Job Discussion Forums

lapd08 · Joined: 12 May 2008 Posts: 82 Location: New York

I knew one teacher who got a place in a middling compound (not super luxurious,not grotty, unguarded) and had to pay six months rent in advance, but was otherwise happy.

Seems the more reasonable compounds have long waiting lists, but if she found one it's doable with an iqama. Doubtful that a housing allowance (especially in Riyadh) will cover it, so yes you will be shelling out your own money.

JerkyBoy · Joined: 12 Jan 2012 Posts: 485

I heard one estimate of 80,000 SAR per year for a place in a compound - now would that be shambolic, middling or de luxe?

lapd08 · Joined: 12 May 2008 Posts: 82 Location: New York

I think that's the deluxe end!

JerkyBoy · Joined: 12 Jan 2012 Posts: 485

lapd08 · Joined: 12 May 2008 Posts: 82 Location: New York

I take it your not working for Edex? Our housing allowance was 2600 SAR/mo. which equalled 28,600/year. Riyadh is a very expensive city and there is no way you will find housing for either housing allowance. Several of my colleagues looked.

This is one of the reason I did not do it. The other was EdEx brought me (like many others) in on a "work visit visa' and my general insecurity about the job itself. Had I put up 6 months rent in advance I would have lost it all. Given how unpredictable Gulf Arabs are (blink and your job is gone for no reason that makes sense to anyone but them) I wouldn't advise anyone to do that.

One good thing about doing your own housing is that you have to arrange your own transport and get to have YOUR VERY OWN DRIVER! This would have been heaven as almost as bad as sharing accommodations is sharing transportation. There is invariably that one person or two who holds up the van everyday while the rest of us sit and stew, for no good reason again other than they CAN!

lapd08 · Joined: 12 May 2008 Posts: 82 Location: New York

P.S. While visiting someone who was employed by US Navy and lived on one of the posher compounds, I was introduced to a teaching couple who lived next door. Their employer may have been paying for it, and I have a feeling they were working for an international school (elementary/primary) and not one of the Saudi unis.

JerkyBoy · Joined: 12 Jan 2012 Posts: 485

JerkyBoy · Joined: 12 Jan 2012 Posts: 485

JerkyBoy · Joined: 12 Jan 2012 Posts: 485

lapd08 · Joined: 12 May 2008 Posts: 82 Location: New York

Oh my God! Is that what they told you? Things may have change from December when I left. They were supposed to be moving teachers into a better hotel, but when they took us, after two months, to look at some new digs they were proposing I had to walk out of the the room they billed as a "studio" as I was having an anxiety attack. The room was a single, tiny hotel room with no window (no view), no cooking facilities, no desk, etc. The bathroom only had a shower hose (no stall, etc.). It resembled a jail cell more than housing. The other place they showed us smelled and had Turkish toilets.

That whole deal fell through (I guess they wanted more money than EdEx was willing to pay) thankfully, but it was the beginning of the end for me, as the constant anxiety about whether I would be moved out of the digs I had in a residential hotel which would have had US welfare rights advocates up in arms, but was roomy enough,had kitchen and was across from a great mall was too much for me.

Riyadh is very expensive as far as housing goes for expats and this is the problem. From what I can tell, apartment buildings as we know them in US, UK, etc. don't exist. Women do not live with men unless they are married or family members, hence the difficulty of finding suitable as well as cheap hotels. If you don't have an iqama, you cannot rent an apartment. If you are a woman (and I take it you are not) you cannot rent an apartment at all unless a man does it for you. You may be able to go in with some other guys and rent an apartment (one bedrooms seem to be an anomaly).

Besides housing, I found groceries to be as expensive as US, as well as clothing. Medicine was the same, cosmetics outrageously expensive. Admittedly, I did all my shopping at the mall so things were higher. Clothes at the Souk will be cheaper. Taxis less than NY or London probably (what isn't?). I don't know about medical care, as it took them close to three months to give me my medical insurance card and trying to find someone who would accept it was too frustrating.

I know what you mean about really needing to take the job. I was in the same position and went against my better judgement. My advice is to tell them flatly and firmly that you will not share and ask them to send you a picture of the housing, although they will probably send a fake one. If things work out, they may get you an iqama later after much aggravation. You have a three month probationary period, and really on a work visit visa can leave anytime you want, so unless something better comes in I'd chance it.

musaafira · Joined: 27 Jan 2012 Posts: 44

i have a feeling only those with really negative experiences come and post on these forums. no doubt there are people who are happily living there.

anyway.

lapd08 · Joined: 12 May 2008 Posts: 82 Location: New York

PS: Reread your last post. Yes, the housing and transportation allowances go together. I was thinking of paying a driver out of my own pocket while living in the residential hotel as the transportation situation was so stressful (sometimes it did not show up at the end of day).

They don't tell you about this. They also don't tell you you cannot open a bank account without an iqama, although when I asked before going over, the non-western head told me "of course you can". When I got there and asked him about it, he said, "Who told you you could open a bank account without an iqama?" When I said: "You did" he had no answer. You can wire money home with a wire service, but not having a bank account means keeping a lot of cash on you or in your dodgy lodgings.

It's Scary! · Joined: 17 Apr 2011 Posts: 823

musaafira · Joined: 27 Jan 2012 Posts: 44

think whatever you want, but i do know of people personally who are working and living there quite happily, but they are married and with families, so dont have to worry about sharing space with strangers or any of that stuff. they've lived there for years and would never trade it for any other place in the world.

i said what i said based on my knowledge of this fact, not "desperately hoping to hear something good."

but i do have to thank those posting their negative experiences as that will help us realize some things that in reality do happen to many people.

lapd08 · Joined: 12 May 2008 Posts: 82 Location: New York

I too heard positive things about living in Saudi Arabia and know of many people in different professions who live there for years. I was hoping to do so myself, but as you point out people were there with their families fare differently, and almost all of the people I know personally who stayed there for a long period of time were living on compounds. (I am talking about Westerners here).

Unfortunately, the posters here are single teachers who are rarely housed on compounds or receive decent housing.