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mahdi1432
Joined: 22 Aug 2013 Posts: 43 Location: Ar-Riyadh, KSA
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Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 5:08 am Post subject: |
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waltgomez wrote: |
And, also, not get a LONO. That means no job in Saudi for three years after that. Not nice if you are in your mid/late 50ies or is it? |
The Letter Of No Objection was stopped being requested before you joined this forum (2014). |
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hash
Joined: 17 Dec 2014 Posts: 456 Location: Wadi Jinn
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Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 4:57 pm Post subject: |
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mahdi1432 wrote: |
The Letter of No Objection was stopped being requested before you joined this forum (2014) |
Really? Then how come the following employer of wide renown in a recently posted job ad included the following statement as a required document for applying for a job with them:
"• Scan of “Letter of No Objection” (if employed in Saudi during the past two years)."
http://www.eslcafe.com/joblist/index.cgi?read=43631
May I again caution job seekers against accepting any internet information they happen upon, as gospel truth. As far as KSA, it's long been known that what's accepted practice for one employer may have no bearing whatsoever on another, regardless of what the "law" "is". These kinds of regulations also tend to change often and without warning, so what was true for someone's experience a year ago may no longer be valid. All you can realistically go with is what your prospective employer tells you.
Anything else is just a guessing game often morphing into an endless litany of one–upmanship . |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343
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Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 10:58 pm Post subject: |
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KSA is not a rule-based society. Many from the West cannot get their heads around that idea. |
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waltgomez
Joined: 03 Jul 2014 Posts: 105
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Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2018 12:23 pm Post subject: |
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The way to send money home with a business visa is to do so by going to Bahrain once every couple of months and remitting cash thru a company called BFC. They are everywhere in Bahrain. The biggest branch is at Bab Il Bahrain- the Bahrain Gate- you can't miss it.
Every taxi driver knows where BFC is. Every foreign worker in Bahrain knows BFC.
Bring your passport and the money + bank details and you are good to go.
They've been around forever and are very reliable.
It costs BD 8 to send the money. |
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In the heat of the moment
Joined: 22 May 2015 Posts: 393 Location: Italy
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Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2018 3:47 am Post subject: |
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Or if you can't get to Bahrain, someone with a bank account can transfer the money for you from their account. OR use their Iqama and transfer cash using Western Union. I had to do this, once, as my home account was frozen causing all sorts of problems.
Just make sure you transfer using the recipients exact details and don't leave out his middle name, like I did. |
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sicklyman
Joined: 02 Feb 2013 Posts: 930
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Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2018 9:04 am Post subject: |
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waltgomez wrote: |
going to Bahrain once every couple of months and remitting cash |
be aware that you need to declare any amount over SAR 60,000 on the causeway. |
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Thomasmc89
Joined: 26 Sep 2017 Posts: 22
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Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2018 12:41 pm Post subject: |
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If you needed to, you could easily carry more than SAR 60,000 over the causeway into Bahrain. Just keep it on your person in an envelope or something as they sometimes do a perfunctory check through bags in the car.
p.s. I can vouch that BFC (Bahrain Financing Company) are very good (they actually offer better rates than Enjaz, TeleMoney et al in KSA). You can use their website quote thing to get an estimate of how much you're likely to make before you even set foot in Bahrain which is handy to the max.
http://www.bfcsmartmoney.com/
Also, they charge only 5 BD to send the money out as euros or pounds sterling.
That higher 8 BD fee seems only to apply to people sending money out as dollars to the USA. |
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Makkah
Joined: 08 Oct 2014 Posts: 113
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Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 6:55 am Post subject: |
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waltgomez wrote: |
Anyway, I put some pressure on the company where I work and they are now in the process of signing up with their bank for transfers. But it may take some time. |
Apart from stating the obvious but why would a company have to go through a process of signing up with their bank for transfers when they already knew that they will be /are 'employing' people to provide a service on a business visa.
Best find someone with an Iqama and do it through them. |
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sicklyman
Joined: 02 Feb 2013 Posts: 930
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Posted: Thu Jan 11, 2018 9:32 am Post subject: |
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mahdi1432 wrote: |
The Letter Of No Objection was stopped being requested before you joined this forum (2014). |
not true. The law may have changed then, but as recently as last month, I know one local transfer between companies that had to get one before the iqama transfer could take place. And this is between two very reputable companies. |
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ttxor1
Joined: 04 Jan 2014 Posts: 119
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2018 12:09 pm Post subject: NOL |
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A story to illustrate hash's comments above:
I jumped through all the hoops for a KSA visa for a direct hire uni position about 4 years ago. 8 months later I get my passport back with the entry stamp in it. All that's left to do is to arrange my flight. The uni goes silent on me, and doesn't respond to multiple emails asking them what's going on. I can only assume that because it was May by the time I got my passport back, and summer vacation was right around the corner, they were waiting until the following fall to bring me over. I declined multiple other offers with the assumption that I was going to join the uni. Anyway, I bail and don't hear back from them until September asking if I had gotten my flight figured out. I told them that I had moved on.
Fast forward a few years and I go through the visa hassles again for a military gig in KSA. When the recruiter submits my passport to the embassy they demand that I get a letter from the direct hire uni job saying that I had never worked for them (despite it being obvious to anyone with eyeballs that I hadn't even entered the country as there were no stamps indicating that I had). Unsurprisingly, the uni never responds and my application is rejected by the embassy.
Essentially, the embassy was requiring a non objection letter from the uni. |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343
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Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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In the past a LONO was a requirement for all jobs, Now it is at the discretion of the employer. If the employer asks you to whistle Dixie while standing on yout hands, he can do that. Likewise in requesting a LONO. If the employer wants it, you are in his power. |
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hash
Joined: 17 Dec 2014 Posts: 456 Location: Wadi Jinn
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Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2018 5:18 am Post subject: Re: NOL |
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ttxor1 wrote: |
Fast forward a few years and I go through the visa hassles again for a military gig in KSA. When the recruiter submits my passport to the embassy they demand that I get a letter from the direct hire uni job saying that I had never worked for them (despite it being obvious to anyone with eyeballs that I hadn't even entered the country as there were no stamps indicating that I had). |
In your particular case, because you already had an entry visa stamped on the pp, once you decided to "bail", it probably would have been a good idea to get a new pp to avoid possible questions about the visa - as happened to you - in the future. If your pp is "blank", why, there's nothing to ask.
In the past, "runners" who departed KSA could easily return to KSA on a new job...with a new pp. I'm not so sure it's as easy to do now, what with computer record-keeping and so on. But it wouldn't have hurt to try.
(The USA continues to allow its citizens to apply for a new passport at any time, no questions asked, whether the current pp is expired or not. As long as you pay the fee, you can get a newly minted pp with its own number etc. How long this will continue to be allowed, of course, is anybody's guess...probably not too much longer).
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waltgomez
Joined: 03 Jul 2014 Posts: 105
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Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2018 6:13 pm Post subject: |
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disadvantages of Iqamas:
LONOs
Long medical and other such procedures while you are not working.
Also, you can fail some minute point on your medical and will have to get clearances.
Then, an embassy can just reject you.
Need an exit visas as in Nazi Germany.
Need an exit reentry visa.
You will finally pass all the hurdles and then the company just fires you because some psycho manager may not like your face.
Need to get another LONO and they may not want to give it to you.
Business visas you start working right away but there is the inconvenience of going to Bahrain once in a while. Duh. |
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waltgomez
Joined: 03 Jul 2014 Posts: 105
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Posted: Fri Feb 16, 2018 6:16 pm Post subject: Re: NOL |
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hash wrote: |
ttxor1 wrote: |
Fast forward a few years and I go through the visa hassles again for a military gig in KSA. When the recruiter submits my passport to the embassy they demand that I get a letter from the direct hire uni job saying that I had never worked for them (despite it being obvious to anyone with eyeballs that I hadn't even entered the country as there were no stamps indicating that I had). |
In your particular case, because you already had an entry visa stamped on the pp, once you decided to "bail", it probably would have been a good idea to get a new pp to avoid possible questions about the visa - as happened to you - in the future. If your pp is "blank", why, there's nothing to ask.
In the past, "runners" who departed KSA could easily return to KSA on a new job...with a new pp. I'm not so sure it's as easy to do now, what with computer record-keeping and so on. But it wouldn't have hurt to try.
(The USA continues to allow its citizens to apply for a new passport at any time, no questions asked, whether the current pp is expired or not. As long as you pay the fee, you can get a newly minted pp with its own number etc. How long this will continue to be allowed, of course, is anybody's guess...probably not too much longer).
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I think as long as you are not a criminal in Saudi, a new passport means you are a new person. These Arabs cannot tell one Khawaja from another. |
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siologen
Joined: 25 Oct 2016 Posts: 336
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Posted: Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:07 pm Post subject: re: correct! |
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I have been told as much in the past, a new, blank passport with no visa stamps is like wiping the slate clean. As long as no criminal record, nothing to worry about! |
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