Job Discussion Forums

2buckets · Joined: 14 Dec 2010 Posts: 515 Location: Middle East

I never felt "trapped", but then I had access to the weekly MAC. (military airlift command) flights out of Jeddah, and a boat capable of crossing the Red Sea.

plumpy nut · Joined: 12 Mar 2011 Posts: 1652

BajaLaJaula · Joined: 25 Jan 2007 Posts: 267

Entry visa...I agree with...but requiring an exit visa? KSA and Qatar are the only countries in the middle east that require foreign residents to obtain an exit visa before granting them permission to leave.

plumpy nut · Joined: 12 Mar 2011 Posts: 1652

Maybe a better way of putting it is they can entrap you until their satisfied that they've gotten what they wanted out of you.

Gulezar · Joined: 19 Jun 2007 Posts: 483

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

"Trapped" ? I felt that way in many places. Worst was a civil service job I had in the UK !

myohmy · Joined: 31 Jul 2013 Posts: 119

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Whence did you flee ? Where are you now ?

dustdevil · Joined: 27 Mar 2014 Posts: 38 Location: Retired in U.S.

bertonneau · Joined: 26 May 2009 Posts: 79 Location: Colorado USA

I'm working for an employer that has me on a business visa by my choice. I can get an Iqama if I choose. I have chosen not to. I can come in and out of Saudi at my discretion anytime I want for the next 5 years, only available to Americans. With that said all employers can easily get 6 month multiple entry visas if they want. Some are too deviant and dishonest to do this and so yes its a bit of an imprisonment thing at that point. With that said, anyone coming here makes the choice, no ones forcing you to come here. If you choose to work for an employer that takes your passport and doesn't provide you with a multiple entry visa that's the choice one makes. Don't take the job, if it bothers you. There are a lot of employers here and enough of them do provide this that if you came here working for one that doesn't that's your bad decision.

hash · Joined: 17 Dec 2014 Posts: 456 Location: Wadi Jinn

bertonneau · Joined: 26 May 2009 Posts: 79 Location: Colorado USA

Newbie or not. On my first job here I told my to be employer outright that before I would come over that I needed to talk to two to three present working employees and have at my discretion the right to ask them anything I felt like asking. I talked to two employees one for two hours and the other I emailed several times. Even with that done there were a few things that weren't acceptable upon my arrival and I complained to my recruiter who got me over here. He called the head of the company and everything was sorted out in 24 hours. Given all the job boards just Daves alone one can get a pretty clear idea of what one might get themselves into here. Take the offensive. This is not a country for the meek and introverted. This is a country when you don't get what you want you need to get in someones face and a country were if you have even the slightest doubt about anything you better ask and then re-ask most likely a Westerner before you hop on a plane and get here. This kind of statement has been said enough and in enough different ways that I blame those who come here not prepared for their own pain. This si a country where your managers often will walk all over you. This is a country where freaks that would never get jobs in their home countries can be paid way more than they would at home. With that said it's screwed up at it's core and if you're not prepared to aggresively defend your interests prior to your arrival, that's your fault. Want a passive/introverted country, try Japan. With that said though when I've had a concern I have had my concerns addressed. Anyone reading this, take care ask, ask and re-ask absolutely anything you could possibly imagine prior to arrival and demand to speak to Westerners from the company. If they wont let you and you don't feel comfortable than don't come. This ain't the West. It's the Middle East. Just look at the news on any given week and you'll see how this part of the world deals with things much of the time. As far as the passport issue real quickly, you make ten copies of your passport page and visa page. You tell your emploer that they can have one of the copies. there is absolutely no need whatsoever and at any time for your employer to ever have your passport if they can have copies with the information I just mentioned copied and ready to hand to them at a moments notice, Period. You tell your employer your holding on to your passport and that your want a multiple entry visa stamped in it before you enter Saudi Arabia. If they wont do it than don't come, find a real employer and there are plenty of them that will do this. Its just the crappy ones that wont because they want you stuck here. Don't do it. Period Take another job with someone else.If you take the aggressive here you usually get what you want and deserve. If you dont you usually get walked all over and have a bad experience. Come from a position of strength not weakness.

buravirgil · Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2015 5:27 pm Post subject: Re: Really?

hash · Joined: 17 Dec 2014 Posts: 456 Location: Wadi Jinn

bertonneau · Joined: 26 May 2009 Posts: 79 Location: Colorado USA

If you set terms for an employer and they wont accept them than you move on to the next employer. It's not bluster. It's the reality of any agreement ever. You negotiate whatever you do before you enter into something not after. There are plenty of jobs I've seen in Saudi that state a single entry visa. For me, that's unacceptable and so I move on to the next position, if you choose not to, again, that's your fault not the employers. There are plenty of employers here that will issue multiple entry visas as standard practice not the exception, but the rule they choose to do. If you choose to work for one that doesn't that's your fault not theirs.