Job Discussion Forums

gorkomi · Joined: 24 Aug 2009 Posts: 142

After all the hell I just went through getting medical reports, police report, pulling out hair... I just got my visa returned to me and it reads "90 Days" What is this?

johnslat · Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 7:20 pm Post subject:

Dear gorkome,
Don't worry - that's normal. Your visa will be exchanged for an iqama by your employers within (one hopes) the 90 day period.
All my visas (throughout nineteen years) were for ninety days. You seem to have one of the rare (these days) "regular" employment visas.
Congrats.
Regards,
John

reneebcc · Joined: 26 Jan 2009 Posts: 60 Location: Georgia

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

The 90 days are the validity of the visa. That is to say if you don't enter Saudi within 90 days the visa expires. It has nothing to do with how long you may stay in Saudi after you enter, that information is written in Arabic. If you have a government visit visa, a business visa, or a temporary work visit visa, then you may have to leave the country within 30 or 90 days of entry, depending on whether it is a single entry-reentry or a multiple entry-reentry visa. If it is a standard work visa, then you will be given a work/residence permit called an iqama, and it is the validity of the iqama that effects how long you may stay without renewing it.

gorkomi · Joined: 24 Aug 2009 Posts: 142

Thanks. That was helpful!

By the way, I didn't need a raised seal on my police report. They accepted the city report, stamped and notarized at the station.

Railway3 · Joined: 31 Aug 2009 Posts: 57 Location: UK

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

If it's a normal working visa you'll be given an iqama, and as long as your HR department is on the ball might just have enough time to get an entry-rentry stamped in your passport before Hajj.

If it's a temporary work visit visa, a business visa, or a government visit visa the duration of stay is 90 days and it has multiple entry-reentry for that period.

Only you know what kind of visa you have.

Railway3 · Joined: 31 Aug 2009 Posts: 57 Location: UK

johnslat · Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 7:38 pm Post subject:

Dear Railway3,

If I were you, I think I'd take it to the nearest Arabic speaker/reader (maybe at a local college/university department) to find out what it says.

Regards,
John

007 · Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 11:10 pm Post subject:

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

I have never had to wait 2 months to get Iqama and exit/re-entry. Even with the worst employer I had in the Kingdom !

Mia Xanthi · Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 2:23 pm Post subject:

More than four months for me, and even longer for other colleagues....but then, scot, you know where I worked! Rolling Eyes

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

The guy wants to be out for the Hajj holiday which starts in a months time, and he isn't even in Saudi yet. Allowing for the time of the medical, the time to get the medical results back, the time to apply for the iqama, and then the time to apply for an entry-reentry visa even with the most efficient of employers he'd be pushed to do it in a month.

Mia Xanthi · Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2009 5:29 pm Post subject:

My advice to him would be to go in with no expectation of getting out by the Hajj holiday. When going to KSA, the lower your expectations, the more likely they will be met.

Railway3 · Joined: 31 Aug 2009 Posts: 57 Location: UK