Job Discussion Forums

[desert_traveller]

Now, first let me tell you that I don't know what a 'transferable' iqama is and it is precisely my intention to find out by this post.

Situation: English teacher in the KSA on a business visa. Employer seemingly working on a working visa, practically can't be bothered. I guess it will sound familiar to quite a few of the readers of this forum. I have also been in this situation, and am kinda not very willing to repeat the experience.

Now, I know that employees with a transferable iqama from their previous employer can transfer their iqama to this employer quite easily. However, getting a new iqama for someone on a business visa seems neigh impossible.

So, basically, if the new employee had a transferable iqama, whatever that means, that would solve the situation.

Now, I know that lots of Asian and African expats, mostly labourers, get their iqamas through 'reputable' Saudi businessmen, who charge them a 'small' fee for the iqama and then let them do whatever they want and work for whoever they want.

So, provided that these Saudi businessmen can get iqamas for more well-educated jobs, like language instructors, would it not make some sense to 'invest' into a transferable iqama, and then once it is done, get the real employer to get it transferred to them (which seems doable)?

Just wondering. I am not going to go back to the KSA on a business visa, but on the other hand, if a few thousands could solve the problem, would be quite happy to contribute to a brighter future.

Any insights? Mostly on the nature of the transferable iqama? Eg if you are listed as a 'labourer', can the new iqama be issued to a 'language instructor'? Etc etc etc.

Obviously, I am only joking, and would never get involved in anything unlawful, especially in the KSA, the land of law and order.

[Stephen Jones]

The basic answer to your question is No, No and No.

A transferable iqama is one that allows a worker to change job after he has completed his contract. They used to be issued after five or ten years of residency but are extremely rare now, and I have never met somebody with one.

What you are talking about is transfer of sponsorship. That is you are working for one employer and he agrees to your going to work for another employer. You then pay the transferance of sponsorship (technically the employer should do it, but as you are the one who wants to move he obviously is hardly going to do that, though you might persuade the receving employer to do so).

However two caveats. First it can be done from government to government, and from private employer to private employer, but switching between the government and private employers requires the permission of the Ministry of the Interior. Secondly, and this is what applies in your case, your new employer must have a work visa for you. That is to say when you transfer sponsorship you free up the work visa your old employer had, and take up the work visa your new one has. The techicalities may be different, but basically if your new employer does not have the right to hire an English teacher from scratch, he doesn't have the right to hire one through transfer.

What you are referring to is the illegal, but common practice of Saudis getting visas for workers and then lending them out, on their iqamas, to other employers. In your case of course it is quite infeasible. Apart from anything else there are never visas granted for Western labourers, and if there were the last thing you would want is to be hired under those conditions. Moreover, there are employers who have workers on employment visas and lend them out; they are called contractors. In fact I suspect you are working for one of them, but he has failed even to get a legitimate work visa.