Job Discussion Forums

[ntropy]

I understand employers hold your passport and you are an issued an iqama to hold while in Kingdom. How does it work, re: the changeover? Do you hold on to the passport until the iqama is received? I wouldn't want to hand it over and then be without either for any length of time.

Shukram.

[Cleopatra]

The general rule is that you can only have one document at any given time, though some employers enforce this more strictly than others.. Once you arrive, you hand over your passport so that your employers can process your iqama. So no, you won't be able to hold onto your passport at this time - without it the iqama cannot be issued.

The iqama is the accepted form of ID for nearly all circumstances within KSA, though you'll need your passport to get foreign visas processed, for example. In my experience, if you need your passport for such purposes, your employer will request that you hand in your Iqama until you return your passport. They will probably give you a photocopy with their official stamp in the meantime. Likewise, when you travel abroad, you will have to submit your Iqama before getting your passport, and on return will have to give back the passport before getting your Iqama back. In other words, you can't have your cake and eat it... in theory at least!

[ntropy]

Thanks, Cleo. I suspected as much. What troubles me is what happens if you are asked for identification during this time. I understand they have 2 months to get your iqama.

[scot47]

The normal procedure is that you keep a photocopy of passport - and later igama when you do not have the original documents. It should not take 2 months to get Iqama. A few days. But then some employers are incompetent or crooked.

[Cleopatra]

Scot is right.

Getting your iqama should take closer to two weeks than two months, though plenty of employers are lacking in efficiency and often take longer than they should.

In the interim, your sponser will issue you with a stamped copy of your passport, which should also have a written explanation (in Arabic of course) that you are waiting for your Iqama to be processed. This suffices for ID at checkpoints, for example, but in order to open a bank account, have a phone installed, get a mobile etc, you will need to have your permanent iqama.

[ntropy]

Thanks to both of you.

[MAstudent]

Iqama transfer, how does that work?
Do u need permission from ur first employer? What happens if they refuse??

[scot47]

If the first employer refuses - you do not get it. And it may be possible that the LONO is still a requirement - although that was supposed to be abolished.

[Stephen Jones]

From 28th October transfers within the private sector have been possible. The old employer cannot prevent it if you have fulfilled your contract or worked a year in the case of unspecified contracts.