afhaahmed

Hi All

I have been offered a role in KSA & was hoping to travel in next fortnight. As you can imagine a real exciting time looking forward to new challenges.

However today I have been refused a Visa from consulate due to my qualifications not matching job title on Visa bloc. I have spoken to my prospective employers who have advised that they will draft a letter which will support my case & then resubmit for approval.

I'm slightly confused especially as have been told to hand my notice in. I don't know how much sway this letter will hold & worry if refused again will I have any options?

Any knowledge or experience in these matters would be greatly appreciated.
I have Business/Financial qualifications & visa is for Marketing Specialist.

norsk

Sounds like a load of bollocks to me. I don't think they would refuse a visa on those grounds or there would be next to no expats working in Saudi. My iqama (which is where the visa block role designation ends up) says Technical Specialist and I've got a business degree as well, so what you're saying makes no sense.

Is this the embassy in London refusing, or is the company hiring you saying that they cannot even get it entered on the system? If it's the latter then it is likely an excuse and they're trying to make sure they don't lose you if they faff around for too long. Getting you to resign is a good way of ensuring they hold all the cards. My guess is they don't actually have a visa available and are waiting for it to come through..

I would not resign until I knew 100% it was going to work out. Keep the power with you, the companies here have no scruples and will happily leave you to rot if it suits them, or they suddenly can't get the visa at all.

Excuse me for asking, but leaving in two weeks and haven't resigned yet and the visa is still outstanding?? The whole scenario smells really bad. Be very careful! Nothing ever moves this fast in Saudi unless there is something fishy going on...

I would leave them to it, and look for something else. Sorry!

afhaahmed

It is the embassy who rejected the visa. I applied via an agent & the papers received from the company appear to be in order. I have referred back to the company & they stated this happens & they will state my case via letter to be resubmitted with 2nd application attempt.

As for notice they advised to hand in once medical is confirmed & passed

norsk

Okay. Sounds weird that the embassy would do that, but who knows maybe there is new regulations in place or maybe the dude who was dealing with your application has some sort of personal issue..

Right. I wouldn't hand in notice until you have confirmation from the agent that the visa is approved.

Who's your agent by the way? Some agents are better than others at giving sensible advice (and have better connections with the embassy)

afhaahmed

Thanks for your response.

That's what the agent said is that within the embassy they can be funny if the bloc job role isn't an exact match for qualifications. They said the iqama is relatively easy to obtain in comparison to the work visa.

I'm using Harley Visa Medicals. Will keep my fingers crossed 2nd application is successful. Do you have any thoughts on how much effort employers put into gaining the visa or do they tend to give up easily if the case is rejected.

norsk

Iqama is just the residence permit so all they do is confirm the stuff that was put on the visa application.

Okay, so Ian or Jane should be able to help you, and they will definitely tell you the truth. They are very good in my experience.

Well, if they can't get it through on the block visa then they are effectively screwed unless they have another block visa available that they could try as well. If they have to apply for a new block visa that could take several months, and in the meantime you would have to wait in the UK (which would be a disaster if you have resigned) or they could bring you on a business visit visa for 6 months which has its own set of drawbacks..

afhaahmed

Thanks I suppose a Business Visa would be a fallback alternatively I could ask for a new visa bloc without family status. However I have heard it is difficult to convert to family status when in KSA.

norsk

no family on business visa though, and i don't think you actually can convert non-family to family later on either..

Mr Appropriate

Try AbleCan on Piccaddilly : they are visa specialists, not a bunch of docs pretending.

norsk

Considering Harley Medical has been given nothing but positive feedback on here previously I think it is a bit off calling them pretenders. Also the last time I checked they were the preferred agents for anyone being employed by Aramco (from the UK)...

Mr Appropriate

The Harley lot did my medical very quickly and reported results within 3 days. But they are a medical organisation and other agents may have an edge in handling bureacractic matters. Best of luck with your applications.

norsk

Funny that they do the papers with excellence for everyone else I have heard of that's used them, but you go out of your way to recommend someone else. It makes me wonder what beef you have with them.

Anyway, it don't matter...

nottmbantam

I'd also give my backing to Harley Medical Services, have used them personally, and they were nothing but excellent.

In terms of the visa, AFAIK, the employer here in KSA applies for a number of visa's and have to be very clear on the job role they want to recruit, and this is all part of the Saudisation process, the Ministry want some re-assurance that only an expat can do the job, and not a Saudi National. So the Ministry issue a visa with a very specific job title, and if if doesn't match by the time you present your documents in the UK, it will be rejected.

We've had a couple of similar problem, where we could only get visa's for English language teachers, the Ministry would not issue them for any other job title. So when it came to recruiting a more 'technical' role, we had to tell the guy that the offer on his contract was 'English Language Teacher' to get round the visa issue. When he arrived in Kingdom, we managed to change the job title on his Iqama. If he had presented his visa application for e.g. Project Manager, then as the visa was for an English Language Teacher, it would have rejected. It sounds like this has happened in this instance.

afhaahmed

Thanks for the reply's eveyone really insightful.

I have spoken to the Visa agent today & there has been no sign of the letter the employer promised. I'm tempted to call them tomorrow & if I receive no reasonable response may look elsewhere!

lionheart

Don't they require a university degree? Not sure what qualifications you have.