Job Discussion Forums

usool · Joined: 11 May 2004 Posts: 147

Hello all,

Having accepted a job in the Kingdom last week I am now waiting to hear from the Embassy here in the UK. Any idea how long this process will take to get the visa sorted?

Regards and best wishes

Bindair Dundat · Joined: 04 Feb 2003 Posts: 1123

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

a lot depends on the employer

if you are getting your visa through London you may choose to use one of the agencies that handles these things for you

there is one famous one and his name has slipped my mind

if it comes back to me I will post it

Les Budd. He sopeaks like Arthur Dakleyn (a cockney character on Brit TV) but is 100 percent reliable. Will see if I can find his phone number.

Using someone like this is very handy if you have no base in London. Imagine the expense in getting a visa if you live in Inverness or Shetland ?

High Plains Drifter · Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 127 Location: Way Out There

As anyone with any experience with Saudis will tell you, the average glacier moves faster than a Saudi bureaucrat. Expect everything to be slow and screwed up.

usool · Joined: 11 May 2004 Posts: 147

Hi Scott

Doesnt the employer arrange the Visa? I sent an email a while back, after accepting the position, asking what the score was about the visa and didnt get a reply. Is it my job to contact the embassy or will they contact me? Should I contact this bloke Les and ask him to contact the embassy for me?

Whats the crack Jack?

Regards and best wishes

Cleopatra · Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2004 11:17 am Post subject:

As an employee, you cannot obtain a Saudi visa on your own. I'm a little hazy as to the details - which may vary from company to company anyway - but the general procedure is that your sponser contacts the Ministry of the Interior in Riyadh to obtain a visa number from them. They then forward that to the relevant Saudi embassy. In the meantime, you are supposed to fill in various appliction forms, do exhasutive medical tests, get your degress verified and so on and so forth...

When this is done, you send your stuff to the Saudi embassy. By then they should have received a visa number from Riyadh. If all is OK, the visa should be issued without further delay.

Definately write back to the guy you're dealing with in KSA - it is up to them to start the visa procedure. He may well be on holiday now, which could explain the lack of response.

usool · Joined: 11 May 2004 Posts: 147

Cleopatra

Thanks for the reply. The employer in Saudi did say the last time we spoke that he was about (lol) to send off the Visa request or whatever to the people in London. I suppose I have to wait to hear from the embassy in London?

Regards and best wishes

Cleopatra · Posted: Wed Jul 28, 2004 1:47 pm Post subject:

If I were you I wouldn't wait for the Saudi embassy to contact you.

The first time I went to the Kingdom, there was a problem with my visa papers which I was unaware of. After having waited and waited for my visa to arrive through the post, I decided to phone the embassy in London, and they said "Oh yes - we have your application here but we haven't been able to do anything about it because one of the details on the form is wrong". So, my application had been sitting on someone's desk for weeks, and they had not bothered to inform either me or my sponser about the problem.

It was sorted out pretty quickly, but my point is that you can't depend on the Embassy to contact you. Take the initiative and phone them, but remember that they canot process your application without having the visa number from your sponser's side, and the completed application form, medical tests, verified degrees and God knows what else, from yours.

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

I thought I replied before recommending an agency but it looks as if the post was pulled.

You need to get the medical and then get it stamped. If you have the contract and the authorization letter, then it only takes two days walk-in; go to the Embassy in the morning, and collect the afternoon of the next day.

I strongly recommend doing as much as possible in person.

PM me for more details.

GrizzlyAdams · Joined: 29 Apr 2003 Posts: 37

I am about to apply for the visa. I have a letter of confirmation along with a visa number and a copy of the contract. The medical is no problem and I know I have to get it legalised. The problem is with my academic certificates:

I telephoned the embassy one two separate occasions and was told two conflicting things:

One person advised me to just bring copies of my academic certificates. The second told me that I needed to get them notarised, checked by the Saudi Cultural Office and then legalised from the UK Foreign Office.

-Which is correct?

Also, I noticed that they ask for a 'letter of experience in the relevant field' to accompany the visa application. Does this need notarising etc as well?

Thanks

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

You plan to wait for the Saudi Embassy in London to inform you that your visa is ready ?

This is not the way they do things. The onus is on you and your employer to sort this out.

You may be at the bottom of a steep learning curve in which you experience much pain.

usool · Joined: 11 May 2004 Posts: 147

Dear Scott

Thanks for the message. I get the feeling that I am in the process of a steep learning curve. I took Cleopatra's advice and rang the embassy and received some instructions which were difficult to understand. I'm starting by trying to get hold of a medical report form, I live 300 miles from London so I aksed a friend to get it for me. I'm fortunate to have a friend who works in the city and has agreed to help me with the leg work.

Any hints, tips etc would be greatly appreciated.

PS Heres a nice article:

http://www.abc.net.au/sundaynights/stories/s1089857.htm

Regards

Cleopatra · Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2004 5:14 pm Post subject:

Why don't you just send the Embassy a stamped addressed envelope and ask them to send you a visa form and medical form to be completed and returned?

I live nowhere near London and this is what I did - it is standard procedure.

GrizzlyAdams · Joined: 29 Apr 2003 Posts: 37

Anybody know the answer to my question?

It's about three posts up.

usool · Joined: 11 May 2004 Posts: 147

Dear Cleo

I rang the embassy the other say and they said they wouldn't send out the forms but I send a stamped addressed envlope with a request today anyway and hope they mail the stuff out.

Regards and best wishes