Job Discussion Forums

edwar1zl · Joined: 12 Jan 2014 Posts: 12 Location: Denver

I spent nine months teaching in Jazan, Saudi Arabia. I will be posting weekly blogs on my experience there. Below is a link to my first blog, detailing the visa process and getting there.

(Mod edit)

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Disappeared !

sicklyman · Joined: 02 Feb 2013 Posts: 930

curious as to why the mods would remove a link like this. Is there some forum rule that I'm not aware of?

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

Defamatory ?

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

They normally don't let people post their own website links on the board. I didn't catch it so I don't know if there was anything bad on it - guessing it is fine. I think that they just want to avoid having to read people's links in case they are attack blogs.

Of course, one can just put it on their profile so those interested can find it.

VS

Makkah · Joined: 08 Oct 2014 Posts: 113

nomad soul · Joined: 31 Jan 2010 Posts: 11454 Location: The real world

Assuming the OP's rather ambiguous poll is about employment/work visas and not business visit visas, a range of responses is expected. The length of the visa process is generally dependent upon 1) the month the offer was accepted; 2) the month the new employee is expected arrive in country; 3) the time of year (i.e., slow vs busy recruiting season) for employers, the Saudi government agencies involved, and the consulates; and 4) whether the new employee's academic and visa documents as well as application packet are complete and error-free for visa approval.

Employment/work visas expire 90 days after issuance, so the ideal time to have the visa in hand is close to the month of arrival especially since the employer has up to 90 days to obtain the employee's iqama. Therefore, someone accepting a job offer in April for an Aug/Sept. arrival will obviously have a longer time frame to deal with than another job seeker who applies for a position in, say, June or July, or who needs to be in country as soon as he/she has the visa in hand.

Additionally, once an offer is accepted, the employer has to process the block visa request to the Ministry of Labor, and when that's been approved, they will then obtain a visa authorization number and an electronic power of attorney authorized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This can take up to 3 weeks, which is why employers may not respond to anxious job candidates during that time.