sorry for late reply I did myself all

Hi Everyone

Who has made it to saudi now? I just arrived here and now working through the next maze of obstacles medical and iqama. Anyone else in the same boat as me? Anyone in khobar/dammam?

Great news! Still in the UK but have got my visa and am booked to fly over in a few weeks. Just getting my pet travel docs in order and beginning to declutter and pack! I’m a little nervous that the conflict in the Middle East might escalate and all flights will stop.

Do let us know what to expect when we arrive to KSA though. Would be good to come mentally prepared.

Great to see everyone is progressing. I’m also now in Riyadh, finished medical today, awaiting Iqama by next week.

Weather is getting cooler which is nice but traffic is absolute madness. If you had any expectations at all - don’t! Google Maps may say 15 mins, it’ll take 45 mins almost all of the time.

All the best! 😊

Steps I had to do in the order so far:

1)get a local sim. Everythings linked to your phone number. Make this the top priority
2) get a medical done. (You’ll need your phone number so dont go there before having a local sim). You’ll need your passport, picture, visa, your sponsors company registration certificate and phone number and pay 150 riyals. They draw blood, do the xray, and ask for urine and stool sample (fml).

this is what ive done so far.

1) I did that at the airport upon landing with an STC eSim. Kept my UK eSim too to receive any banking OTPs
2) medical was organised by my employer and their agent including all the payment.

Hahaha couldn’t agree more - even I was surprised at the stool test.

good stuff. Just make sure you have a permanent sim. Ive heard often at airports they give you ziyara sims which expire after a while.

the stool test was a nightmare man. I’d never had that before. How is one supposed to do the deed at command and collect it. 😖😖. I said to them i cant do it here. Went to back to the hotel and returned with samples after a couple of hours. 😂

Oh my! Stool test will be difficult for anyone! Great advice on getting a sim asap. I've noted all of your advice! Anything else comes to mind, please share whenever. Congrats to everyone who has made it over! Please pray everything goes smoothly for me!

Hahaha 🤣

Too much shit to deal with (pun certainly intended!)

When you land, give the printed copy of your WORK visa to the immigration officer. It’s key that the entry is based on that in case you have other tourist etc. visas already. The same must be given to the Sim card guy so he can join up the number to your work visa. As I understand once you get Iqama, this number gets transferred to your Iqama and used for everything such as Absher (the app that manages all Iqama related things), Ejar (housing platform), driving (for all speeding fines etc.)

As you walk out, sternly ignore all the random guys offering you a taxi. Either book transportation in advance (which I did with the hotel) or book an Uber/Careem.

Apps to download:

1. Careem cheaper than Uber
2. Bolt cheaper than Careem
3. Jeeny cheaper than Bolt
4. Hunger Station (Deliveroo equivalent works of your number again 😊)
5. Laundryheap


It’s almost all contactless. I exchanged some money today just for backup. But I brought my All in One Santander Credit Card from the UK (getting really good exchange rates here). Put that on Apple Pay and is used everywhere.

Will add more as I remember.

Thank you! Great info.

Can I ask, roughly how much SAR did you get in cash? I was debating this also, as even though cards 'should' work abroad you just never know.
Also a phone sim card? Do you recommend any or just purchase at the airport? Ideally not the one that expires after a short time.

Any experience with Laundryheap? Do they wash at 90 degs or can you send stuff off to them knowing it will come back the same size and colour etc.

I am not expecting my salary for about 6-8 weeks due to Iqama process, opening bank accounts etc. So I carried £1,200 and also have a HSBC Global Money Account Debit card for cash withdrawals (could do same with Revolut/Monzo etc.)

Network wise - the top three are STC, Zain and Mobily. I just went with STC as seems to have good coverage. Get an eSIM to make life easier.

and laundryheap came recommended but I’m still to use it. The app does offer 30 deg. Or 45 deg. mixed wash. I’m sure once I find the local shops, I’ll rely on them more.

All the best!

Further update, e-Iqama came through quite quickly, used that to register on all online services such as Absher (ID management and account for all your main transactions in KSA) / Nafath (Face recognition app, needed for most government services.

Once registered on Absher, you have to go to a physical Absher activation machine, found in most malls, where you put in your Iqama number, your phone number, put your fingerprint down, for them to activate Absher services.

I cannot stress the importance of having a local number; everything works with OTP (One-Time Passwords). I had to go back to STC to tell them my Iqama had been issued and that they needed to attach my number to it. It took someone 5 minutes to do it in the store.

Your Iqama must link to your phone number. I opened an online account with SAB; it will ask you to verify your face via the Nafath app.

In addition to this, you also need to register on SPL (Saudi Post Logistics), which is basically your main address. To open an account, you will need SPL + Iqama + an active Absher account.

Using the relocation agent my company provided, I started visiting properties. Bear in mind, everyone is fairly laid back here, so won't put a lot of effort. I found properties on the Aqar app, used the relocation agent to call the estate agent (Aqari) and had him arrange viewings. Viewings are also casual, you could be outside the property, call the estate agent and visit the property there and then. And some random security guard etc. will be at the property to show you around.

I didn't want to stay in a compound, so this was an additional headache to be endured.

Once the property is found, you are welcome to negotiate and agree on a price; the estate agent will usually charge a 2.5% commission and let you know if there are any other charges. For my apartment, they quoted 1K SAR extra for water & gas. I was surprised that it was on par with the UK, turns out it's once a year and not monthly lol.

You can also negotiate two payments a year or once a year. Be prepared to fork out the money, or some companies offer a cash advance on housing allowance, so use that.

Hopefully, I will remember some more stuff later.

All the best!

Hey all,

just starting to go through the visa application process and failing at the first hurdle!

I'm trying to submit my education certificates through Mosadaqa as directed by my future employer but, payment keeps failing with "unknown back end error". I've tried 3 different credit cards and 1 debit card, all from the UK, as well as 2 different browsers.

Has anyone else suffered this problem and found a work-around/solution?

Thanks!