Job Discussion Forums

[eclectic]

I've read now about:

1. midnight calls from bosses regarding meetings;
2. salaries being reduced upon arrival in KSA;
3. passports being "held"...(?);
4. iris scans for i.d. purposes;
5. no way to get time off, even during long breaks or holidays;
6. no way to get permission to, say, fly to Egypt for a week with your wife;
7. spies posing as students, and/or students spying on teachers;


Can we get a Percentage List of the actual frequency or probability of these things actually happening? If they happened once or twice in the past year or two, it doesn't seem to be an epidemic.

Can we have a Percentage Possibility List? For example:
Is it 90% certain that when you sign a contract at 10,600 per month, that when you touch down in KSA, you will be then told you can only earn 8,800 per month?
Is it 80% sure that during a 3 week break in classes that your employer will NOT give you and your spouse permission to take a short trip to, say, Egypt to see the pyramids?

How likely, really, are these things that are deterring quite a few from getting on the plane to KSA?

[hehaheha]

Passport "held"?
And no travel to Egypt with wife?

They won't be so...... Right?

[veiledsentiments]

I fear that the answers to these questions vary by employer.

From what I have read here, it appears that the vast majority of employers will hold your passport. As to leaves, one has to plan ahead to get permission to leave the country during breaks... and get the proper stamps in the passport and trade the passport for the Iqama. The efficiency of the staff that does this will vary from great to hopeless. Most employers give the standard Middle East holidays. (summer leave, semester break, the two Eids)

As to a spy system, it varies greatly too. Sometimes it is management organized, but just as often it is just the usual brown-nosers and snitches that you recall from primary school. Middle East students are prone to running to administration if you do something they perceive as improper. The result of this is what really separates the good from the bad management.

VS

[aljeddawi]

Dear eclectic,
why don't you ask your questions directly to the institute's staff, maybe the interviewing people? Simply ask them the same questions, as to whether Thursdays, spies, midnight calls, held passports etc take place or not.
And of course how often?
As for the contract, you will not get an official letter about it. It says, salary will be finalized upon your arrival with the finance department based on your authenticated credentials and experience.
BTW, VS is right, please read her comments carefully.
You can get their phone number from the website, or PM me.
Good luck.

[eclectic]

seems a bit demoralizing......... as for hehaheha's response, seems even worse than that, perhaps, like, maybe, even, utterly hopeless!

VS gave a great answer. I guess it will vary by employer for sure. I guess requesting permission to travel is required EVEN for those "standard" (gulp!) sememster breaks, summer leaves, and Eids, then?

1. request permission
2. re-possess your passport via an Iqama (do I understand that properly?)
3. show back up in Saudi or lose 3 months pay!!! (now this part I don;t blame them for--there should be a penalty for breaking a contract)

[johnslat]

Dear eclectic,
I'm not sure I understand what you mean here:

"2. re-possess your passport via an Iqama (do I understand that properly?)"

When you get your passport for an exit, you have to hand in your iquama, and when you return, you give back your passport and get the iquama back.

Is that what you meant?
Where I worked (the Institute of Public Administration), that was the procedure, but there are employers in the Kingdom who let you hold onto your passport (according to some postings on a recent thread.)

Regards,
John
P.S. It was a 2 month penalty at the IPA - and you had to get someone to sign for you, a guarantee of sorts. If you didn't come back, that person would lose the two months salary.

[eclectic]

johnslat,

Thank you and yes you understood me about the Iqama thing. Im not familiar with the process, just read a few times about it here.

The thing about someone signing for you is weird--who the hell would sign for someone else? Surely not another teacher!

That is very strange.

I do hope during breaks we (my wife and I) could get a short trip out of KSA; guess it will depend upon the overall mood of the person I'm asking at the time.......

Now as for not getting paid and having to politely plead for your paycheck--that is a bit demoralizing.....though in the US I have done it a few times myself, and sometimes didn't get paid for another day or two after that!

Now if the pay is incorrect, and you have to say "Hey, Jacko! You shorted me 675!", I'm sure it may take a minimum of triple that waiting time, and that's counting the days by galactic diurnal spins.

[johnslat]

Dear eclectic,
I don't think too many other places do the "guarantee" thing, but your Number 3:

"3. show back up in Saudi or lose 3 months pay!!!"

illustrates the problem: If you DON'T show back up, how can they take 3 months pay from you?

I always got a Saudi colleague to sign for me- often the Director.

At the IPA I can't recall anyone having a problem taking trips over, say, Hajj or Ramadan breaks. In Riyadh, people usually don't take many "week-end" breaks, but I know they do in Dharhan/Khobar (on the east coast.)

And I can't recall there ever being any pay problems at the IPA. But I'm sure others have had them other places.

By the way, if you have a problem (mushkila - you're going to hear "ma fi mushkila" there's no problem, a lot) believe me, honey works MUCH better than vinegar. Yelling and getting aggressive is always counter-productive, but a smile and soft word can go a long way.
Saudi's perhaps the best place in the world to develop your "patience muscles."
Regards,
John

[eclectic]

Thanx again John.

Ma fi mushkila. Inshallah I will definitely remember that one!

Yeah, the only way I imagined they could take 3 mos. pay for breaking contract was:

I ASSumed they had some control over your savings account there or something, like the company deposits your check into a company-sponsored bank or something.

If not, then you are right, how the hell can they enforce that 3- or even 2-month penalty?

Well, KAU may get the nod, if only for the hopefully $2,000 US we can save a month by being frugal and thrifty and all that penny-pinchin' jazz!

Thanks again John.

[12 Monkeys]

Our employer doen't hold our passports but holds the iqama. If we need to open a bank account or something else that requires the iqama then we exchange our passport for that day only to get the job done then they give it back to us when we return the iqama.

We have a choice either keep the iqama on us and hand the passport to our boss or keep our passport and the boss holds on to the iqama.

Cornelius

I have no idea why this is

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]