Re: Moving to Jeddah
 

Hi
You can get your dog in providing He is listed as a guard dog. A bit of a trauma but when we were on Sierra there were around 5 dogs in the compound. When owners went away, people fought to look after dogs as it was a nice change to the norm.
Re women swimming in abaya, no need as plenty of private beaches which are western and no rules at all on dive boat.
Re having a baby in KSA, please bear in mind that local women out here are built for one thing only and that is kiddies! The hospitals are excellent for births as they are so experienced, and also on Sierra we had 4 mid wives and nurses living next door to us, so actually you are probably better off in Saudi than the UK. My wife arrived in October and we had the baby in Feb with no problems.
Hope that this helps, but let me know if any other questions.
M

Re: Moving to Jeddah
 

hi again,

thanks for your response, its reassuring that other expats have been able to take their beloved pooch over. I have read about the whole guard dog thing and considering we have a beefy staffie it should not be a problem getting him passed off as a guard dog :D What i would be grateful for is if you can tell me what breed of dogs you came across in Sierra as our breed of dog does experience its fair share of discrimination :thumbdown: also do you know if there were any issues in owners of the dogs letting their pet run around in communal areas? sorry for so many doggie questions but this is a hige concern to us!

Its reassuring that the mrs can come out on the boat but realistically i cant see her being able to for a while considering her physical state :eek:

I take your point on Saudi women being baby machines but I cant see the Mrs wanting to deliver in KSA, we will have to see how things pan out, I am easy either way.

thanks for your response once again.

im going back to watching the aussies get thrashed!

Re: Moving to Jeddah
 

hi, I have no idea about agencies, I presume the employer will sort all this out and just simply tell us where to go to get paperwork completed :)

Re: Moving to Jeddah
 

I have a friend who went out to Riyadh in April '10 and still has not been able to get his Mrs and kid over!!! :(

Re: Moving to Jeddah
 

Hi brit.expat, I'm afraid your statement is much more optimistic compared to what I've been finding out herewith in this forum. Judging by my experience so far, there are two parallel circuits that should be connected at one time, yours and your empolyer's. At your end you need to go through medical tests/notarized copies, ect. while at his end he should mostly take care of the block visa and the like by putting into service their incredibly well connected fix-it-all generalists definitely employed in their KSA premises.

In London there are quite a few agencies able to apply for the visa provided you have in place ALL of the required documents

Re: Moving to Jeddah
 

Not amazed ;)

Re: Moving to Jeddah
 

in that case i'd better get onto it now and start pusing from my end! thanks for the heads up :blink:

Re: Moving to Jeddah
 

Good luck, keep us posted :fingerscrossed:

Re: Moving to Jeddah
 

Hi
Re the dog can't help, here in our compound there are a few but defenitly not a "nice" place to have dogs, the climate is extremely hot and humid in the summer months...
Re compounds we've been to quite a few of the so called expat compounds and the best, in my opinion, are Sierra and Andalus from Arabian Homes and Al Basateen (really nice). Sharbatly is huge, has a lot of parties and the houses don't look like houses, they look like the containers that go on ships, on the inside they're ok.
Mura Bustan is also nice but currently looks a bit "abandoned"...
Re the hospitals IMC is really expensive, but very famous amongst expats and locals...
Re bringing the wife good luck, really, my husband came in March and could only get us here in September, and that was after fighting hard with his company!

Wish you all the best

Re: Moving to Jeddah
 

Hi,
Thanks for your post, I agree with you 100% but there is no way my wife would go over without the dog! We are dog people and even I would struggle having brought the mutt up from 8 weeks (he's 2 now) to leave him in someone elses hands, I think it would be too traumatic for him, as long as he is with us thats the main thing. :wub: Does the AC not do the job on keeping the accomodation cool?

I have not heard of Mura Bustan but will check it out, did it take you much time in getting a place to stay?

The employer will be providing medical cover for us so hopefully that should cover any medical costs.

Im under no illusions under the whole Visa thing, 'expect the worst and hope for the best!' :thumbdown: I have made it clear to the employer if you cannot get my wife over I will not join! :fingerscrossed:

regards

Re: Moving to Jeddah
 

Bit tricky this one, as they will promise you that your wife will "at some point' be able to join you. How long this will take, can be difficult to estimate. THere is no reason at all why your wife won't be able to get out to you with fairly shortly.

As mentioned in my previous post, we used Harley Medical Services for my wife's Medical and also to process the visa. It might be an idea to give them a quick ring and ask for their advice ?

Re: Moving to Jeddah
 

Nottmbantam, do you might recall whether you were asked for a police record when filing for your work visa? Amazingly, not all Saudi consulates across the globe do they ask for the same type/amount of papers...

Re: Moving to Jeddah
 

No, wasn't asked for any kind of Police Record / CRB check, this was early 2008, so the Saudi system may have changed since then, which wouldn't surprise me, as their systems change on a daily basis! :)

A guy I work with is leaving KSA to go live in South Africa, they have asked for a police record from the Saudi Authorities, so I think it's becoming more and more common for host countries to ask for something like this.

Re: Moving to Jeddah
 

Someone was asking regarding police records we were asked to provide them last year when we came.

Re: Moving to Jeddah
 

thanks for the prompt ill be sure to ask the question on police check, wont be a problem but I take the comment on procedures being very fluid and will prepare accordingly :rolleyes: