Job Discussion Forums

[Dr. Patrick]

I'm new in Saudi, having taken up a teaching position in Riyadh in May. I arrived, as I understand is fairly standard, on a 90 day working visa. According to the terms of my contract, my employer is obliged to obtain an Iqama for me to allow me to remain in the country. I paid for a medical, the results of which I gave to my employer along with my passport and, as I understand, the process of application was begun. I was assured that I would receive the Iqama within a couple of weeks. This was more than six weeks ago, since when my employer has found various ways of evading my increasingly anxious enquiries about the vital document and the likelihood of its imminent appearance. What rather compounds the issue is that my employer insists that I cannot be paid until the iqama is obtained - thus, so far, I have not received a halala.

There are about three weeks left on my 90 day visa - after which I will presumably be required to leave the country. Should I seek legal help - and if so, what are my chances of success? Any advice would be welcome as this is becoming a source of some anxiety.

Thanks in advance.

[mindloop]

[desert_traveller]

i think your employer will get it done for you, but probably at the very very last moment, and i also think you will get all your dues, but most probably well after the very very last moment

your query brings up an interesting issue though. can one, who entered the ksa on a work visa, leave the country before his iqama comes out? the standard procedure is to wait for your iqama, then get an exit visa, which is linked to your iqama

i dont think you can just leave the country at this stage, but i would be interested in other opinions

i also think your employer would get fined if they dont take care of these issues, its mainly their responsibility and not yours

[sheikher]

Now don't go all ADHD on me here!

So, umm, you're not a direct hire. You are being swindled, as is usual from so extraordinarily many agents recruiting foreign teachers. OF COURSE you receive a salary while your iqama application is "presumably" being processed!

Are you absolutely certain it's a "working visa" you possess? Define that. It's in Arabic. You require independent/objective translation of that visa affixed into your passport. Is it truly a legit "employment entry visa" -- the only one required for the iqama application? Or is it truly a 3-month business visit visa -- the one prohibiting salaried employment in Saudi Arabia? Or some variant? Verify from more than one independent source. I'd show it to my embassy.

Your great disadvantage is that your employer might have your passport conveniently in "Safekeeping Mode". Ideally, it's at the iqama office being processed with the application. A great majority of employers keep safe employees' passports, thus you can be manipulated to his nefarious heart's content, even after the iqama is given to you. If indeed the iqama is being processed, he'll give you the plastic card in trade for your passport.

Last year Prince Naif (Ministry of Interior) declared illegal this common practice. Circular #60, I think. I say "declared" -- not necessarily "disseminated". Your personal passport is the property of your government. Legally. Its release from your possession is the prerogative of official representatives within the government sector only. Find out what's happened to yours. Be prepared for all manner of machinations from your employer.

The address and phone numbers in the post above might be dated. The -477 and -478 prefixes are not familiar to me. Current Ministry of Labor phone numbers are prefixed with 210-. Further details to follow.

Here is the Ministry of Labor website. Click "English" at top left if this appears in Arabic.

http://www.mol.gov.sa/Sites/default.aspx

The swank new Ministry of Labor headquarters is along King Abdulaziz Road, across the street from Danube luxury shopping mall, Almursalat District.

http://www.mol.gov.sa/en/Pages/ContactUs.aspx?m=5

There is a handy Complaints contact page which someone MIGHT be able to comprehend if written in English, or simply ignored and deleted whether written in any language, or there for form and not function.

http://www.mol.gov.sa/en/Pages/Complaints.aspx?m=4

There is a Dept of Expatriates' Labor here:

http://www.mol.gov.sa/en/AboutMinistry/Organizations/Pages/DepartmentofExpatriates%E2%80%99Labour.aspx

a page not all that distinct from the Dept of Expatriates Workers' Care page:

http://www.mol.gov.sa/en/AboutMinistry/Organizations/Pages/DepartmentofExpatriateWorkers%E2%80%99Care.aspx

Following in that same motif, here is a valuable overview guidebook for expatriates recruited to Saudi Arabia. Read it. Read it again.

http://www.mol.gov.sa/en/Pages/GuidesForLaborers.aspx?m=4

Labor laws conveniently translated into English are here. Read, memorize.

http://www.mol.gov.sa/en/Pages/LaborLaw.aspx?m=3

And for women in the private sector, regulations are herewith veiled in:

http://www.mol.gov.sa/en/Pages/WomenWorkRules.aspx?m=3

Whether these apply to expat women recruited by an agent from the private sector -- well, I have not perused the file. It's in Arabic. It might correspond with Part IX in the Labor law section above.

01-200-6666 will get you the central switchboard. Press 2 for English. You might get somewhere. Might.

Alternatively, Ministry of Labor chief admin is located on the first floor (the one above Ground) at the new location. Top of escalator, turn 180, twenty meters, left again, end of corridor. Deputy Ministers all on your right, the good Doctor Ghazi at the end of the corridor through the auto doorway. Enjoy the corridors festooned with framed political cartoons -- the chief has a rep as a bit of a humorist, so they say. Truly remarkable is the absence of an ID gauntlet upon entry. No turnstiles here!

Minister of Labor Doctor Ghazi Al Qusabi (or sometimes Gosaibi in the press) has been hospitalized on and off for approx the past year. Currently he is trying to heal either in a hospital or his villa in Bahrain. Any urgent fax to Bahrain via his office (fax 01-210-4600) will be shuttled eventually across the corridor to his first Deputy Minister (see below).

One of the good Doctor Ghazi's secretaries is English proficient and can advise you minimally. Mister Sammy is powerless, but always of courteous assistance. 01-210-4500 will get you one of his secretarial associates who will transfer the call upon simply "Mister Sammy, please". Wait. Wait.

Possibly Mister Sammy will refer you to Mister Nasser of the Expatriate Workers Help Department downstairs on the Ground Floor. Sometimes known specifically as "Overseas" Workers Dept. Neither Mr Nasser nor his secretary 01-210-4500 are English language proficient, and can sometimes be seen assisting Egyptians, for example. Woe betide non-Arabics.

Or Mister Sammy might transfer your call to one of the secretaries for one of the Deputy Ministers. Or he might give you a secretary's actual phone number. Each Deputy Minister has a few secretaries.

Currently, Deputy Minister #1 is Doctor Abdul Wahab Al Homade, whose immediate subordinates are not proficient in English. Doctor Abdul Wahab is. His claim to past fame is as an economist -- he admits to no training whatsoever in labor relations. This good Doctor currently is on vacation. ETA 8 August.

Currently, Deputy Minister #2 is Doctor Abdul Rahman Al Bawardi 01-210-4573 will get you a secretary who might transfer you, who might transfer you, who might transfer you or simply hang up upon English audio. Don't know his specific mandate. Now on vacation. ETA 8 August.

Currently, Deputy Minister #3 is Doctor Mofarage Al Haqbani. 01-210-4562 will get you finally a remarkably English language proficient secretary!!! Who will transfer.... Could be either Immam or Fahad. Currently. Don't know his specific mandate. Vacation currently (23 July) pending.

Be prepared: Any of the secretaries will tell you He is in a meeting, He has not arrived yet for the day, He has exited for the day, Call back in ten minutes and when you do, He is in a meeting, exited, whatnot. Any assurance of their callback is an Inshallah Deal -- customarily often implied is the unuttered adjective "mumkin". "Perhaps, maybe", this and that assurance will be fulfilled by the will of Allah. A commitment doubly qualified. Part and parcel of the, umm, corporate culture.

All those Deputies are quite proficient in English, as is their boss who was Saudi ambassador for several years in London.

Metro City of Riyadh's Labor offices are in an entirely different location. Out near the perimeter freeway, difficult to explain. A renovated hotel, plain pale yellow exterior, informal souk in the parking lot, garden centre next door, the Ministry assumed occupancy about seven months ago. I believe there is a Complaints department there. Bring a translator.

Now go forth and multiply.

[Dr. Patrick]

Thank you all for your useful replies - and especially to sheikher for your particularly detailed account - and a prose style, I think, strangely reminiscent of some of William Burroughs' best passages. Bleak but hilarious.

[UmmeZahrah]

The writing style is also what I focused on--it conjured up Paul Bowles and whatnot. I enjoyed reading it, and it made me laugh even while it frustrated me even before I've set foot in the Kingdom. Do you write for any venues? Short fiction, etc.?

[sheikher]

Good Lord in the morning, three years ago in a distinctly different (and non-Arabic) incarnation I was compared to Charles Bukowski.

As circumstances may dictate from time to time, yea, even unto the uttermost ends of the earth hard by the rivers of Babylon where we sat down, wept, and yea, remembered Zion, my prescriptions are filled by those distinguished purveyors of style, Messrs. Strunk and White, both of whom, now Beyond, continue to write, I'm certain, with grammatical precision sentences longer than this one.

Generally I cling fast to the dogma declaring that when the quick brown fox jumps, it's consistyntly over the lazy dog.

I welcome all expressions of interest from literary agents representing houses of distinction, also including members of the Fourth Estate, and operatic contraltos. Please attach photo.

Are you, UmmeZahrah, an imminent arrival? In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, the panel above your head will automatically open. Grasp the mask firmly and breathe naturally.

And do enjoy the theatrics: your final view of the female visage, live.