Job Discussion Forums

[taylorfamily]

UPDATED RESULTS: I felt it would only be right to include the outcome. My degree was turned into the SACM office in Washington DC.

The visa agency informed me it should take 2 to 3 weeks. It took a total of 3 days and my degree was approved. Showing, they didn't look to hard to find the 80+ credits worth of distance education in my Bachelor degree. No worries, I am happy!

ORIGINAL:

Hello, so quickly.

Me: American, BA, CELTA, and 3 years of teaching experience.
Wife: Russian, BA, CELTA, IELTS 7.5 score, and 4 years of teaching experience.

Luckily, we have some friends in KSA and were able to land two direct hire jobs with a university and private high school in Riyadh.

I, American, will be getting work visa and my wife will join me later and begin working while under a dependent visa. We will be relocating from Hong Kong this summer.

PROBLEM/CONCERN:
I have my degree and everything to get the work visa, but the degree authentication has raised concern. I have my degree, transcript, and method of instruction stating 'on campus' all ready along with the other documents needed.

Although, my degree/education was quite special and I am concerned SACM will not be overly pleased... I attended a school where the last 1 and 1/2 years were done independently one-on-one with a college professor while I traveled abroad on field research. The school has no grades and uses a pass/fail system with evaluation from the teacher and student.

So, even though I got my college to give me a method of instruction stating my study was 'on campus'. If you take the time to read through the book of a transcript I will be sending, it will become quite obvious that 100% of my study was not in class and I had online/distance education.

I contacted SACM and they said they only allow 12 credits of online/distance education. I have in the area of 80-90 credits from distance education... ****...

I can't just give up, and my college refused to send an adjusted official transcript that would not include my evaluations - which show I was abroad....

I need peoples advise, on what should I expect in terms of my degree authentication??. Any odds it would just slide through?

If my degree is denied, what are my options? Is there any way for my wife and I to work in KSA? Can I apply again or challenge the denial?

Does anyone have any advise on how I could manipulate the situation in my favor?

It would be absolutely devastating to get all this set up and have an amazing situation ready, to be a lost because of some paperwork.. I could really use anyones help or ideas!

Thank you..

[nomad soul]

[taylorfamily]

thank you for your prompt response.

I will still apply and hopefully my degree will just slide through. I am hoping that they will see the method of instruction stating ' on campus ' and see all the other forms are turned in, and hopefully - fingers crossed - think nothing about it.

Although, I do not know how thorough SACM is with there authentication.

[plumpy nut]

I think all they will look at is the "on-campus" and approve your degree. All they do is look and make a check mark, that's it.

[taylorfamily]

I have two follow up questions.

1. If my degree - pray to Allah - gets approved and I can get the work visa... Is this something I only have to do once? Say, if I switch employers in the future, and have to go through the entire visa process again, can I just use my degree that has already been authenticated or do I need deal with SACM again?

2. I am living in China, and I do not know much about KSA culture especially in regards to business... But can I just simply bribe my way through this SACM b***s*** if they decide to not approve my degree?

In China, or my wife's home, Russia, this is just how you get things done... Could this apply to this SACM situation if my degree is not approved?

[lcanupp1964]

I agree with plump nut. When I got back my visa and all the paperwork, I noticed that the embassy staff didn't even open up my official (sealed) transcripts. As long as you can get the other parts of the authentication process completed, I doubt they would even take the time to open up the transcripts and study them. If you were sending them to the Japanese, or Germany embassy, that would be a different story.

Sometimes, laziness - pray to Allah - can be a indirect benefit.

[scot47]

You have to wait and see. Bribery is not the way. KSA is not China. It might work in a multi-million dollar defence contract. It will not work in your position.

[taylorfamily]

[nomad soul]

[lcanupp1964]

I had a very good experience working with the SACM. I do remember that I had to send the KSA Embassy in Washington, D.C. all the documents/paperwork regarding my degrees to them first before I was able to send my completed visa application to the SACM. The embassy reviewed them and then sent the paperwork back to me in about 3 days approving my degrees. The embassy staff that handles this step in the visa process was the ones I was writing about that didn't even bother to open my official (sealed) transcripts and review them.

After I had that part done, I then sent my completed application package to the SACM. After the SACM reviewed my package, they sent it to the KSA Embassy with their endorsement, thus approving me to get my visa issued by the embassy (whew!). This was about five years ago, so the process might be different now. When I think back about it now, I'm surprised that I got it all done.

[nomad soul]

A colleague of mine in Iraq worked for the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission years ago and holds Iraqi and US passports. In fact, the SACM's employees are native Arabic-speakers who are either US citizens or have documentation to legally work in the US.

[Muhammed Abbas Khan]

Dear All,

Is there a distinction to be made between an online degree and a distance learning degree? Both terms are commonly used interchangeably but from what I understand there is a difference. An online degree is completed remotely with I would imagine very little if any classroom attendance. Whilst a distance degree can involve classroom interaction perhaps during a summer period outside of the usual academic semesters or intermittently through the year.

I guess what really matters is whether or not SACM makes the distinction.

Regards,

Abbas

[nomad soul]

Traditionally, distance learning meant the student is physically in a location that's far from where classes are being held. An example of distance learning is the old correspondence courses in which the student would be mailed a course packet with materials from the school. Upon completion of the assignments, the student would send the work back to the teacher for grading. Using the mail system for learning has pretty much been replaced by an online learning system.

Online learning simply means learning via an online system and doesn't take into consideration the student's (or teacher's) physical proximity to the main campus or ability to physically attend an on-site class. In other words, it's another medium for learning. Plus, there are now online or virtual universities in which there is no established physical campus. Frankly, nowadays, online or e-learning is being used both in or out of the classroom mainly because of our ease in using familiar technology for work and in our daily lives.

But yes, all of this doesn't matter since it depends how the Ministry of Higher Ed defines it.

[taylorfamily]

UPDATED RESULTS: I felt it would only be right to include the outcome. My degree was turned into the SACM office in Washington DC.

The visa agency informed me it should take 2 to 3 weeks. It took a total of 3 days and my degree was approved. Showing, they didn't look to hard to find the 80+ credits worth of distance education in my Bachelor degree. No worries, I am happy!

[nomad soul]