I've had 2 decent but different situations. Nothing fantastic, but enough to survive. Our most recent experience has been in the Middle East. We were picked up at the airport and taken to our apartment. We had arranged to have a bed, fridge and some linens delivered and set up prior to our arrival. However, we were limited in what we could choose (i.e. a certain type of bed, and a certain size fridge). This was then deducted from our furniture allowance. So it was either arrive at midnight and sleep on a hard floor with your suitcase, or order what they offered. Regardless, it was nice to arrive in our actual apartment with some food and water in the fridge. Had the a/c worked we would have had a great night! But that's another story.

We were also provided with transport to and from school for the first month of school. Except when the driver had to do school errands, then we just took taxis and were reimbursed by the school (or the secretary's purse). We received some guidance about setting up internet and cable, but we handled it pretty much on our own. We were given an advance and furniture allowance and we were taken to a huge shopping mall and Ikea within the first 2 days and also taken to a bank to open an account. As we found out early in the Middle East, nothing is done in a timely manner, but our school did try to get things done as quickly as possible.

Getting a residence permit and visa in the ME is a nightmare, but the school was very diligent in getting paperwork in on time and drove us to the border each month until our visas came in. After my son's visa was denied several times for random issues, the school continued to help us to resubmit and get things taken care of. We had previously had to send all of our degrees, certifications, licenses, etc certified and attested, but this was done out of our own pocket and cost around 1,000 US dollars total.
All in all, for this area of the world, the experience has been not unpleasant. The school staff was very sympathetic and tried to help when there was redtape.

Our previous experience was in Europe and we knew from the onset that we would have to find our own housing. We were picked up at the airport and taken to get pictures taken for our visas (directly from the airport). We were then dropped off at a very nice hotel where we stayed for 10 days on the school's dime. We were provided with a relocation specialist who was in charge of showing and securing housing for us. She helped us a lot, but was not so helpful with all staff and they ended up doing it all on their own. However, she provided something like 5 showings free, and then if we did not choose any of those first 5, we had to pay for the others.
The school provided an interest free loan so that we could pay for the security deposit. Once we chose a flat it was up to us to take care of everything else. The school provided our visas for us and they arrived very quickly. Could they have provided more support? Sure, but it's Europe. They don't need to provide the extras to get teachers to come.

One thing that would have been very helpful, especially in our first experience was access to the school's internet.

Thank you Gus. They have also offered my husband an assistant job at the school and have recently sent us the list of benefits. Would you be willing to answer some questions by email? Thank you.

Hi everyone.I am new to the forum but have been looking for quite some time. @Gus, I was recently offered a position at Raha. If anyone can give me more information about the area and the school I would be so grateful.