Job Discussion Forums

[aak2012]

Hi Everyone

I'm hoping someone will be able to help me answer the following question:

I was issued a Work Visit Visa at the end of May(stamped in my passport)and it was valid for 90 days from entry if I am not mistaken. I entered the Kingdom on the 10th of June 2012.

I recently completed my contract but am confused as to when is the latest day that I can stay in the Kingdom without incurring a fine. I have asked my company and they seem to be just as confused. They have told me that I should leave the country tomorrow (5th of September) before midnight or will face problems at the border.

However their calculation doesn't make sense to me. The way I see it is that I entered the kingdom on the 10th of June which would mean that I spent 21days in June here including the day of arrival. If I add to that 31 days in July and 31 days in August that gives me a total of 83 days in the Kingdom, leaving me with a balance of 7 days. So according to my calculations I could be in the kingdom upto and including the 7th of September.

I have tried to check this online but haven't found anything and my status is not upto date.

Whilst it is only a 2 day difference, I would prefer to leave on the 7th as I am heading to Bahrain and accomodation is more expensive on wednesday and thursdays due to the weekend.

However I am scared that if I don't leave tomorrow I will incur the 10000riyal fine and a 5 year ban which is what my company has told me.

Any advice or experience with regards to this will be greatly appreciated

Look forward to hearing from you soon

Aak

[scot47]

Forget June, July and August. KSA Govt Deps use Hegira calendar.You came opn a BUSINESS visa and were working ILLEGALLY. There is no such thing as a "Work Visit Visa"

[wantok]

scot47 confirms what continues to confuse and frustrate so very many applicants to KSA's Prep Year Programs at universities across the Kingdom.

From reading these many threads over the past few years, it is abundantly obvious that the majority of ESL instructors have been and are illegal.

For the purposes of employment, the legal legitimate visa is an "employment entry visa" authorized by the Ministry of Labor. That only gets you through Arrivals. That visa is attached within 90 days to an iqama (residency permit) application which is submitted to the Ministry of Interior.

Your 3-month business visit visa is authorized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Indicated upon it, among all the Arabic text, is in English a clear statement FORBIDDING THE VISA HOLDER TO ENGAGE IN EMPLOYMENT IN KSA FOR THE TERM OF THE VISA. The Ministry of Labor has nothing whatsoever to do with this particular brand of visa. Thus recruiters conveniently continue to circumvent Labor's laws. It's a visa which demands much less of the applicant in terms of requirements to fulfill. It's the cheapie option. And it takes much less time to process at KSA embassies, providing urgent and comparatively swift entry into the halls of KSA's "academia".

Applying for a placement in June or after, intending to see a classroom in September? A fair guarantee that your visa is business visit.

Your recruitment agent has swindled you and is being paid handsomely so to do. Your supervisors at your campus likely are not familiar with visa regulations. He or she perhaps unwittingly relies on a false a bond of tacit trust with the recruiter. That perhaps, take especial note, is in italics.

You're now consequently in a state of turmoil, much like your illegal colleagues will be in two months or three when the business visit visa application recycles itself in Manama or other KSA embassy (with the convenient assistance of those scoundrel visa agents). Then a few months after that, the turmoil begins anew.

For heaven's sake, where is your professional integrity headed in the youth of your career?

By the way, your health insurance is likewise illegal.