Job Discussion Forums

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

A poster here has claimed that regulations are changing and that it is no longer possible for teachers to bring family dependants to KSA. See recent posts by "aliasrachel".

My feeling is that her employer is trying to save money and is inventing a new rule. I know it has always been possible, but difficult for females working in KSA as teachers to bring male dependants. As far as I know it has always been possible for male teachers to bring family.

Of course this would not be the case with a business visa.

Comments ?

ex500 · Joined: 27 Nov 2010 Posts: 44

The government has made some changes and also made some mistakes with regards to the process to bring family.

I don't know about the situation for women, but for the last couple of months some male teachers have had a hard time bringing dependents. It appears, however, that this may be a temporary problem.

manowur · Joined: 30 Oct 2008 Posts: 68

scot47,

Was going to respond to you on the other forum where I mentioned this, but then saw you created this one dedicated to the issue so figured I'll just do it here instead.

So basically, what I stated before about the ban was info I received from a friend of a friend, both of whom are currently working in Saudi as teachers on iqamas. The one guy tried to bring over his family and his application was denied, so the alternative was to have them come on 3-month visitor visas. We could not think of any logical reasoning as to why they started doing this, but thought it may be related to the Saudization efforts (i.e., to deter foreigners from coming).

At any rate, hopefully ex500 is right and it's only a temporary thing...

pooroldedgar · Joined: 07 Oct 2010 Posts: 181

I was under the impression that Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries in the world that doesn't even have visitor visas.

Is that wrong?

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

The Saudis decide who gets to visit. Seems fair enough to me.

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

manowur · Joined: 30 Oct 2008 Posts: 68

So I just checked the US Saudi Embassy website (http://www.saudiembassy.net/services/) and apparently there are several types of "visitor" visas. I'm guessing the only ones that would be of relevance to us would be the Family and Work Visit visas. The Personal Visit seems nearly identical to the Family one, and I'm not exactly clear on the difference between the Business and Work Visit one (besides the fact the Business one clearly states it cannot be used for work, as VS mentioned).

And if things are not confusing enough, I checked my passport and my very first gig in Saudi was on a Work Visit visa, which was later changed to a Residence visa (which also is ineligible for work) renewed every 3 months. I'm guessing most employers who can't provide an iqama go this route, but not sure...

bigdurian · Posted: Sun May 03, 2015 4:31 am Post subject:

[quote="veiledsentiments"][quote="pooroldedgar"]I was under the impression that Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries in the world that doesn't even have visitor visas.

Is that wrong?[/quote]
These short term non-work visas tend to be called various things here.[b] It is actually a business visit visa[/b]... supposedly for a company who sends someone over to KSA related to their business. Recruiters/Contractors have started using them to quickly, cheaply, and easily get teachers in... although the visa specifically says that it is illegal for work in KSA.

Laws in Saudi are very elastic.

VS[/quote]

No, a business visa is different from a visit visa. There are visit visas specifically for those visiting family. Valid for a three month stay, extendable by one month three times.[/i]