Job Discussion Forums

advice · Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Posts: 39 Location: USA

Hi, everybody,

Could you, please, give me a piece of advice.

I received an offer from from www.alfalak.com
to teach in Prince Muhammad Bin Fahd University.

I have no idea what to do, in fact. Is it true that majority of Americans go there through Bahrein? I am not American, I am not a native English speaker with Ph.D. and also American education. An offer sounds good, but in my country there is so much information about females who disappear abroad, etc.

I have never been to the Arabic world, I don't really know how to deal with this situation.

Do I really have to go to Bahrein and then to SA? Do they really pay what they promise? My husband does not know either:))) We have a daughter of 12 years. Do they have schools in Al-Khobar? How do they look like? Are the schools in Arabic?

My daughter speaks English fluently.

My husband is a computer programmer. How are the chances for him to work there?

Where do teachers live there? What kind of apartment do they provide? We are 3 people.

I just don't know what I am going to do.

What does that university look like in the reality? Is it safe there?

Please, please, give me advice.

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

What visa will you be on? If you are on a business visa then your dependents may not be allowed to join you.

trapezius · Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 9:39 am Post subject:

advice, if you have been offered a job through Al Falak, then you will be coming to SA on a business visa, which means you can't bring your dependents here.

Your husband will have to find a job in SA on his own from abroad, and once he gets a job (with a work visa), he can come here and bring your daughter as well.

If you want to be a direct emplyee of the university, you should apply to the university directly. Since you applied through a head-hunter, and have been offered a position by the head-hunter, you will not be coming here on a work visa, but on a business visa issued by Al Falak. This is technically illegal, but hundreds of instructors are hired by universities here through recruiting companies, and they come here on business visas. Almost all of them, however, are either single men/women, or married males coming here alone for a year or two. Married females ususally don't come through this channel as it means being away from their families for an extended period (unless of course, some female *does* want to be away from her family!).

Your options:

1) Either apply to the university directly. Tell them you have been offered a position through Al Falak, but you want to bring your family, so you want to come on a work visa. Nothing will probably be done, but it doesn't hurt to try.

2) Or apply to other institutions (universities, language institutes, companies, etc) directly and hope you get an offer from somewhere to come here on a work visa.

Good luck.

P.S. Clarify with Al Falak anyway about your visa status and whether you can bring your family or not. And then post here what they say!

Cleopatra · Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2007 1:20 pm Post subject:

Balzac · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 266

Bebsi · Joined: 07 Feb 2005 Posts: 958

You weren't offered an interview???? Even though you went to the trouble of not applying? Shocked

Balzac · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 266

007 · Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 3:07 pm Post subject:

It seems to me that PMU management prefer candidates with qualifications and teaching experience from uncle Sam's universities, and specifically from a university which is a member of the Texas International Education Consortium (TIEC).

Balzac · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 266

Bebsi · Joined: 07 Feb 2005 Posts: 958

Well, the BC doesn't just hire any old Brit, I would point out. Oh, no. You must have a CELTA or RSA. If you haven't got one, then you obviously don't know how to teach.

That being said, the BC will happily help you out and train you how to teach and will give you a CELTA or equivalent to prove it: at about 1k GBP a whack. Not that the BC has any personal or financial axes to grind; after all, they are a registered charity, who teach English to the world's desperate purely for altruistic reasons.

God save BC, and no-one else!!!!

Laughing

Balzac · Joined: 14 Jun 2007 Posts: 266

abubakerhadi · Joined: 23 Jun 2007 Posts: 1

I have pm you...

globalnomad2 · Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 562

Strictly speaking, 007, there is no such thing as an Uncle Sam's university, except for the military academies. Aside from those, the US government does not own or run any higher-educational insitutition.

Bebsi · Joined: 07 Feb 2005 Posts: 958

Mea culpa, indeed I meant Trinity.

I am given to understand (but need to check it out) that the BC was privatised during the Thatcher era, like many other government owned/sponsored bodies.

Any enlightenment, opinions etc welcome.

advice · Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Posts: 39 Location: USA

In fact, our family has made the decision not to go to Saudi Arabia, at least, this time. Mostly because we have currently more opportunities in the USA.
Anyway, if somebody wants to share any of his or her Arabic world experience, don't hesitate to write me privately.
I am potentially interested for the future.