nonthaburi

So I got my Iqama today , it took six weeks. Not sure if that was good or bad . The company seem to have some sort of process they go through and it appears that they know what they are doing , just about , although they are a bit slow sometimes .

So I was wondering how long I can expect to wait before my wife and kids can join me ?

I'm off to admin on Monday to do all the forms so we'll see how it goes. I imagine things will be shutting down for Eid as well though.

How long was it for other people ?

Desert Dubliner

Once you have got your IQAMA, go make the invitation letter for wife / kids. Your HR should know where to go. Your wife will need this invitation letter and (hopefully you had this done prior to getting your IQAMA) the wedding cert duly attested in KSA embassy (birth certs for kids). She should take medical and then apply for visa. Getting visa stamped took about 3 days in Ireland. Things may get complicated if you live in one country and have documents (birth certs or wedding cert) in another country.

dragonladyoz

The whole process for us was very short once the letter was generated we had documents lodged (they were all ready to go - so no need to wait for medical results etc) and visas were in our passports and back to us in less than a week total. Once you have that - its just a matter of having an airline ticket!

northbadawi

Iqama process - officialy two working days:
Day 1. Fill the government form (in arabic), staple 1 photo and attach 5 extra; go to medical for blood test at 7-9am.
Day 2. Waiting - blood test takes two working days.
Day 3. Get blood test results, submit docs: the govt form with pics, passport, copy of passport info page and entry visa page to your HR Govt relations manager before 11am and get iqama after 3pm.
.....
Family visa process - officialy ten working days for "yellow" paper and one day in embassy.
Assuming that you have or did during the Days 1 and 2 above:
1. Marriage certificate for wife and birth certificates for kids -
a) legalized by your MOFA
b) translated to arabic by certified translator in KSA (75 SAR each). If they are in any other language than english, french or spanish then you to translate it to english before the step a) above.
2. Salary statement from your company.
3. Housing statement from your compound (or landlord) - no idea what was written in mine.
.....
Day 3. Submit your passport, copy of passport info page and entry visa, copies of family passports, few photos of each person, copy if iqama, and all doc above to your HR Govt relations manager.
Day 4-7. Waiting - officialy it takes 10 working days but you can check after five.
Day 8. It may be ready. Was in my case.
Day 9-12. Waiting if not yet ready.
Day 13. Get Yellow paper - Residence visa invitation issed by saudi MOFA. Scan it, also scan all arabic translations of wedd and birth certs and email them to your wife.
Day 14. She prints all docs you sent and applies for visa in saudi embassy in your country.
Day 15. Get visas endorsed in their passports.

So in total 10-15 working days ~3 weeks after your arrival.

In fact this process lasts much longer because there are many persons involved and every of them has different working hours, may be sick, or his family member or other relative can be sick, he may went to the wedding or funeral, to the bank, car mechanic, or just absent because of no reason, or his computer or printer is down and he can not print the document... etc... etc...

For me the total process took two months (including courier to the embassy in another country and back). But for every person I know the experience was very different and took from one month up to six.

When your family arrives the Iqama process is the same as above. No blood test required for kids under 16yo.

Expect 18th OCT to 03d NOV as non-working days.

sicklyman

I believe you now need the worker's original degree certificate to be attested in addition to the process above. I am uncertain whether this can be done only in Saudi or whether the attestation has to be done both in Saudi and in the Saudi embassy in the passport holder's country.

dragonladyoz

You need to check with the relevant embassy in Saudi - most can attest government certificates like birth, marriage etc but our embassy at least will not do education documents such as degrees - they need to be notarised, stamped by Foreign Affairs at home and then the Saudi embassy.

sicklyman

I've just received a notification from the Cultural Attache in London that British nationals need to get their degree cert notarised in London once they have their iqama in Saudi in order to process a dependent iqama.

This contradicts not only the info above but also what my contractor has told me. It mirrors what another British guy at work had to do though.

mc30b

Is getting a degree certificate notarised different from getting it attested as part of the work visa process?

sicklyman

yes, I believe so

northbadawi

You don't need a degree re-attestation. Unless you came on a labor visa and now want to change your profession to one which grants you a family status.

sicklyman

and does that apply to any nationality northbadawi?

northbadawi

Not sure about all nationalities. And nobody can by sure about any process in KSA, just from my own experience and from my friends.

Recently heard that certificates from Subcont and Online degrees must be re-attested by Saudi Council of Engineers for iqama renewals.

dragonladyoz

Notarisation is a process where a senior lawyer (Note de Public) inspects the original etc and is satisfied that it is genuine - he/she then stamps and seals it to indicate this.

Foreign Affairs/Embassies attest the certificate for other countries to indicate that the signature, stamp, seal of the notary (or government issuing authority) that is on the document is genuine - that it is the correct signature that they have on file for that notary/ government department.

Embassy then attests the certificate to indicate to their government offices in the home country that the signature, stamp and seal of the foreign office is the correct one for that country.

If a government document (like birth, marr cert) then you usually don't need the notarisation as FA/Embassy have signatures, stamps etc from those types of documents on file already.

There is however a difference between attestation and an apostille - most notably in which countries will accept which type and how much it costs - in the ME it is only required to have an attestation.

It is true that there is no set way of doing things in KSA so just go with what the company is telling you - but I would have thought that to get your iquama you needed to have your education documents already attested to confirm what job category they were putting you in - so I suspect that what is happening is that they are having to transfer your iquama job category and need your education docs to do so, so that you can apply for a family visa.

sicklyman

very helpful, thanks