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Post by vpainter on Jun 11, 2014 20:49:47 GMT
Thank you for the suggestion. No need. Anyone who does a search on the forum for visa block will find this post. Also all new posts to the topic places the topic in View New Posts. Everyone sees it when they return to the forum.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2014 9:00:31 GMT
Congrats to Ritzkool and special mention to Boban, who started this thread on Dec. 28th 2013.
Hero55, I think you should not wait but proactively contact your 'relocvisor' about the next steps. If you got your visa, it should be to to mail your passport in order to get it stamped. Mailing your passport is not obvious and may be a problem depending in which country you are living in, and the official way, if you are not under time pressure, is to send it via your local ambassy with the diplomatic bag.
In my case the visa was issued with point of origin London instead of initially Paris, and therefore I already did two medical checks in France in January and April, but this was for the cats, and had to go with shortest notice to London to redo new medical checks. However it looks easier and better organised since in London, both the medical checks and visa contingencies are in the hands of one and the same visa agent, Harley, in Harley street, not far from AOC in Portman Square.
I expect to get my stamp mid of next week and I have informally booked dates with the mover for the last week of June, and I should be flying in the same time period, just the last days of the month, just in time to avoid any trouble with the end of my house renting contract.
Concerning the job description, my previous 'relocvisor' (I had 4 in total, 3 of them 'left' in some way since January) explained to me that they have only 4 different types of job descriptions they use for all new hires when asking for visa blocks, and in my case the job description on the visa is significantly different from the job occupation I have been hired for.
Hope to meet some of the new hires soon, hopefully in Dhahran.
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Post by David_and_Nita on Jun 13, 2014 4:42:52 GMT
boban,
Congrats!
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Post by David_and_Nita on Jun 13, 2014 4:45:16 GMT
ritzkool,
Wow congrats to you as well!
Prepare to roast. 120 F a couple days ago LOL
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Hero55
Advanced Member
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Post by Hero55 on Jun 13, 2014 12:04:27 GMT
Hi guys
although my documents was fully prepared and authorised by saudi embassy in france and UK since last September, my master degree missed the cultural section of saudi embassy stamp in france. It has the embassy stamp though but it is not enough for saudi embassy here in Kuala Lumpur. Really funny. Now I have to dhl it to france (where I granted my master degree) for that missing stamp.
The good thing here is that I may not relocate during ramdan
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Post by MountainRunner on Jun 14, 2014 18:19:21 GMT
Hey guys,
Prospective new Aramco Expat here and first time poster...be gentle! Excellent forum btw, it has kept me well informed on all things "Aramco" for quite some time. I have a small issue which I am seeking some input/guidance, preferably from some of our more seasoned Aramcons:
I am presently working here in Saudi for a service provider under a six month multi-entry visit visa and, I applied for a position with Aramco around Christmas time. I got a call for an interview towards the end of April, interviewed in the Uk in mid March and was offered a position shortly after. Following which, I went through the process of medical, attestation and background inspection. My Relocation Adviser advised that it was their intention to mobilise me without delay, however, there has been little movement in the past three weeks, compared to the preceding month or so. I have spoken to my Relocation Advisor, and the pinch-point seems to be in a number of areas, as follows:
As mentioned, I am already living and working in kingdom with an existing 6 month multi-entry business/visit visa, this visa does not expiry until November next.I cannot send my passport to AOC in London for processing as I am required to have it with me at all times while in kingdom and, could be required to travel at any stage by my existing employer.
Aramco traditionally request the passport copy to process the aramco business visa prior to issuing an instruction to the prospective Aramcon to resign from their exiting employer. However, in addition to the aforesaid, one cannot get a second business visa, while the initial one is still in date - even it i did manage to take some 'time-off' in the Uk.
My suggestion was: that I resign and return to my home country, and obtain a new passport. This would automatically void the existing business/visa in the passport presently in hand. This could be achieved within 15 days and the new passport supplied promptly to AOC for the provision on an Aramco Business/Visit visa, permitting me to enter the kingdom again, as an Aramco employee.
Second suggestion was again to resign, return to my home county and apply for the new passport and submit to AOC for the processing of an IQAMA work visa, prior to entering the Kingdom.
The main issue with this seems to be that I would be resigning from my present employer prior to an Aramco Visa (Business or Work Visa) being processed on my behalf.. I have made these suggestions to my relocation advisor who outlined that mine was a 'unique case' and that she was liaising with the Department in Saudi directly in order to find a resolution and, reiterated that I should not resign until she advises me to do so. I would prefer not to approach my existing employer as it is company policy not to issue NOCs, letters of support, or the like! Even though this is not required for a Business/Visit Visa.
Any thoughts from those who have been through this or heard of this issue being addressed previously, your input would be much appreciated?
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Post by space99 on Jun 15, 2014 22:07:58 GMT
MountainRunner,
If you are a British passport holder then you can ask AOC london to apply a second british passport for you and you only need a photocopy of your existing passport to get that. You dont even need to come to UK for this. Britian is the only country that allows you to keep 2 passports.
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Post by JakeMX on Jun 17, 2014 3:41:39 GMT
Hey Guys!,
I wanted to quickly check if any of the "Wover's" (aka Waiting on visa le dudes) have heard anything. Has anyone heard if there is a new visa block release this or next week?
I hope we get to hear something before the start of Ramadan!
Regards, and my best wishes for all of you....
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Post by erdna_oaoj on Jun 17, 2014 8:25:34 GMT
o JakeMX
At least on visa block is expected to be released within the next couple weeks, but it's going to be needed more then one block to clear all the Wover's.
Hang on and patience.
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Post by boban on Jun 17, 2014 9:06:13 GMT
Hi guys, just to keep you posted with my visa agony. My visa was rejected in Saudi embassy in Bosnia because my job le (which was generic, Project yst) does not match my degree (Computer Electrotechnics)... Not to mention very bad initial action from AOC London, and my relocation advisor, which have sent 3 documents to Embassy with 3 different job les on 3 documents (Project yst, Production Director II and Director in Culture and Media), so they rejected me on the first go, without any discussion! Then, they were trying to fix it with the Embassy, but the Consular officer speaks very bad English, so at the end I had to call the Embassy to see what to do next.... At the end - they told me as per Saudi law, job le must match the school degree, so in my case it has to be something connected to computers (as my degree is Computer Electrotecnics)....  |
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Hero55
Advanced Member
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Post by Hero55 on Jun 17, 2014 14:50:09 GMT
Boban
very bad to hear that. I can tell you that Saudi embassy are very assertive in thier request. For instance, I have my degree attested by saudi embassy in France where I got my degree but that was not enough for saudi embassy here in Kuala Lumpur. They insisted to have another stamp (verification) from cultural section in saudi embassy at Paris. Imagine man if I know that funny thing I could did during the full past waiting year. Now I have to start from zero for degrees attestation which could be easily done long time ago. I think AOC could do better job planning !!
I wish you all of the best
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Wutz
Senior Member
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Post by Wutz on Jun 17, 2014 15:22:09 GMT
Hero55,
In AOC's defense, it cannot be hung entirely on them. The rules (or at least the enforcement of the rules) are changing & they could not have predicted a year ago that degree attestation would be necessary now.
Wutz
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Post by ritzkool on Jun 17, 2014 16:13:47 GMT
Boban my bro, I'm so sorry to hear about your visa predicament.
I pray that this can be sorted out soon. I was lucky because my RA amended the ITEA with the job le that corresponds with the visa le (Operations yst) and the same was also applied in the VIL.
The Saudi embassy in KL was also strict and they even scrutinised my university academic transcript. In the end, they decided that my degree was relevant to the job le and stamped my passport.
I already received my flight e-ticket from AOC London a short while ago. I depart for Saudi Arabia on 29 June 2014 on Qatar Airways. Kuala Lumpur - Doha - Dammam.
I can't believe it's finally happening! Wish me luck!
Keep in touch everyone and see you in the Kingdom!
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Post by snafou on Jun 17, 2014 21:38:45 GMT
Sorry for you Boban.
Hero, a good tip to attest you degree is to give them "attestation provisoire de succès", with the final one you need also contract attested by ministry of foreign affairs in Saudi
Hope this help and best wishes for all of you
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2014 18:28:47 GMT
Boban,
Very sorry to hear that.
I think the situation may not be as desperate as it seems to be, because in the end you got your visa block, and you get stuck with the local embassy, not with the Ministry of Justice.
I think your visa block has been issued with point of origin in Bosnia.
An easy solution would have been for AOC to make you get your visa from London or De Haag, where it is obviously much easier, but I thing that's not possible unless they would apply for another visa block for you, and then the whole hassle would start again, hopefully with a shorter time span nevertheless.
Therefore something has to be tried in order to make the KSA embassy in Bosnia to grant your visa. It seems that AOC is exchanging directly with the embassy in Bosnia, probably because they do not hire so many bosnian citizens and are not used to deal with the embassy in this country. This is not good however, because every ambassy has different requirements and habits, and in other countries Aramco works with visa agents, who maintain close relationships with the embassy members, sometimes as well having an arabic-speaking person to facilitate the communication.
Concerning the relocation advisors, there was a lot of movement recently and the two previous advisors in charge of my situation have left the company. The third 'relocvisor' who took over has not always been available recently and my case was handled by a senior person when there has been a urgency last week. I think they may have by now a smaller team with a higher work load. They are also individuals with their own perception and interpretation of the various relocation aspects and contingencies related issues.
Concerning your visa le, I have been in a similar situation before receiving the Aramco offer. Obviously when I went to the interview in December, they had a visa block for me, but then some weeks later they told me that my offer is 'on hold', because of discrepancy between job le and school degree, but they were supposed to hire a person with a different school degree than I have. For that reason, they told me they had to apply for a new visa block and this is the reason for the long wait in my case.
In this process, my relocvisor told me that they have only 4 different job les for all positions, and if that is correct they probably selected the job le more closely related to your school degree.
If you allow me to make a suggestion, I think you should first ask your relocavisor which other job les they can use for the visa block. If it happens that they effectively used the better match, then your visa request has to be pushed again with the KSA embassy in Bosnia, since it is the way it works with embassies in other countries. But if not, then it is certainly a mistake that could be corrected with the next visa block request.
If it comes to a new discussion with the KSA embassy in Bosnia, then you should try to find out if the person in charge is a native Bosnian or Arabic speaker (don't know ever if there is a Bosnian language?). Probably this is a Saudi person and you should ask for the support of a native Saudi person from Aramco to help with the 'transaction'.
Does it make sense?
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