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Motorcycleman
Joined: 13 Jul 2016
Posts: 29
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 Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 9:18 am Post subject: SPSP |
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Hi -
I was recruited by SPSP back in mid August and was to be processed within 5 working days, but since then I have not heard anything and got no responses to emails sent to the HR.
I realise my recruitment has roughly coincided with EID, and that we are talking about KSA, so I am not too concerned, but I was wondering if anyone has any news about SPSP? I would especially like to hear from anyone who has just started working at SPSP. I would also like to hear from anyone who is or has worked from SPSP - what are they like as employers etc ... ?
I know that TQ lost contract last year so there have been some upheavals but it seems that a lot of the staff have remained so it can't be too bad.
Thanks. |
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sicklyman
Joined: 02 Feb 2013
Posts: 930
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| Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 9:23 am Post subject: |
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what you're experiencing is absolutely typical of applying anywhere. Hang tight and you will hear from someone.
probably...  |
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I-forgot
Joined: 28 Jun 2015
Posts: 153
Location: Riyadh
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| Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 9:33 am Post subject: |
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| sicklyman wrote: |
what you're experiencing is absolutely typical of applying anywhere. Hang tight and you will hear from someone.
probably... |
Inshallah! |
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bigdurian
Joined: 05 Feb 2014
Posts: 401
Location: Flashing my lights right behind you!
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| Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2016 3:08 pm Post subject: |
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| I-forgot wrote: |
| sicklyman wrote: |
what you're experiencing is absolutely typical of applying anywhere. Hang tight and you will hear from someone.
probably... |
Inshallah! |
Bookrah, mumpkin! |
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plumpy nut
Joined: 12 Mar 2011
Posts: 1652
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| Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2016 1:00 am Post subject: |
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If you're calls haven't been returned for over a month, you suddenly became inconvenient to the company, shortly after being selected. That can happen to people after dolling out the money and the waiting time for a visa as well. Saudis, everybody's friend  |
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desert_traveller
Joined: 28 Nov 2006
Posts: 335
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| Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2016 11:53 am Post subject: Re: SPSP |
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| Motorcycleman wrote: |
| it seems that a lot of the staff have remained |
why would you enquire here if you have that sort of insider's knowlegde? |
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Motorcycleman
Joined: 13 Jul 2016
Posts: 29
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| Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2016 12:43 pm Post subject: Re: SPSP |
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| desert_traveller wrote: |
| Motorcycleman wrote: |
| it seems that a lot of the staff have remained |
why would you enquire here if you have that sort of insider's knowlegde? |
Because I don't have insider knowledge hence my use of the word seems which is based on some feedback I have gathered secondhand. Hence my request for some firsthand information - if it is available.
Do you have any firsthand information? Either way, I thank you for bumping my thread and welcome your continued input. |
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Motorcycleman
Joined: 13 Jul 2016
Posts: 29
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 11:18 am Post subject: |
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OK so time to summarise the situation for the benefit of anyone else who encounters a similar situation.
Following acceptance of a formal job offer on 17 August 2016, I was informed that I would be mobilised before 16 September, but the next contact I received was not until 29 September. As I initially posted, this did not overly concern me, as I had thought the intended start date was unrealistic, falling as it did around the period of Eid.
Since the 29 September, things have gone pretty much according to the new time line I was given, (running over a by a couple days here and there - as expected).
On 4 October, I was advised to start the visa process and send my passport in. My passport was received by the visa agent in London on 6 October. I received my passport and Work Visit Visa back yesterday, 15 October.
Having advised SPSP of this, I was informed today that they will try to arrange flights for Tuesday, which is surprisingly quick, so we will see.
In relation to the Work Visit Visa - its validity is for 180 days and is specified to be multi entry, with a max 30 days allowed in KSA at any one time. SPSP will provide free accommodation for the 1st week and provide the company driver where possible to help me find somewhere after that.
I will have a week of training before teaching begins. I have been assured that I will receive the contract on my first day in KSA and that I will start being paid on the day I arrive in Dammam.
I have been advised that SPSP will bear (almost) all costs in relation to applying for Iqama including keeping me on the payroll if and when it is necessary for me to leave KSA including if and when I need to return to the UK. The timescale for transferring to the Iqama is very vague but this is largely outside of SPSP's control. In the meantime, any salary payments will need to be made to an "International Bank Account" whatever that means. I have been assured that I am still covered by the company health cover while on the Work Visit Visa.
Assuming that the assurances I have received are reliable, then despite the initial frustration of not hearing anything for over a month despite over running the initial mobilisation date, I am quite satisfied with the procedure so far. It would have been nice, however, to have been able to read a post like this one to have put my mind at ease earlier. |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 12:15 pm Post subject: |
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| Motorcycleman wrote: |
| I have been advised that SPSP will bear (almost) all costs in relation to applying for Iqama including keeping me on the payroll if and when it is necessary for me to leave KSA including if and when I need to return to the UK. The timescale for transferring to the Iqama is very vague but this is largely outside of SPSP's control. |
A work visit visa does not "transfer" to a muqeem/iqama (residence and work ID card). You would need a proper work/employment visa (nothing with the word "visit" in it), which entails a bunch of lab tests and a physical exam, authentication/attestation of your academic degree, etc. --- done outside KSA. |
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Motorcycleman
Joined: 13 Jul 2016
Posts: 29
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 12:30 pm Post subject: |
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| nomad soul wrote: |
| Motorcycleman wrote: |
| I have been advised that SPSP will bear (almost) all costs in relation to applying for Iqama including keeping me on the payroll if and when it is necessary for me to leave KSA including if and when I need to return to the UK. The timescale for transferring to the Iqama is very vague but this is largely outside of SPSP's control. |
A work visit visa does not "transfer" to a muqeem/iqama (residence and work ID card). You would need a proper work/employment visa (nothing with the word "visit" in it), which entails a bunch of lab tests and a physical exam, authentication/attestation of your academic degree, etc. --- done outside KSA. |
You are right - good point - perhaps the word "transitioning" would have been more suitable? |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 1:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Motorcycleman wrote: |
| nomad soul wrote: |
| A work visit visa does not "transfer" to a muqeem/iqama (residence and work ID card). You would need a proper work/employment visa (nothing with the word "visit" in it), which entails a bunch of lab tests and a physical exam, authentication/attestation of your academic degree, etc. --- done outside KSA. |
You are right - good point - perhaps the word "transitioning" would have been more suitable? |
No, not even "transition" to a muqeem/iqama, which is an ID card for foreigners who were granted the legal right to reside and work by entering KSA via a proper work/employment visa. (This is the only visa many teachers get in order to legally work in KSA.) Holders of visas that indicate "visit" on them would have to apply for an employment visa while outside KSA if they expect to qualify for an ID card. |
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Motorcycleman
Joined: 13 Jul 2016
Posts: 29
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 1:18 pm Post subject: |
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| nomad soul wrote: |
| Motorcycleman wrote: |
| nomad soul wrote: |
| A work visit visa does not "transfer" to a muqeem/iqama (residence and work ID card). You would need a proper work/employment visa (nothing with the word "visit" in it), which entails a bunch of lab tests and a physical exam, authentication/attestation of your academic degree, etc. --- done outside KSA. |
You are right - good point - perhaps the word "transitioning" would have been more suitable? |
No, not even "transition" to a muqeem/iqama, which is an ID card for foreigners who were granted the legal right to reside and work by entering KSA via a proper work/employment visa. (This is the only visa many teachers get in order to legally work in KSA.) Holders of visas that indicate "visit" on them would have to apply for an employment visa while outside KSA if they expect to qualify for an ID card. |
It is I that will need to "transition" or "transfer" from one immigration status to the other - I believe that this reading is justified from my initial statement: "The timescale for transferring to the Iqama is very vague but this is largely outside of SPSP's control." In any event, thanks for your "clarification".  |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 1:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Motorcycleman wrote: |
| It is I that will need to "transition" or "transfer" from one immigration status to the other - I believe that this reading is justified from my initial statement: "The timescale for transferring to the Iqama is very vague but this is largely outside of SPSP's control." In any event, thanks for your "clarification". |
Actually, you're not even going from one form of "immigrant" status to another; visiting a country doesn't qualify as immigrant status because it doesn't equate to residency. (Those previous three years you say you spent in KSA were obviously with a business or work visit visa as well.) Anyway, the wording about the "timescale for transferring to the Iqama" likely refers to the timeframe after you've been approved and issued a work/employment visa. Subsequently, employers have up to 90 days to get a resident ID card issued, which is how long the visa is valid. |
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Motorcycleman
Joined: 13 Jul 2016
Posts: 29
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 2:16 pm Post subject: |
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| Thank you for your further clarification. Everything is now clear |
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hash
Joined: 17 Dec 2014
Posts: 456
Location: Wadi Jinn
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| Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 7:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Motorcycleman wrote: |
| It would have been nice, however, to have been able to read a post like this one to have put my mind at ease earlier. |
I reckon the reason you didn't get a "post like this one" (the one you wrote to yourself) is that no one shares your pie-in-the-sky enthusiasm for the job or believes (in my case, for a minute) that what you were passing off as near factual was anything more than wishful thinking and not a true reflection of reality. To specify:
1- Your complete misunderstanding of the relationship between an Iqama (now called Muqeem) and a "visit" visa and your near insistence that what you were relating in your post was factual, underscored this hesitancy to applaud your narrative.
2- There were too many "I've been told"s and "I've been led to believe"s in your story to accept it as factual. If what you were "told" and what you were "assured of" was done ORALLY and is not written in some sort of document, then these assurances are meaningless.
3- When a prospective employer says something to me like "we will do our best to try to help you" and so on, I head for the nearest exit. No one in the Kingdom, since its founding in the 1930s, has helped anyone else in anything other than by pure accident or coincidence. This approach to life is rife in the Kingdom and if you don't adapt it yourself, you won't last long. It's part and parcel of what it means to reside in the Kingdom.
I could go on and on and wax poetic about your posting, but I'll just say one more thing.
4- For me, the big turn-off was what you mentioned about HOUSING. To be specific, you said:
"SPSP will provide free accommodation for the 1st week and provide the company driver where possible to help me find somewhere after that."
That's it? That's the arrangement they've set up for you for your residency? You're perfectly content to be scrambling around looking for a "place" "maybe" with assistance of the company driver? (where possible)?? They're leaving it up to you to tackle the Saudi housing market? Did you know that most landlords in KSA require at least a 6 month - at least- up front payment on a lease? How's your company going to "help" you when you tell them you need tens of thousands of SARs "in advance" to procure a signed lease?
Housing is such a make or break factor for a successful sojourn in KSA that I've never understood how "casual" prospective employees are about this issue.
Yet, you don't appear to be in the least bit worried about your being on your own about this.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Unless a KSA job offer includes "housing provided by the employer" (not cash....the actual HOUSE), I don't take the job. That's why it doesn't take me long to make up my mind about a job. It's my first question to the employer even before he opens his mouth. If the answer is no, I walk.
I hope your job turns out for the better. But to me, there are too many red flags.......too many wishy washy commitments by the employer. If this is how they're treating you before you even get there, think how that treatment will follow you for the rest of your contract.
The fact is - and I know this is hard to accept - you're not an important employee in their scheme of things. They know you're easily replaceable at a moment's notice - I'll bet, for example, that their executives have the best housing available provided to them on a platter the minute their plane touches down on the tarmac. With you, that's not going to happen. (You'll be lucky if anybody MEETS you at the airport as you emerge from customs and immigration all smiling and enthusiastic. Be prepared for that).
Be prepared to realize, with horror, that your name is not among the sea of cardboard name placards frantically being waved in your face and that you're going to have to figure out where to spend what remains of the night. So much for the company's "we will do our best to......."
That's why you haven't received a more enthusiastic response from your audience. We see all these red flags.....you don't.
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