide) + Warsaw + local contract (no simple way to return)
OR
stay as-is in Moscow with a hope of smth. 'better' appears in future (which may not, or situation in RU may start geting even worse than now)

And yes, my wife would be more keen to relocate to DE as she is half-german, we have our relatives living in Germany and we both can speak German to a certain extent :)

But as I have mentioned, I do not have this kind of flexibility and going for an open search is not smth. I'm considering at the moment (as I'm happy with my current role, employer and reward provided)

At the same time, Warsaw is a good option from geographical standpoint. 1200km to Moscow / 1200 km to relatives in DE / proximity of many other locations across EU for a short-term get-outs.

Work / Is moving from Moscow to Wroclaw worth it? (.NET software developer) [39]

Hi Niko,
the one problem/concern which is specifically related with Poland is about attitude of the locals towards immigrants and Russians in particular.
And if the children in the school will (or will not) be facing any kind of discrimination from other polish natives in the class/school (once they will know the one of the classmates is definitely NOT polish, judging by his/her name).

How open are polish people to 'accept' the (slavic) immigrants and treat them as equals?

The other concerns are mostly comon for any kind of international relocation, not specifically to Poland.

Hi InPolska,
I'm not OP. I was offered with a position in Warsaw, not in Wroclaw.

Work / Is moving from Moscow to Wroclaw worth it? (.NET software developer) [39]

Hi Niko,

it's not that much forward as you've mentioned.
True, scientific research will be something not really feasible to continue in PL (I'm talking now about specific project and not in general about working in science).

But the priorities are now much shifted to family and children and last 4 years my wife has spent mostly at home (this was her own decision, I was not pushing her to that by any means).

She is still prepearing scientific publications, coordinating the research activities remotely and preparing / submitting funding requests.
While we've got a newborn in August, this will continue to stay the same way for at least another 3 years. So it's not on the agenda for the next 3 years anyway as she can continue the same way from Warsaw as well.

Unfortunately, scientific research projects are not something with defined start and end dates. The process is diverse as the results of the experiments can't be predicted. It may take another 5 years, or 10 years, or 15... nobody can say this for sure.

Yes, when looking at R&R in JD it is more a lateral move, but this is still a step forward with international career as this kind of opportunities is not something a man can expect in everydays life (company covers all relocation expenses, incl. personal belongings, provides good package and highly competitive salary for the specific location). At least this is not the case for non-EU nationals.

I have to be clear - career was never a priority for me and I'm personally very 'hard on move'. The drivers are different.

I'm much more concerned about security, stability and social environment for my family (this was all mentioned in the pros above).
My wife is feeling herself perfectly 'at home', but this is mainly driven by the fact that she is now 99% focused on our children and interaction with a 'big world' is limited to the chats with the friends on playgrounds and in the parks around. While I'm completely taking care of everything else at the moment and trying to put down all negative around to minimum.

If I only could be sure in the economical/political/security stability in Moscow for the next several years - I would have never started this topic....

Work / What is deducted from a salary in Poland apart from Income tax? [155]

Hi there,
quick question.
In many posts this tax calculator is referenced:
wynagrodzenia.pl/kalkulator.php

However, as I understand, the figures are true if you are single.
If you have a spouse and specifically in the case if she/he has no income, the net figures are higher.
I have checked this here (you have an option to choose joint declaration option)
calculla.com/salary_in_poland

Please advise:
* if it is true that you can have tax deductions if you are officially married and your wife has no income?
* if you have only one job and taxes paid by employer - is it possible to report a joint declaration through employer?
* Are there any further deductions for the families with children (we have two)?
* are there any tax deductions for expenses like interest fees for mortgage loans, medical expenses, etc.?

Work / Is moving from Moscow to Wroclaw worth it? (.NET software developer) [39]

Hi all,

I'm also facing the similar question.
I'm holding a senior IT position in Moscow (international company) and have got an offer to relocate to Warsaw on a new role.
While it is a small step higher in the company hierarchy, looking at job descriptions it looks more like a lateral move for me.
I'm offered 21500 PLN/month gross which I believe (reading this forum) is very good for Poland and others may only dream of such offers....

BUT, in Moscow I'm now getting comparable salary (14500PLN net, it was almost 19K PLN net a year ago, before the oil prices went down and national currency has devaluated by 80% to EUR over last 16 months).

Also we have to consider that for the first 3-5 years we will have new expenses introduced (private kindergarden with english, babysitting expenses, apartment/house rental). So we will be definitely having less savings comparing to what we are saving now (we have our own apartment, parents are helping with the children)

The offer is a local contract without end-date which means that I have to consider a permanent relocation rather than a mid-long term international assignment. Certainly, I can go further or return back ... if I'll get another promo or if I'll quit the company. The offer does not consider relocation back to home location.

I have a family with a wife and 2 children (3 months and 4.5 years old)
Wife is a senior scientist with PhD in Chemistry but she is working mostly from home over last 3 years (and was planning the same in a next 2 or 3 years)

Her income is small but for people in science the priorities are much different from ordinary people :) She is working on a vaccine development project in collaboration with US partners from Harvard medical school (Harvard university)

I want to accept the offer while my wife is very opposite to this and this is driving me mad. Maybe you can comment on the pros and cons below as this might help to find some arguments towards GO or NO-GO decision for our family?

PL vs. RU (Warsaw vs. Moscow)
+ better quality of life. However we have to understand that Poland is more a 'rural' country, we should not expect the diversity offered by Moscow in Warsaw. However, this is not among our priorities in life. We do not eat in the restaurants, we are not shopping-fans. Bars and clubs are also something heterogeneous for our life style. Among priorities are safety, privacy, education, predictability and stability.

+ stable environment. I believe this is more or less true for any EU country and Poland does not seem to be an exception. We are tired of never ending economic and political shocks in Russia and I'm really seeking for something more quite and predictable in mid to long-term.

+ career aspirations. This is definitely one of the drivers to accept the offer.
+ EU perspectives for children. In 5 years (if no further international moves and nothing 'bad' happens) we can get a permanent EU residence card (which allows free travel across EU without limits and employment in other EU-states with certain limitations). After another 3 years we can apply to PL citizenship.

At the end this might introduce more opportunities to our children

- There is a feeling that poles do not really like or welcome russians. I can't judge much on that one as you have to spend months there to realize if this is the case or not.

- social integration. While language should not be an issue, I'm not sure how people in Poland are 'open' and frienfly with foreigners.
- There is 'no way back' if it will not work out (we will find it impossible to integrate or to consider spending rest of our life in PL). The only way out would be getting home and searching for a new job.

- Old parents we have in Russia. However, I do believe, that after 3-4 years we will have enough opportunities for finding a workaround (e.g. transfer them to PL)

- my wife will not be able to continue her scientific research from PL. And this is 15 years of her life.

On top of that, I'm not really sure if Poland as a host country will in fact introduce more opportunities for our children in comparison with Russia/Moscow. As I can see from many comments, the wages are very low and if you really want something above average, you have anyway to consider building career outside of Poland (my example is an exception as I'm not a youngster to start the career in PL).

Your kind comments are welcome!