SWANNY78

I am looking to apply for a role for a UK firm in Saudi Arabia. I was looking to live on a compound with my family (wife and 3 girls). I would like to apply for a family Visa and will have the relevent salary and management status to acheive this. However after looking at some sites, it mention that you must provide your degreea\diploma certificate as a one of the proof of status documents that you can support your family (The company sponser my stay, but I must sponser my families I guess) . I do not have a degree but a relevent H.N.D. from a reputable university, is this still OK?

Any help would be greatly appritiated, its all a bit of a minefield. !

nottmbantam

No, you may need to provide your 'certificate' to get YOUR visa, but don't need one for your family.

Basically you come over here first. Providing you have got your work visa - but that's another story. Once you get here, your company will apply for your Residency Permit, also known as your Iqama. This should take around ten days - two weeks to come through if your company process it properly.

Once you have this - then you apply for your family visa. You will need probably a copy of your marriage certificate and copies of your kids' birth certificates. Once you get this approved, you send the visa document back home , your wife back home will then need to process it at her end to get her visa. Hey presto, you're all out here together.

SWANNY78

tx for the reply. So will a HND suffice for the Saudi Authorities to get residency, or is it a case of I get offered the job by my employer on that basis and its good to go.

Stealth Otter

I'm just in the process of sorting out a family visa now I've got my Iqama - the rules seem to change every 5 minutes here...for now I've been told that I need to get my marriage certificate translated into Arabic and then get that and my degree certificate attested by the Saudi cultural office in the UK. Once that's done, there's a trip to the Istakdam office here and then your wife should be able to get a visa.

Not sure about your HND - you don't have to have a degree here but everybody I know who hasn't have had their visas/iqamas delayed.

I'd allow 2-4 weeks to get your Iqama and then another 3-4 weeks to get your family visa sorted...all that depends on how efficient your company is though.

SWANNY78

Ok so it sounds like not having a degree but having a HND is not the end of the world it may just take a bit longer to process my family visa? I can live with that. Ultimatly as long as my family can come out to live with me and its no more that a couple of months wait, I'm happy. Does that sound like a reasonable assumption?

ShawJ

Hi, the qualification required to get your family residency VISA's will depend on what profession your VISA was for i.e. Engineer, Technician, Quality Checker etc.. They now scrutinise the certificates in more detail when you apply for family VISA's to ensure they are related to your profession.

You also have to get the documents attested and translated.


Jason

knickerdropofglory

Your qualification has nothing to do with your family visa!

Your qualification only has a bearing on your work visa I.e. If you take a position as an engineer you need a degree in engineering, and it now appears that you have to join a Saudi engineering institute (just another Saudi scam to get money)

My iqama says I'm a technician so to get my yellow paper from the moi office I had to show, my qualification in which, I showed a City & guilds basic engineering cert, my wedding cert (which happens to be a Carribian island one which looks like I made) and both my wife and kids passport copies. These docs had to be translated and then verified by the British embassy which appears also to be a money making scam ( cost in the region of 1800 SAR)

You send your yellow bit of paper off to your UK visa specialist ( I used Harley visa and medical) with copies of all the above and their passport and ha presto! A visa in your families passport.

Just a point when your kids come over.... You don't need medicals for them in the UK and they don't need them if their 12 and under in KSA. Lots of people dissagree on this but my boy is 12 and never had to do it.

SWANNY78

Tx for all the responses so far. I have had conflicting stories which muddies the waters saying that nothng less than a Bachalors Degree wil get you a VISA. Seems from what I am hearing here thats not the case.

I will be working as a senior manager for a large IT Company (Global Top 3) and have a H.N.D in Computer Science. so I'm sure thet can sort it between themselfs.

Stealth Otter

You should be ok - make sure your company pull their finger out though and that they don't leave it to you to try and get things done. The reason you're getting conflicting answers is because a lot of it depends on whether the guy at MOI/Passport Office or anywhere else here is having a good day or not...eg some days they'll give you a one year Iqama, other days you'll get a two year one!

nottmbantam

We have a few guys working for us ( UK expats ) who don't have university degree's, but professional / technical qualifications, so wouldn't worry about you 'only' having a HND, it should be fine.

If you have any further questions, ask away, and best of luck.

knickerdropofglory

Your not wrong, this one year Igama thing really screws people up.

SWANNY78

sounds like a bit of a culture change. I am fully expecting it tho

northbadawi

I’m sure that each of 8 mln expats here can tell different experience, as well as each govt clerk can tell you about different requirements.
Basic rules are that degree is mandatory to get your WORK VISA AUTHORISATION from Saudi MOFA with APPROPRIATE PROFESSION written in it. You must triple-check it (it is in arabic) that this profession allows you to bring your family. If not then never.

Once you get Work visa in you passport then make copies of wedding and birth certificates certified by notarius and ministry of foreign affairs and bring them to Kingdom. Make translation here at certified translation office at 75 sar each (ask visa clerk for recommendations then you will be sure that he will be happy with it). Bring a lot of photos of family members (ladies with scarf-covered hairs), recommended 3x4 and 4x6 sizes, up to 10 of them or at least a digital file for printing them here when necessary. Some clerks take only 2 photos while others ask up to 7 for the same application. DO NOT use glue for attaching photos, they use staple for this purpose.
Have copies of your family members passports. Also scan and have digital copies of all documents. Scan the arabic translations of marriage and birth certificates, you will them later one for schooling etc.
For this purpose buy her 3 in 1 printer-scanner-copier for up to 200sar, it will be in much in use especiually in the beginning and will save you a lot of time and cash.
Have all possible documents and copies always with you, despite this - be ready to go to each place three times, because you surely still need one more paper.

Iqama:
Here in Kingdom you need to make blood test only for Iqama, wait two working days for the result (AIDS-free), your sponsor fills form, pay 500sar (or your sponsor does) give 2 to 7 photos, and get your most important document here in one-two days.
Worth to say that they do not use the photos you bring, on igama (and later on you driver licence)you will find your photo made by security camera at airport passport counter, so don't forget to keep smiling in order to have "good image" for your bright future in the Kingdom

Family visa:
Then get salary certificate from your employer, certificate from your compound or housing rent contract, YOUR DIPLOMA and apply for family RESIDENT visa. You should get it in 10 days, maybe in 5 days if you do not have pending trafic fines.
When you have YELLOW PAPER, send it to you wife (color scanned copy by email is cheaper and quicker and it should be ok) for their visa application.

When in Kingdom refer to Iqama section above for your family members (your wife and kids from 16 only needs to make blood test here in kingdom).

And most important: don't assume all those advices as applicable to your case. Each case is unique here and depends on moon phase and on current mood of the clerk at the desk in front of you. Enjoy you own experience and assume it as a part of your job description.

Note: August this year is Ramadan and therefore out of calendar for here, and always remember that Inshallah means more NO than Yes.

SWANNY78

good information, TX a lot. I'll submit everything will help of my company if I get the job and go from there. Inshallah

gottheTshirt

Plenty people here with HNCs and HNDs and with their families. Like all others I found all of the advice to be wrong. There are no consistent rules. You need a good PRO and what you need to do and how long it takes will depend on how good he is. I produced very few documents but I did pay out a lot of money to avoid the hassle.

It is Ramadan in August and you will get nothing done during that month.