Job Discussion Forums

demitrescou · Joined: 25 Apr 2007 Posts: 122

I understand that many US and Canadian applicants with unrelated degrees are being denied visas for Saudi under some changes in regulations. Apparently Brits are not having the same problem as of yet.

Can anyone shed some light on this? I would have thought most teachers in Saudi or applying to go have unrelated degrees. How are such new rules possibly going to work?

lcanupp1964 · Joined: 12 Dec 2009 Posts: 381

After the dust settles this Fall, many schools/colleges/universities in KSA may have a shortage of teachers because of this policy. Heck, there is a shortage now. I think the policy will be "reinterpreted" once the numbers are looked at. I feel that they should have looked at the number of non-native teachers that work here. At KFUPM most, if not 100% of all the instructors in the prep-year program are native-speakers of English. At KAU, the number is around 70% non-native with 30% of the teachers being native-speakers of English.

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

rbc · Joined: 24 Jun 2009 Posts: 14

EdEx recently managed to get the Ministry of Labor (or whoever, I'm not sure exactly which governmental agency is involved) to reverse the ban on hiring American teachers without a degree in English.

All I really know for sure is that American teachers working at KSU breathed a big sigh of relief, and are looking forward to coming back next year. But they were told they must have iqamas. No more visit visas.

EYEBALL · Joined: 17 Apr 2013 Posts: 34

rbc · Joined: 24 Jun 2009 Posts: 14

Dear Eyeball,

"Looking forward . . ." was written with tongue firmly placed in cheek.

But thanks for the tip-off about the fight for severance pay. So far, I haven't had any problem with EdEx.

But this is going off-topic ...

All the best,
rbc

nomad soul · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world

plumpy nut · Joined: 12 Mar 2011 Posts: 1652

lcanupp1964 · Joined: 12 Dec 2009 Posts: 381

I agree with everything you said Nomad Soul. One point I think is worth adding is that the Dean of the PYP at the ELI has changed. The new dean took over about 6 weeks ago. I feel that this is a positive change and things should only get better (not that things are all that bad).

EYEBALL · Joined: 17 Apr 2013 Posts: 34

rollingk · Joined: 23 Jul 2006 Posts: 212

Gracious! Imagine EdEx solving anything. Mayhap they've discovered some lubricant to "process" those unfortunate teachers unlucky enough to be so frequently positioned between themselves and those fulsome immigration folk. Any final outcome from this tableau is likely to be pretty ugly.

Recently, all told the Saudi Cultural Mission and Saudi Immigration in the US took more than 2 months to process my application for a work visa, despite having all my ducks in a row, a Masters TESL, BA English, a CELTA, and having already jumped thru the same hoops for a prior visa in the kingdom. Strangely, Immigration didn't want to accept an in-the-classroom Masters TESL (although I'd used this earlier) that their Cultural Mission had taken a full month to authenticate, but was asking that I recommence the authentication process with the undergrad English degree. It took resubmitting the application 3 times before they relented and accepted it.

In short, if American be prepared for all manner of nonsense and delay. Oddly, any result of the "special relationship" doesn't seem to inform a favorable outcome from a teacher's perspective. Perhaps this is owing to a preponderant focus on image over substance.