Job Discussion Forums

[Allizwell]

Just a notification that if you're just arriving in KSA and are beginning the Iqama application process (including the redundant medical exam upon arrival), it could take at least 2 months to receive your Iqama (due to the stricter guidelines and slow bureaucratic process during Ramadan). This means that most likely you will not be able to exit and re-enter the country for the upcoming Eid holiday since you can't apply for a exit/re-entry visa without an Iqama. This could make for a very tedious time since the country will be a virtual ghost town during Eid. So, check with your employers to verify this!

[scot47]

The nay-sayers will use this as further evidence that a "Business visa" is better than an iqama ! Might I suggest that if you have just arrived and feel the need to escape for the Eid Holiday, you should not have come to KSA in the first place ?

[intrepid traveler]

Last year all the direct hire where I work who arrived by mid-September had their iqamas before Eid. Those of us who arrived a bit later had to "suffer" through nearly 2 weeks of paid vacation in KSA. A fair enough trade off at the time, IMO, particularly as it gave us time to adjust to our new surroundings. Some of my young Muslim colleagues went to Mecca.

[Allizwell]

Scot, as a Saudi "vet" of a few years, I would advise ANY non-Muslim Westerner -- new or old -- to get out and enjoy a holiday whenever they can!

[scot47]

Only Westerners, of course. Filipinos and Indians are different. Personally I never found KSA so oppressive that I had to leave at every opportunity. I went there to earn and save, not to spend all my $$$$$$$$$s on vacations to Phuket !

[Kitkat Biriyani]

Yet another plumpy nut wannabeee
Yehhhhh....

Farewell