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Uniservices Recruited Teachers at PNU
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 2:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

cairanya wrote:
Have you seen the economy lately, at least if you're a newly minted MA? Or are American, and therefore have non-dischargeable college loans? Sadly, I kinda get it.

There are other options in the Gulf that aren't as grim as what we are reading here concerning this place. I am appalled that they are so blatantly breaking Saudi employment law... and seem unconcerned enough to write it all down for you.

There are the recruiter based jobs in Oman. They are constantly hiring and while certainly not stellar jobs, they are fine for entry level to the area. And, they are not breaking the employment laws of the country. They don't force you to wear their national dress... women are free to drive a car... and travel freely around the country like normal people... and no exit visas required if you want or need to leave.

VS
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cairanya



Joined: 02 Jun 2012
Posts: 62

PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 2:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jessiemiles wrote:
cairanya wrote:
According to the email: "G. The Second Party (i.e., me) shall be obliged to the fully cost of expatriation, resident permit (lqama), work permit, and annual exit/re-entry visa issuance fees, The Second Party will also fully pay the sponsorship transfer fees for locally-hired employees, limited to SR. 2,000 (Two Thousand Saudi Riyais), and only for the first sponsorship transfer fee."


Thanks Cairanya. I'm being recruited by Teach Away who works with Uniservices. We get information a bit after Uniservices gives it, so I expect an email about this change next week.


(I should say that the following is my opinion, and not the OP's.)

She forwarded me the email she got from Uniservices. In my opinion, it was a very brusquely worded non-answer. It basically said: "We already told you what the visa costs were: you're responsible for them in the US and PNU pays for them in the KSA. We're going to ignore the fact that the contract says the exact opposite and not give you any explanation for it. And no, we're not going to change the contract so that it conforms to Saudi law, nor are we going to change it so that it says what we told you it said. Now be quiet like a good girl and go away."

The other thing that I find interesting is that Uniservices said that they sent the same contracts to all the teachers. According to the woman, that's just not true. The one Fall teacher who looked at the contract -- instead of just telling her what the school did and/or what the school told her she was responsible for -- said that her fall contract did not have this provision in it.

I'm a little scared to mention this, because this is third-hand, but the other thing the OP said is that a couple of the teachers mentioned that PNU still isn't adhering to the contract when it comes to key contract provisions, namely pay and health insurance. Unfortunately, she didn't mention how specifically. To me, it sounds like the problems are with PNU, not Adwaa.

So yeah, I remember that someone in the Canadian visa thread said that Uniservices is acting a bit unprofessionally, and this adds a bit more weight to that. They may be a bit better than Adwaa in that they're not forging CELTA certs, but that only means they're treating PNU professionally -- not the recruits.

EDIT: If you PM me your email, I can email it to you. Or ask her if she can forward it to you.


Last edited by cairanya on Sat Nov 24, 2012 2:49 am; edited 1 time in total
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cairanya



Joined: 02 Jun 2012
Posts: 62

PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 2:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

veiledsentiments wrote:
cairanya wrote:
Have you seen the economy lately, at least if you're a newly minted MA? Or are American, and therefore have non-dischargeable college loans? Sadly, I kinda get it.

There are other options in the Gulf that aren't as grim as what we are reading here concerning this place. I am appalled that they are so blatantly breaking Saudi employment law... and seem unconcerned enough to write it all down for you.

There are the recruiter based jobs in Oman. They are constantly hiring and while certainly not stellar jobs, they are fine for entry level to the area. And, they are not breaking the employment laws of the country. They don't force you to wear their national dress... women are free to drive a car... and travel freely around the country like normal people... and no exit visas required if you want or need to leave.

VS


Sadly, not all of us have a BA in English. Which at this point, seems to be a requirement for Oman. (Oman was definitely my first choice until they instituted that.) Sad
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2012 3:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As I understand, it is one Ministry that is requiring it and the other Ministry is not... I just don't know which is which. Presumably the recruiters would know the answer to this question... though getting honest answers in the Gulf is always a crapshoot. Cool

VS
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Jessiemiles



Joined: 07 Jun 2012
Posts: 49
Location: Home

PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 10:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I received an offer from PNU for 1 year at $49000 plus $1600 transportation allowance, free shared housing, airfare, medical, 60 days vacation + Eid and Haj.

I've been told that PNU will pay for the Iqama. If I accept and see the contract, I'll look for the clause about visa costs and post here.

Also, apparently the visa processing time for Canadians is now 10 days.

I have two days to think it over but I'm pretty sure I'll accept.
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scot47



Joined: 10 Jan 2003
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 10:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

15,000 SR a month. Not bad and you should be able to save quite a chunk. Just watch you do not spend it all on those vacations.
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Jessiemiles



Joined: 07 Jun 2012
Posts: 49
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 28, 2012 10:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

scot47 wrote:
15,000 SR a month. Not bad and you should be able to save quite a chunk. Just watch you do not spend it all on those vacations.


Good advice Scot47 Smile There are more than a few places I want to visit and with all that free time...

The offer is contingent upon me providing authenticated degrees and letters of employment. I heard about getting degrees notarized and authenticated by the issuing body, but not letters of employment. How does that work for letters of employment received from employers in Asia many years ago? Anyone ever had to do this?
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nomad soul



Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world

PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 3:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jessiemiles wrote:
The offer is contingent upon me providing authenticated degrees and letters of employment. I heard about getting degrees notarized and authenticated by the issuing body, but not letters of employment. How does that work for letters of employment received from employers in Asia many years ago? Anyone ever had to do this?

Letters verifying previous employment are used in determining actual salary. You'll need one from each former employer (on their letterhead) stating your begin and end dates and job title, at the minimum. Each letter must be signed by an authorized representative from the company/organization and must include their title and contact info.
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Jessiemiles



Joined: 07 Jun 2012
Posts: 49
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 4:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Nomad Soul Smile I submitted my letters of employment to PNU a couple weeks ago and my salary was determined.
Now I see on the offer letter it says that I will have to submit authenticated letters as well as degrees. I've done some research and is seems the employment letters need to be certified by the department of foreign affairs.

I'm just curious about the process and about how long it takes to have all the certification done. I'm going to need to re-prove everything I already proved is true on my resume (on top of paying to let PNU and the Saudi government take a peek at my insides).
It's striking me as kind of humorous, actually. A lot of ruckus for one little job. Though I suppose it's necessary to stop, or at least hinder, fake credentials and unwanted diseases from crossing the border.
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joleen7



Joined: 11 Nov 2012
Posts: 46

PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 1:20 pm    Post subject: PNU offer Reply with quote

jessiemiles-
how long did you have to wait between sending proof of previous work experience and getting PNU offer? Thanks
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readytotravel



Joined: 16 Nov 2008
Posts: 77

PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 1:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

$1600 for transportation seems quite generous, given that we are provided transportation to and from work every day. Those of us here already are receiving 500 SAR as a transportation allowance.
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cairanya



Joined: 02 Jun 2012
Posts: 62

PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 2:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just out of curiosity, what are your quals?

I'm thinking of all the teachers (like me) who were initially offered that, and then had it cut to $38k before going over.


Last edited by cairanya on Thu Nov 29, 2012 2:49 pm; edited 1 time in total
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scot47



Joined: 10 Jan 2003
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 2:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

500 SR a month is standard for tansportation allowance - and some employers lay on transport as well
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cairanya



Joined: 02 Jun 2012
Posts: 62

PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 2:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

readytotravel wrote:
$1600 for transportation seems quite generous, given that we are provided transportation to and from work every day. Those of us here already are receiving 500 SAR as a transportation allowance.


Just out of curiosity, what's the situation there with health insurance and pay? I've heard rumors that things aren't going quite as expected.
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Thu Nov 29, 2012 2:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jessiemiles wrote:
Now I see on the offer letter it says that I will have to submit authenticated letters as well as degrees. I've done some research and is seems the employment letters need to be certified by the department of foreign affairs.

This makes no sense. There is no way that this department can verify any of these letters. Most of us have letters from people who are long gone and often employers that are long gone. I suspect that it is merely a matter of making a copy, stapling them together with a piece of paper by you swearing that these are "authentic" copies and signing in front of a notary. (then... the process depends on country - does the state have to confirm the notary? does the State Dept have to agree that it is a state? and then to foreign affairs or the embassy)

Quote:
The offer is contingent upon me providing authenticated degrees and letters of employment.

If the sentence is like this, it may mean that only the degrees need to be authenticated and provided along with copies of the letters.

VS
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