visa block

We were told that everyone in process will have a visa before the end of 2014. Has anyone else received the same information?

Much faith and prayers for good news this week. My relo. advisor says nothing today.
Keep the channels open if you hear anything!

Just got the call from Houston this afternoon! Visa le arrived today.

They are submitting my Visa paperwork end of week. Based on other's experience here on the forum, I am expecting 2 - 3 weeks for them to stamp and return our US passports.

They didn't say exactly when the visa le was applied for, nor when the contingencies cleared but it appears that my visa le took 3 months.

Update: Aramco's visa department has their own process that can take few days before the visa application goes to the consulate. My advisor says the consulate could turn my passport around within the week but it shouldn't take much longer than that for a US person.

I'm told definitely Rakah unless something big changes over the next month.

Update: Received call that Saudi Visa is stamped in our US passports 8 days after receiving Visa le.

Hi everyone,

Any updates regarding visa block release date at AOC London? I have been waiting for 3 months now and my medical is very close to expire. My reloc. adv. can't predict anything! I am very frustrated with this long waiting! Anyone else waiting for visa le from London's office?

Hi everyone,

Any news from AOC London? I have been trying all week to contact my reloc adv by email/phone but haven't got an answer yet!!!

First thanks to everyone for this thread. Like the rest of you I’m waiting for my Visa le, and I find this thread very helpful because seeing posts from other people experiencing the same delays is comforting, and then seeing posts from people once their Visa les arrive is encouing.

My relo advisor has been very responsive during the hiring process, but unfortunately when it comes to the Visa le it’s a bit of a grey area and even she doesn’t really seem to have a solid handle on what to expect. When I asked how often Visa Blocks were released she said typically they expect them now about every 8 weeks. Out of interest I went through every post on this thread, along with the thread on “Timelines”, and took note of every date somebody posted to the forum that their Visa le had arrived. If anyone else is interested here is what I found …

People reported to the forums about receiving their Visa les on the following dates:

Apr 1
May 1, 2, 7, 23, 27, 31
Jun 5, 6
Jul 16
Aug 5, 13, 15, 20, 21, 29
Sep 2, 3, 4, 16, 18, 24
Oct 13, 14

Surprisingly that doesn’t jive with the 8 week period between Visa Blocks my relo advisor mentioned, not even close. If a block arrived in May then you wouldn’t expect to see any Visa le posts in June. If a block arrived in August you wouldn’t expect to see any posts about Visa les in September. But there are, in fact there are posts every month, and usually spread out across the month itself.

Does anyone know if that’s because it takes ASC a while to process the Visa Block and so people are notified over the following days/weeks even though their les all came in the same block, or do the Visa Blocks arrive on a completely unpredictable schedule sometimes even on a weekly basis?

When I saw people posting on Oct 13/14 that their Visa les had arrived I assumed that based on what my relo advisor said that there would be no chance of receiving Visa le now until mid-December. But now I’m not sure what to think.

Congratulations to those that just received their Visa les, you're an inspiration to the rest of us!

Cbman,

Not every visa that comes in every block is used. Aramco requests them in advance and they are specific to job le, nationality, male or female. Which means they wait for one to come meeting all the specific criteria. The visas from a previous block, may end up matching someone down the road and they can plug them in as they come. Visas have an expiration date once they are placed in a passport. They may also have an expiration date once Aramco receives them.

The dates would not match up to the every 8 weeks when they are received by new hires. Also, 8 weeks is an approximation, I am sure.

I am currently renewing my visa, it has been 2 weeks. A friend just received hers in less than a week. Last month someone received theirs in 7 weeks. The government does its thing and it takes as long as it takes for those of us here and for those of you who have not arrived yet.