Job Discussion Forums

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

KSA is not a rule-based society. Many from the West cannot get their heads around that idea.

waltgomez · Joined: 03 Jul 2014 Posts: 105

The way to send money home with a business visa is to do so by going to Bahrain once every couple of months and remitting cash thru a company called BFC. They are everywhere in Bahrain. The biggest branch is at Bab Il Bahrain- the Bahrain Gate- you can't miss it.

Every taxi driver knows where BFC is. Every foreign worker in Bahrain knows BFC.

Bring your passport and the money + bank details and you are good to go.

They've been around forever and are very reliable.

It costs BD 8 to send the money.

In the heat of the moment · Joined: 22 May 2015 Posts: 393 Location: Italy

Or if you can't get to Bahrain, someone with a bank account can transfer the money for you from their account. OR use their Iqama and transfer cash using Western Union. I had to do this, once, as my home account was frozen causing all sorts of problems.

Just make sure you transfer using the recipients exact details and don't leave out his middle name, like I did. Rolling Eyes

sicklyman · Joined: 02 Feb 2013 Posts: 930

Thomasmc89 · Joined: 26 Sep 2017 Posts: 22

If you needed to, you could easily carry more than SAR 60,000 over the causeway into Bahrain. Just keep it on your person in an envelope or something as they sometimes do a perfunctory check through bags in the car.

p.s. I can vouch that BFC (Bahrain Financing Company) are very good (they actually offer better rates than Enjaz, TeleMoney et al in KSA). You can use their website quote thing to get an estimate of how much you're likely to make before you even set foot in Bahrain which is handy to the max.
http://www.bfcsmartmoney.com/

Also, they charge only 5 BD to send the money out as euros or pounds sterling.
That higher 8 BD fee seems only to apply to people sending money out as dollars to the USA.

Makkah · Joined: 08 Oct 2014 Posts: 113

sicklyman · Joined: 02 Feb 2013 Posts: 930

ttxor1 · Joined: 04 Jan 2014 Posts: 119

A story to illustrate hash's comments above:

I jumped through all the hoops for a KSA visa for a direct hire uni position about 4 years ago. 8 months later I get my passport back with the entry stamp in it. All that's left to do is to arrange my flight. The uni goes silent on me, and doesn't respond to multiple emails asking them what's going on. I can only assume that because it was May by the time I got my passport back, and summer vacation was right around the corner, they were waiting until the following fall to bring me over. I declined multiple other offers with the assumption that I was going to join the uni. Anyway, I bail and don't hear back from them until September asking if I had gotten my flight figured out. I told them that I had moved on.

Fast forward a few years and I go through the visa hassles again for a military gig in KSA. When the recruiter submits my passport to the embassy they demand that I get a letter from the direct hire uni job saying that I had never worked for them (despite it being obvious to anyone with eyeballs that I hadn't even entered the country as there were no stamps indicating that I had). Unsurprisingly, the uni never responds and my application is rejected by the embassy.

Essentially, the embassy was requiring a non objection letter from the uni.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

In the past a LONO was a requirement for all jobs, Now it is at the discretion of the employer. If the employer asks you to whistle Dixie while standing on yout hands, he can do that. Likewise in requesting a LONO. If the employer wants it, you are in his power.

hash · Joined: 17 Dec 2014 Posts: 456 Location: Wadi Jinn

waltgomez · Joined: 03 Jul 2014 Posts: 105

disadvantages of Iqamas:
LONOs

Long medical and other such procedures while you are not working.

Also, you can fail some minute point on your medical and will have to get clearances.

Then, an embassy can just reject you.

Need an exit visas as in Nazi Germany.

Need an exit reentry visa.

You will finally pass all the hurdles and then the company just fires you because some psycho manager may not like your face.

Need to get another LONO and they may not want to give it to you.

Business visas you start working right away but there is the inconvenience of going to Bahrain once in a while. Duh.

waltgomez · Joined: 03 Jul 2014 Posts: 105

siologen · Joined: 25 Oct 2016 Posts: 336

I have been told as much in the past, a new, blank passport with no visa stamps is like wiping the slate clean. As long as no criminal record, nothing to worry about!