Job Discussion Forums

[crashartist1]

Has anyone had to return to America to get their VISA processed recently? One my teachers is going to Saudi Arabia and he has to go back and all that fun stuff. So if all paperwork is in order how long does the process take? Is the VISA part of his passport or can he leave the country to fulfill his contract here and have his VISA sent to him?

[Stephen Jones]

The hold up tends to be the medical (and on occasion the police report). If the guy goes to the Consulate in New York or Washington they will recommend a doctor who deals with the medicals for them regularly, and all of that can be done within three or four days.

We have had people in New York and Washington who have spent less than ten days between flying in to the States and flying out to Saudi with the visa. On the other hand people in other areas have been known to take weeks, or even months.

[crashartist1]

thanks for the info. I am heading to LA for paperwork (I am using crashs account here) so can I call ahead of time and request what Dr. I should go to and request a criminal background check in advance or is one of those things that needs to be done in person with special paper work. When I was told it could take weeks or months I freaked out! There is no way I can survive for a few weeks in LA without a paycheck.

Thanks for the info!!!

PoorESLteacher

[Stephen Jones]

Is there a Saudi Consulate in LA? If so, go in in person and ask them to recommend a doctor.
The guy who took longest to get the visa was in LA; I believe the problem there was the police check, but these things are very fluid, so check out as soon as you're back.

[crashartist1]

Being orginally from L.A. I have no other choice really; so this is not boading well with my confidence of hopping in and out of L.A. with the grreatest of ease and in the shortest amount of time possible.

I will try to learn all the information I can before going; downloading all info from the web and making sure I have every document in hand.

poorESLteacher

[jmsauer]

Good luck waiting for your visa and ticket. I'm hoping to get mine before the October 4th flight out of NYC.

I was hoping to arrive in country on Sep 4th and instead I'm still sitting around waiting for my visa in Indianapolis. The woman at the embassy handling my file went on vacation and the underling who was assigned to take care of her work didn't even know how to send an email. When the new person finally got around to forwarding my application to the consulate, they failed to put something called a 'visa block number' on it. I was told that this number has something to do with a new rule from the ministry of labor that the school may or may not have heard about. The embassy told me that they would send a letter via snail mail to the school explaining that they needed to contact the ministry of labor so that the embassy could put a number on my application, which is actually sitting on someone's desk at the consulate. I contacted the school hoping to shave off some time, but apparently they are waiting for the letter to arrive to take action.

Meanwhile, I'm putting shingles on roofs to pay my bills, while my prospective students get accustomed to other teachers. I guess my point is that there is no way to predict when a visa will be issued because the process is not governed by any rational, organized procedure.

Jonathan

[rogan]

I used a visa agency in London and it took 4 days. (after all the medical details and reports had been provided)

No special registration number was needed. I think that may be for those people who use the Embassy on-line visa application, but I'm a long way from being an expert on the subject.

[Stephen Jones]

here's nothing new about a visa block number; it's been the system for as long as I can remember.

What happens is that your employer applies for a certain number of work visas for a certain job category for workers of a certain nationality. He is then granted a block of visas for that nationality and they are normally kept at the Saudi Consulate in the country of origin of the workers. When an individual worker applies for a visa he receives an authorization letter from the employer listing the visa block number and the embassy then crosses of one of the visas from the block they have for that employer.

If your school has not given you an authorization letter with a visa block number then they have been seriously negligent. If they don't have a block visa, then there is no way you are going to get to work for them legally or get a work visa until they are issued with one (the process takes four to six months from scratch).

I would get back to your Saudi school asap; it's going to get wet and windy and you don't want to be up on them roofs all winter.