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buildbyflying
Joined: 31 Mar 2005
Posts: 30
Location: On your right. No, your other right.
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 Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 11:56 pm Post subject: read the small print (or arabic) on your visa. |
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FYI: business visas and visitor's visas are often misread, and according to the state dept website one of the major problems is the date of validity written in english, and the actual amount of time you're allowed in the Kingdom are not the same. Apparently, the part about how much time you have to get out is in arabic. Oops?
The fine should you have to pay it is 10k SAR. It's been said that you can go to al-Tarheel(?) the deportation center and pay for the stamps needed to get out. But I've also heard (from the consular and a lawyer) that they may choose to throw you and wait for you to be deported instead.
Have fun with that. |
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Stephen Jones
Joined: 21 Feb 2003
Posts: 4124
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| Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 6:56 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| FYI: business visas and visitor's visas are often misread, and according to the state dept website one of the major problems is the date of validity written in english, and the actual amount of time you're allowed in the Kingdom are not the same. Apparently, the part about how much time you have to get out is in arabic. Oops? |
Not exactly what the website says.
A common mistake among visitors is confusing the validity of their Saudi visa with the permitted length of stay in the Kingdom. The U.S. Mission in Saudi Arabia has received several reports of Americans fined for inadvertently overstaying their permitted time in the Kingdom. It can take up to two weeks to resolve such an error with Saudi Immigration authorities. Travelers can now check their permitted length of stay online at the Visa Validity Service website by typing in their passport number and Saudi visa number.
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_1012.html#entry_requirements
To the best of my knowledge visit visas allow you in for a fixed period of time starting from the entry date (thirty days I believe) and the validity date is the last date the visa can be used to enter the Kingdom.
There is one place where it seems to me the Department of State has got it wrong.
American citizens involved in labor disputes or employment dismissal will not be granted an exit permit prior to court resolution or abandonment of the case by the American citizen.
Unless the labor law has changed recently all the claimant needs to do is sign papers before the labour court granting his lawyer, or anybody else he wishes to name (though I've known people have problems registering non-Saudis) the right to conduct the case on his behalf. |
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buildbyflying
Joined: 31 Mar 2005
Posts: 30
Location: On your right. No, your other right.
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| Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 5:45 pm Post subject: |
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The way I read it says the same thing.
I can say from experience that the validity (in english) and the duration of your stay (in arabic) are not the same. And that there is no fixed length of stay as my visa had a validity of 60 days but the visa had an expiration date of two weeks. Even my sponsor was surprised.
The website is correct that it can take up to two weeks because the Saudi who's handling the case may be more interested in fixing his car (really?) than getting you out of the country. |
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Marquess
Joined: 05 Feb 2009
Posts: 165
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| Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 8:05 pm Post subject: |
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| You mean having an Indian, Philipino or Pakistani fix his car. |
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Stephen Jones
Joined: 21 Feb 2003
Posts: 4124
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| Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 10:31 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I can say from experience that the validity (in english) and the duration of your stay (in arabic) are not the same. And that there is no fixed length of stay as my visa had a validity of 60 days but the visa had an expiration date of two weeks. Even my sponsor was surprised. |
Don't know about business or visit visas because I've never had them. The two dates are obviously different though. You have the time limit before the visa doesn't let you enter, and the time limit for how many days that is. The two are obviously very different things.
Incidentally, if you have an entry-re-exit visa remember the months after the first exit are sharia months. |
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trapezius
Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 1670
Location: Land of Culture of Death & Destruction
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| Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 12:11 pm Post subject: |
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*Hijri* months.
Anyway, about visas, it is common knowledge that visas have 2 dates. One is the date of the validity of the visa itself, the other is the duration for which you are allowed to stay in the foreign country.
I have a 10-year UK visa, but that doesn't mean I can stay there for 10 years. It means I can enter the country within that time period. But I can only stay in the UK for 6 months at a time. And of course, it is a multiple-entry visa. If it were, say, a single-entry visa valid for a year, I would have to leave within 6 months of entering and then get another visa before I would be allowed in.
This is how visas operate around the world. |
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