Job Discussion Forums

[Continental Drifter]

I was unable to get my Saudi employer to provide a No Objection Letter when I departed the Kingdom in April of '06. I was hired by another Saudi employer in August of '06 after this new employer said the lack of an NOL would not be a problem. Well, not true. After my wife and I completed our medical exams and all the paperwork, we submitted everything to the Saudi Embassy in D.C. and poof - no NOL letter, no visa.

So, should I even bother trying again? Can a new employer really help me get around the NOL issue? I'm not in the U.S. now, so do you think a different Saudi Embassy would likely also refuse to issue a visa?

Any and all related comments would be greatly appreciated.

[007]

Get a new passport and try again.

[Continental Drifter]

I'd have to get new passports for the kids too, which is kind of a hassle but maybe worth doing.

[Cleopatra]

[rxfaith]

what is a No Objection Letter?

[Cleopatra]

The LONO (or NOC - No Objection Certificate) is a letter that you request from your employers when you are leaving a job in Saudi Arabia. It states that they have no objection to your taking up another job in KSA. On applying for a Saudi visa to enter the country for your subsequent job, the embassy will ask you for the NOC if you are applying within a year or two (the periods vary from embassy to embassy) of last having worked in the Kingdom. No NOC, no visa - at least that is how it has been in the past.

The catch is that, while you are obliged to have the NOC in order to get a visa, your employer is in no way obliged to give it to you. Many employers do not give them, perhaps as a way to 'encourage' employees not to leave, perhaps out of sheer spite. Either way, it's real slave labour mentality.

[rxfaith]

Wow, very interesting. I appreciate the info.

[Stephen Jones]

Saudi embassies seem to have a life of their own.

[scot47]

The NOC, also called the LONO, is still asked for by many employers. If they ask for it you don't have much choice but to provide it. If you can't becasue a previous employer refuses to play ball, then you have to find another ball game !

[Continental Drifter]

I appreciate the input on this. It would be great if we actually knew how many years out without a letter before being allowed to return. I suppose it's just a matter of contacting the Saudi Embassy in your country and asking. Yes, all so easy in theory.

[Bebsi]

...or at least...er...another ball!!

[Van Norden]

My visa application was delayed because of the HIV report. You know how it states you need to take the test again if you've been a naughty boy in the past 3 months? Someone at the Embassy took this literally.

This was the official reason given, but my employer told me there was something else going on behind the scenes. A grudge from an old dispute they'd had with the Embassy.

About 2 weeks later I got the visa.

[Stephen Jones]

The tests are only valid for three months. If you don't enter the Kingdom within three months you may well have to take them again.

[Bebsi]

Wonder what the point is? You have to do an AIDS test to get in to Saudi initially, but you can spend the next 20 years hanging out in every iniquitous fleshpot in Asia (as many do ) during the hols, and it's not even an issue.

Does initial entry into KSA on a work vis, for each new contract, render one immune to HIV etc for the duration of that contract, I wonder????



And if you break a contract and come back without an NOC where you should, in fact, have one, does your immune system still work?? Maybe if they suspect you are doing that, like for instance you hand in a brand spanking new passport for your visa although you look like a Saudi vet, they make you do a special "no-NOC" AIDS test because being a bad boy, as VN says, you are no longer immune????

[dmb]