internationalcanuck

Hi OriginalSunshine,
That's great thanks for the information.

Desert Dubliner

1. Means no bank account and a whole range of associated complications (no visitors, family, etc)

2. no. w/o IQAMA you can do sweet f*** all

3. not long term. company must take lease. Again no IQAMA no services

4. yes indeed.

I would not go to KSA below $150k complete package.

internationalcanuck

Hi DesertDubliner,
Thanks for that. I will be sure to raise those issues with my company.
Are you working in KSA? If so how long, what do you do?

Desert Dubliner

Yes, I have been in Jeddah now for almost a year. It is ok here, better than Riyadh. I would not go to Riyadh but then again I said I would not go to KSA ever and here I am. I work for a European multinational as project director, we deliver electricity network automation projects. Used to be engineering consultant in previous life.

Just a word of warning, if they don't have a block visa for you and intend to get it it may take time. In my case it took 8 months and some very connected guys.

internationalcanuck

Thanks for that. Well now I'm a little concerned about not being able to have a local bank account. So if I don't have a local bank account, and my salary is deposited to an Australian (or other bank) how would this work?

While you were waiting for your iqama for 8 months, what was your housing situation during that time?

Desert Dubliner

It's rather optimistic to assume your employer will pay your salary to an overseas account. Most likely you'll end up with a wad of 100 Riyal notes and then what you do with those is your problem. Mind you, without a residence permit you can forget about Western Union, Money Gram and similar. You can only fly it out of the country when you go home. I was receiving salary onto my boss's account and he was transfering for me. But I have known the guy for ages and trust him. If you have someone like that, that resolves the problem.

The company paid one month hotel and then took out a compound rental agreement on my behalf. Now I have the residence permit and have moved the contract to my name.

To be perfectly honest with you, living on the compound made no difference for me for the first 8 months without the family. I worked 10 hours a day and then went in on weekend for conf calls with Europe and to clean my inbox. The only reason I took the compound apartment early was to get on the waiting list (there's waiting lists for everything here) for 3-bed villa and private resort owned by the same company that owns the compound and access is given to selected few. This is now priceless when the family is over. If I was single, I'd most likely have stayed in an apartment outside of compound (90kSAR p.a. in compound versus 45kSAR p.a. outside and you can share with other expats in similar situation) and drunk Dubai dry for the difference.

Desert Dubliner

Another thing to bear in mind is that compounds ask for 1 year rent in advance. I tried to negotiate to 6 months and was told 'sir you want the apartment or not, just say, if you want pay 1 year in advance'. Luckily my company was willing to fork out the entire annual allowance in advance to sort me out. Otherwise, finding E18k in one go is not that easy. Just to give you an idea, on top of basic I have about 200kSAR worth of allowances including housing transport, school for kids and plus medical insurance and tickets once a year for the four of us.

internationalcanuck

Hi Desert Dubliner,
Thanks for that. Since I have no family coming to live with me, compound/non-compound apartments I don't think really matters, so long as it's not a sh*th#le. But I think I will require that my company fix me up with accomodation up to certain ammount.

I don't know the people in our Riyadh office, but I know the director that I'd be working under is western. But I really don't want to be relying on someone else's bank account.

Desert Dubliner

See if they can transfer to an offshore bank of your choice out of KSA or to your own account in country of residence (clarify any tax implications first).

OriginalSunshine

ic - I think you are beginning to see why your company is having trouble getting people to move over.

I've just read about your lack of working visa - is it legal to work in KSA without an iqama? I don't know. But you need to know BEFORE you start, otherwise the consequences could be huge.

travelling in & out and establishing tax residency is going to be a problem for you as well.

Desert Dubliner

OS - there is different flavours of 'legal' and 'illegal' here. But you are right, this place is a nightmare. I have just filled in a form and attachments to write to ministry of education to allow my non-British child to attend a British school. It has got ten attachments - I needed less stuff to buy a house in Ireland. One of the surveys recently (think it was WB) ranked KSA highly in terms of ease of doing business. They must have smoked a lot of pot and Switzerland must have been the closest they ever got to KSA. There is a lot of wheelspin here but little progress. If you're smart and experienced you'll wheelspin together with the locals and collect your pay (always have justification for delays which is due to somebody else). If you're not smart and/or experienced you will lose a lot of nerve fighting the nonsense and trying to fix the usless staff you got to no avail.

Desert Dubliner

Travelling in and out is no problem. They can (only) fix him with multiple entry business visit visa and in fact he will have to travel in and out every 30 days. Tax residency is of no concern to KSA govt. However, in his own country he may have a problem depending on how the taxman looks at his status. Most countries only examine the number of days abroad and do not go into the intricacies of the visit/resident visa. If you have been out of the country for a required number of days and derived your income from activities not related to your own country you are in the clear (unless you're a Yank and have to pay tax). At least this is the case in Ireland.

Of course - I have a massive disclaimer here: consult a tax advisor familiar with rules of your own country.

weasel decentral

Almost all of the companies (esp. the non Saudi ones) will transfer the money to an outside account. I used to have my salary transferred off shore with no problems.
Travelling on business or temporary visas is not a problem and its a refreshing break to have to leave the country.
The big thing is to have the company provide the transport and accommodation in my opinion.
Also to who mentioned 1 flight is normal? Its not the case, for single status guys in KSA 3 flights per year is very normal. Of the 30 or so ex-pats I know in Riyadh all of them are on this kind of deal.
Also compounds in Riyadh start at 80k SAR per year for a one bed, that's in FAL or EID which would be close to KAFD and considered a lesser compound.

OriginalSunshine

Me - but if he has to travel in/out every 90 days, 3 flights a year doesn't make sense either.... sounds like his company may make him do a Bahrain run, every 90 days. Fun.

weasel decentral

it makes sense in that he must return to his home country to renew the visa, which will take 2-3 weeks each time. so the 90 days plus this time for holiday visa renewal, gets close to 3 flights per year with a slight overlap into the next year.
i assume you have worked in ksa ?