Duracell_Bunny

Hi all.

I have a question relating to my friend who is in Saudi.

He was given a 3 month business Multi entry and exit visa. It required him to exit Saudi every 30 days and come back, which he did.

Now as the 3 months have come to an end and as part of the Iqama acquiring process, they have put a residential visa in his passport.

Now my question is as per the current business visa does he need to exit saudi and come back in on the residential visa. He asked the company guy about this and was advised that he does not need to exit but his English is not 100%.

Can anyone advise.

Thanks.

nottmbantam

FWIW -my understanding is as that once you have an iqama and a residency visa,you will then need a multi exit / entry visa ( MEE ).THis has to be applied for to the Passport /visa offices in Saudi.

Once your friend is issued with the MEE,they have to travel within three months of issue, but is valid for a total of six months (which includes that first three months period )

There are two types of MME that I'm aware of, one being a 'sticker' in the passport ( which is what I got first time ) and the second being a separate piece of A4 with MEE, to be carried with your passport.

So, going on all of that, I would suggest to get an MEE once the residency visa / iqama is in place.

I recall The Dean having to operate on this type of business visa for a while, he might a good source to tap?

Duracell_Bunny

Thanks for the info. I will pass this onto him.

However my question is that, since his previous visa was a Multi Entry and Exit Business Visa, which required him to exit and re enter Saudi every 30 days, does he need to do this now to get an exit stamp on his Muti Entry and Exit visa. And then come back into Saudi using his Residency visa which he has now on his passport.

He wants to make sure he does not faul foul of the law.

This new Residency visa was obtained in Riyadh.

eylesda

No. whenever he decides to leave Saudi his passport will then be stamped.
He can stay there for years without leaving so long as his residence visa is renewed.

olejl

When I did this in Saudi around 3 years ago I also had an business visa to start with, and later changed to a recidence visa.

I had to leave the country and enter again on the recidence visa in order to activate it. After entering on the recidence visa I could apply for iqama etc.

Duracell_Bunny

This is exactly what I am on about :-)

Did you get the residence visa while you were in Saudi. Also is exiting on the old visa mandatory and then comming back in using the new residency?

Thanks

olejl

What I learned in Saudi is that there is no such thing as a definite anything , but I think this is the normal procedure:

The residence visa has to be issued by the Saudi embassy in your country of residence. In order to do that while in Saudi you have to have 2 passports, but it is possible.

I got my residence visa while on vacation, but I got the invitation from my Saudi sponsor while beeing in Saudi.

In order to "activate" your new recidence visa you have to enter the country using this visa. To be able to do that you have to leave Saudi, which means exiting on the old visa.

Duracell_Bunny

Procedures is unheard of in this part of the world

Well for him:

He had his Multi Entry visa issued from the Saudi Embassy in London which was valid for 3 months and required him to exit Saudi every 30 days and come back in.

Now the 3 months are comming to an end and since the company wants to give him a permanent job, one of the company representatives got him a residential visa within Saudi.

So he is a little concerned if he needs to exit Saudi as his old Multi Entry and Exit visa will expire in a few days. Then come back in on this new Residential visa issued in Saudi.

But reading the above posts, I understand you can get new residential visas and stay in the country without leaving for years.

still.unsure

my understanding is that he'd need a new exit/entry visa that refers to both the passport and the new residence visa. the residence visa is only valid for a maximum of 2 years (haven't seen any new ones that are longer than that)