Job Discussion Forums

rigel · Joined: 17 Apr 2009 Posts: 308

An agency I'm dealing with claims there are two types of business visas in the KSA. One is a business visit visa, which is illegal to work on. The other is a business work visa, and (supposedly) it's legal to work on this visa.

Let's hear the truth from those in the know.

EFLUndercover · Joined: 26 May 2007 Posts: 82

If a company is 'reputable' they will bring you in on a 3-month WORK visa which is then converted to a residence iqaamah (visa).

Coming into KSA on a business visa to actually work is useless. You cannot open a bank account, purchase anything in your name or do any other kind of personal transactions, etc.

Anyone wanting to bring you in on a business visa instead of a work visa is up front trying to skimp on giving you as an employee your due rights and you in turn could not do anything about it.

Mark100 · Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 441

Yes I believe there are two types of business visas.

Some people do come and get in and work on them because the company they are working for don't have any visas left for your country of origin.

It is complicated but i knew quite a few people who did it. They were okay coz they actually lived in Bahrain and worked in Saudi.

rigel · Joined: 17 Apr 2009 Posts: 308

sheikher · Joined: 13 Jul 2009 Posts: 291

All about various and sundry visas -- and all things expatriate -- from an authoritative voice:

http://workinginsaudiarabia.blogspot.com/search?q=visa

ENTRY VISA: To legally work, you need to apply for an entry-for-employment-with-a-licensed-business type visa which requires an extensive medical test and heaps of embassy-endorsed documents and police check, etc. This entry visa allows you a single entry only and authorizes your sponsor to make a legit "work visa" application which then is used to apply for an iqama (residence permit). These two applications must be processed within 90 days of your arrival during which you are forbidden to exit the Kingdom for a weekend off or vacation. Term of this kind of truly legit work visa and iqama is the term of your contract, and the benefits are enormous. The iqama allows you to open a bank account and hire an car, keep the police smiling, etc. For a multiple entry/exit work visa, you pay extra. I think it's SAR500 US$135 as compared with SAR100. Some sponsors will require you to pay this extra fee. If no one cares to, you stay in KSA.

BUSINESS VISA: A 3-month business visa (also known in vernacular as a business visit visa) does not require a medical and is generally used for a short-term visit for "business consultation" purposes. Think power lunches, inspections of jointly owned projects, etc. It is remarkably customary among some teacher recruitment agents to offer you a contract and sponsor this type of visa. Illegal! Some universities outsource the ESL teacher recruitment contracts. The sponsor who is the subcontractor illegally authorizes (by letter of invitation addressed to the Saudi embassy) to secure quick entry.

In the case of 3-month business visas, often the entry is via Bahrain where complicit visa agents can be of assistance to the sponsor. After entry to KSA, you must exit every 30 days to get a stamp in your passport. After 3 months, you go to the visa agent again. After 6 months, again. Etc. Within each 3-month period, you go the border very 30 days to get stamped. It's quite some scam. Teaching is not consultation, no matter how extensive your imagination. Look at the website above and refer to the paragraphs under "more on visas".

There have been cases when teachers go on a visa run to Bahrain and their applications are rejected. Their personal effects have to be abandoned and their flight home is their own responsibility.

The entire visa application rigmarole is paid for by your sponsor, as are airfares and health insurance. These are legal obligations. Read the Labor laws pdf attachment in an earlier thread. If you've paid for a medical and/or police check back home, and accommodation in Bahrain or wherever, keep receipts. These expenses may not necessarily be the sponsor's legal financial obligation, but if he does not cough up, you may interpret his refusal as indicative of a shady character whose management skills you might question in the future.

Stephen Jones, have you any emendations or amendments?

rigel · Joined: 17 Apr 2009 Posts: 308

Sheiker-I just wanna say THANKS. My hat is off to you for posting that.

Mr TEFL · Joined: 12 Jun 2009 Posts: 35

Add to those two types of business visa mentioned by the OP, a government visit visa that some companies use to get teachers into Saudi in a hurry.

rigel · Joined: 17 Apr 2009 Posts: 308

Let me guess how I'd get one of those:

If I'm in Bangkok, I'd have to fly to Washington, D.C. to get it.

If I'm in the shadow of the embassy in Washington, D.C. they'll want me to fly to Bahrain to get it.

BUT...if I have an immigration stamp in my passport from Israel, forget it. They won't let me get the visa. Not even a tourist visa.

Would it be something like this?

sheikher · Joined: 13 Jul 2009 Posts: 291

Any passport containing Hebriac script equals certain swift rejection. You may wish to opt for a fresh passport.

A tourist visa is not as it sounds. Tourism to Mecca, yes, provided that your application for the visa has a "certified Muslim" document attached. Talk to your local immam. Tourist visa equals pilgrimage.

Getting a visa in Bahrain generally implies a 3-month business visa procured at the dictates of your own conscience and that of your sponsor's.

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

sheikher · Joined: 13 Jul 2009 Posts: 291

I've been advised that my sojourn to the Holy Land should begin with a request for the border official to tip into my passport a stamped entry visa that can be removed upon departure.

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

Actually now if you enter the Occupied Territories they put a stamp in saying 'not valid for entry into Israel'.

sheikher · Joined: 13 Jul 2009 Posts: 291

British may be at a slight advantage re. unrestricted travel between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Seems their government can issue double passports!
http://www.expatfocus.com/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=8590

An item from The Jerusalem Post:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1227702451258&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

A mention in Wikipedia:
Most Muslim countries and many African countries do not permit entry to people using an Israeli passport. In addition, Iran,[19] Kuwait,[20] Lebanon,[21] Libya,[22] Saudi Arabia,[23] Sudan,[24] Syria[25] and Yemen[26] go further and do not allow entry to people with evidence of travel to Israel, or whose passports have a used or an unused Israeli visa.

To circumvent this travel restriction, Israel did not require visitors to have passports stamped with Israeli visas or with Israeli entry and exit stamps. The procedure made it impossible to tell if a traveller had entered Israel. However, since September 2006, Israeli immigration officials will rarely agree not to stamp passports.[27]

The countries which do not allow entry to people with evidence of travel to Israel are aware of the entry and exit stamps stamped in passports by Egypt and Jordan at their respective land borders with Israel. Non-allowing countries prohibit entry based on the presence of a tell-tale Egyptian or Jordanian stamp. A traveller, for example, would be denied entry based on the presence of an Egyptian stamp, in his passport, which indicates that he crossed into or out of Egypt at Taba on the Egyptian-Israeli border.

Furthermore, under Israeli law, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Yemen are classified as "enemy countries" and an Israeli citizen may not visit them without a special permit issued by the Israeli minister of the Interior. An Israeli who visits these countries, whether using an Israeli passport or not, may be prosecuted when returning to Israel. This list was set in 1954, and Egypt and Jordan were taken off the list when they signed a peace treaty with Israel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passport#cite_note-22

Bradt · Joined: 11 Jun 2009 Posts: 16

If my recruiter offers a business visa, rather than a work visa should I refuse, or try to get something in writing about them paying for all expenses to make the frequent visa runs? What period of time would be considered reasonable until a work visa and Iqama are given to me?

sheikher · Joined: 13 Jul 2009 Posts: 291

A work visa and iqama are secured within 90 days of arrival. Read the Labor laws. The application process should ideally begin within 24 hours after arrival.

Any sponsor attempting to procure a 3-month business visa for you is most probably the type of character who is likely to dishonor any addendum to the contract he has signed or to which verbal assurance has been made (or to which assurances via electronic means are made). I doubt that he has any intention whatsoever of securing a legit work visa for you after your arrival on the illegal business visa he sponsored. Too many questions would require answering!

Be aware that those visa runs for a business visa renewal may be denied and you'll be stuck high and dry in Bahrain with your personal effects and cash on the other side of the causeway.

Incidentally, those business visa renewal runs are not cheap. You'll require transport by a "special taxi" cab whose drivers pay surcharges to cross an international boundary. You'll require a visa agent because the applications are in Arabic. He'll demand the visa fees and additional fees for his services. Accommodation: optimistically for one night. If you're going on a workday, your salary may be accordingly reduced. If you're going on a Wednesday after work, good luck finding a vacancy over the weekend when rates go up.

Those visa fees (only) are a legal obligation of your sponsor. If the means by which illegal renewals are procured are your responsibility, your sponsor does not value you for your daily professionalism; he values you from a perspective fundamentally known as profit motive.