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In the heat of the moment
Joined: 22 May 2015
Posts: 393
Location: Italy
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 Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 3:41 pm Post subject: |
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Working in Saudi is bad enough, but having to just exist there for whatever reason is truly awful. Some employers are terribly slack* about getting an Iqama/Exit visa so you can't go on holiday during a break (or have a weekend away), some delay your final exit visa because they don't want to lose another teacher during a mass exodus, and some are just fraudulent and don't care it's the teacher who suffers the most.
*Either slack, incompetent, or doing it out of spite. |
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waltgomez
Joined: 03 Jul 2014
Posts: 105
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| Posted: Thu May 23, 2019 5:15 am Post subject: |
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Two other ICEAT teachers who had been laid off and who went to work for a new employer got blocked by ICEAT from leaving. One was jailed for one week, and another was lucky and not jailed but was banned from coming back for 5 years. Both got deported.
At the same time, another teacher has an escapee notice on him, and after 6 months in court, was not able to remove it. After the loss in court, he tried to self deport but was not allowed to do even that without the sponsor's permission.
Last edited by waltgomez on Fri May 24, 2019 10:36 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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voyagerksa
Joined: 29 Apr 2015
Posts: 140
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| Posted: Fri May 24, 2019 1:26 pm Post subject: |
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| waltgomez wrote: |
At the same time, another teacher, now with QEHC ( I think) has an escapee notice on him |
'Escapee notice' that's a new one, I haven't heard of it before, although it's a good description of how the Saudi's view and treat the people who come to work for them. Time to start fracking more to bring the price of oil down to the cheap level. |
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caliph
Joined: 05 Jun 2006
Posts: 218
Location: Iceland
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| Posted: Fri May 24, 2019 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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Oil dropped six dollars overnight. May 23/24.
USA is lifting 12.2 million barrels a day.
Thank you frackers.
I spent 3 decades in the Middle East (Iran, KSA, UAE), and am happy to see the end of OPEC power after the BS I/we had to put up with.
I was lucky to be a part of the “Great Training Robbery “ and saved enough for a comfortable retirement. Not possible today. |
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scot47
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Posts: 15343
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| Posted: Sat May 25, 2019 5:24 pm Post subject: |
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| I benefited from earning petrodollars too. I hold no grudges. Some posters seem to think that they have been discriminated against. |
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caliph
Joined: 05 Jun 2006
Posts: 218
Location: Iceland
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| Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 5:01 pm Post subject: |
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No grudges here either. I had great times in the ME, even KSA, Jeddah, sun sand, s*x, sailing, swimming, and my friend sid.
What happened to John? |
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EFL Educator
Joined: 17 Jul 2013
Posts: 988
Location: Cape Town
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| Posted: Thu May 30, 2019 2:13 am Post subject: |
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Lots of teachers having their visas blocked from leaving the KSA these days...it's becoming commonplace with work visit and business visas!  |
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waltgomez
Joined: 03 Jul 2014
Posts: 105
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| Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2019 6:48 am Post subject: |
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| scot47 wrote: |
| I benefited from earning petrodollars too. I hold no grudges. Some posters seem to think that they have been discriminated against. |
Some jobs I had were good and I have no grudges against those. I remember them with fondness. But others were terrible. My luck was that many contracts expired and were not renewed, and now things are on the downswing. There were great jobs in the late 90's early 00' but it all went downhill. There are now several subcontractors who have cornered the market and they keep popping their names into the job ads all the time. Some did not pay teachers, some blocked their visas; things are not the same now.
Just because you had good luck, does not mean everybody did/does/is. Nothing lasts forever. Thank your lucky stars you enjoyed the ride. I now have a friend who is unable to leave because his company got him on the absconder list and refuses to remove him. Also, one company just laid off 30+ teachers. Did not use to happen. People used to be valued, and Saudi wanted them to stay.
Also, now there is a big influx of young second generation British Muslims and these are accepting lower pay. They can get teachers at any time. They did not use it. It was hard to get people to go to Saudi. No more.
Things change. |
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hobartwells
Joined: 29 Jun 2017
Posts: 45
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| Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2019 8:14 am Post subject: |
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Another teacher trapped by QEC( QEHC), who took them to court and tried to fight them for 4 months, lost the fight, and was deported. But they would not deport him without the sponsor showing up. QEHC/QEC did show up luckily.
And one more teacher who was trapped by ICEAT had to go back to ICEAT, got yelled at, then taken to the immigration and deported.
He was told he had to pay SR25000 but it was waived.
They were both blacklisted for five years. In their 50s.
They were lucky they were able to leave. It makes me shudder to think what would have happened had the sponsor simply refused to show up at the immigration. They ( and I) could be just stick in Saudi forever. No job, no money, living in the shadows, the Embassy and lawyers not able to do anything.
The lawyer I worked with took $1000 but he did not know anything about such cases and had to speculate. As with many readers here, they had never heard of such a thing. Must be a new thing.
Another lawyer took SR 500 consultation fee from me, but could not speak English and also had no idea as to what to do. He could not even locate the visa in his computer.
The US Embassy called me to check up on me. I even tried to contact a congresswoman. My new company fired me- they did not want to deal with my problems- and told me to leave the apartment.
Luckily, my sponsor showed up at the immigration.
And theirs did, too.
But what if we had just been ignored.
It scares me to think about the dark destiny awaiting us.
All we wanted was to be able teach English for $3000 a month. |
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nimadecaomei
Joined: 22 Sep 2016
Posts: 605
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| Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2019 11:24 am Post subject: |
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| That is some messed up stuff. People on the China board whine about it all the time, but this would not happen. You would either be in jail or deported. Also, the money could be better than 3k/month. |
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Northern Sol
Joined: 16 May 2009
Posts: 24
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| Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2019 8:05 pm Post subject: |
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| nimadecaomei wrote: |
| That is some messed up stuff. People on the China board whine about it all the time, but this would not happen. You would either be in jail or deported. Also, the money could be better than 3k/month. |
With Saudi now, it's not that the salaries are so high, it's that there is no tax (aside from 5% VAT) and there isn't much to spend the cash on. |
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nimadecaomei
Joined: 22 Sep 2016
Posts: 605
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| Posted: Thu Jan 02, 2020 1:53 am Post subject: |
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| Not sure that is a perk. I would rather have a few more thousand and pay a few hundred in tax. |
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twowheel
Joined: 03 Jul 2015
Posts: 753
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| Posted: Fri Jan 03, 2020 3:55 am Post subject: |
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| nimadecaomei wrote: |
| Not sure that is a perk. I would rather have a few more thousand and pay a few hundred in tax. |
Seconded.
Warm regards,
twowheel |
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