½ûÂþÌìÌÃ

Menu
½ûÂþÌìÌÃ

double-minded and need opinion

Post new topic

rabighexpat

Hi,

I am Pakistani national and live in Chicago (US) have just got an offer in Rabigh, and I was told the whole visa process may take another 3 months.

My wife is expecting in October. So I am double minded now and considering 2 options:

1. In 3 months when my visa will be approved, I won't be able to travel till March, because of wife's condition. But it will not be acceptable with my employer. they won't wait that long. Also, I believe it will be too risky to take her with me when I don't know much about location etc.

2. 2nd option is to send her right away to Pakistan for a few months, I go on my own, join the company, and bring her to KSA after sometime. Question is, if she is in Pakistan, while I am in US, how would her and my expected baby's visa process will work?

Any suggestions please? Appreciate your help. :|

Regards.

See also

Iqama visa in Saudi ArabiaVisas in Saudi ArabiaIs someone else using your iqama number?Starting an online businessHow to convert family visit visa to iqama
TheLegendLeads

A decent company will get you a visa in 3 months. Add 1 month for the Iqama and family visa and a buffer of say 15 days. That's the baseline. So the minimum period you'll have to leave her away is 1.5 months.

1- You can't take her along.
2- When you'll apply her visa, child's visa will be processed simultaneously.

If the offer you are getting is not remarkably good (must have LOTs of bucks in the offer as Rabigh is a small town far away from major big cities), why don't you consider dropping the entire idea?

BAK

TLL has provided the correct approximation for the time period required for the process. If its Petro Rabigh, the time required may be less than 1.5 months for Iqama and family visa.

I would just add that its better to send your wife to Paksitan and get your process completed through some agent in Pakistan.You can always bring her when she is ready and fit to travel.

I also had to come to Saudi after 15 days of my childs birth and brought them here after around 2 months of my arrival in KSA.

Freshlikesushi

granted your company doesnt have  a 90 day waiting period as mine did as well.

rabighexpat

Thanks all for replying and clarifying.

I am yet to receive the offer letter and seems like they are taking time more than usual, or it may be due to Ramadan's reduced hours.

So I am inclined (taking your suggestions) to send my wife to Pakistan and bring her after a few months.

If anyone of you are working at Petro Rabigh, can you share life at work and at home generally?

Thank you and everybody is so helpful!

hishmaj

The Ramadan and Eid holidays in the public sector, start tomorrow (Thursday, Aug 01) and they are shut for nearly 2 weeks. So expect an even longer delay.

Good luck with everything :)

rabighexpat

WOW......... It's frustrating, but I think I would love the generous holidays and vacations system. :rolleyes:

myyams

Have you all done your medical?  I don't know about your company specifically, but for us (having just gone through all of this and due to arrive soon) ours went something like this:

Finalized contract / negotiations Feb 1.
Had baby March 4
Got Passport done for baby April
Completed Medical for husband / me May
Submitted diplomas for authentication June
Submitted medical / passports for visas end of June
Visas done and received mid July (we had a hitch from an error of employer side).


We are all due to arrive together, no waiting behind for kids and me or anything like that, but that may be different according to employment type, not sure.

So that was our approximate timeline.  Our baby is 5 almost 5 months old now. We would have rushed more but we also had to wait for the kids to get out of school and husband to work out his employer's required notice.


After your baby is born, it takes a few weeks to get birth certificate and passport done anyway, so you can count at least a month for that.  Then you have to send that passport along with all of yours for the visas and that'll take a couple of weeks. So, that'll give you approximately 1.5 months after the birth of the baby. I have five kids and assuming everything's normal and baby is healthy, there shouldn't be any concern.

Articles to help you in your expat project in Jeddah

  • Accommodation in Jeddah
    Accommodation in Jeddah

    Jeddah is often dubbed the 'New York' of Saudi Arabia. It is heavily populated, hosting the most diverse ...

  • Working in Jeddah
    Working in Jeddah

    Jeddah is the most diverse city in Saudi Arabia. It is home to 3,75 million people and to the largest ...

  • Everything you need to know as an expat woman in Saudi Arabia
    Everything you need to know as an expat woman in Saudi Arabia

    Saudi Arabia can be a challenging destination for women. As a strict Islamic country, Saudi Arabia imposes a lot ...

  • Getting married in Saudi Arabia
    Getting married in Saudi Arabia

    Saudi Arabia is a country that holds marriage and family as one of its core values. It is a privilege to get ...

  • Driving in Saudi Arabia
    Driving in Saudi Arabia

    Driving in Saudi Arabia is the easiest and most convenient way to get around. That being said, expats in Saudi ...

  • Accommodation in Dammam
    Accommodation in Dammam

    Dammam is the capital city of the Eastern Province, which is made up of smaller cities that, together, form the ...

  • Accommodation in Yanbu
    Accommodation in Yanbu

    Overlooking the Red Sea, Yanbu is deemed to be Saudi Arabia's second industrial city after Jubail, which is ...

  • Accommodation in Khobar
    Accommodation in Khobar

    Khobar is the metropolitan city of the Eastern Province. It is widely recognized as the happy medium between ...

All of Jeddah's guide articles