revive
Senior Member
Posts: 180
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Post by revive on Feb 9, 2014 12:41:03 GMT
Your comment is not entirely accurate and may create confusion...
Yes it's true that there has been no official announcement on this. However, multiple people have asked Housing dept. directly and were told that indeed they are moving Americans from Rakkah to Dhahran. At least this information has been consistent so far.
Only 11 families have moved so far, and the housing assignment was done through the bidding process. However, it was not the "usual" bidding process. The bidding process was unusual because the Housing dept. created a "special list" (i.e. American families from Rakkah) to bid on these 11 houses. Without such a special arrangement, none of us would be eligible to bid at this point, because technically, we are all still bound under a 2-year contract to remain in Rakkah.
Just trying to not exarcebate what is already a murky situation...
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Post by USPE on Feb 9, 2014 13:49:37 GMT
o
We are an American family assigned to RT. At the time of offer acceptance we were told that RT is full, and we would be assigned to Rakah on a temporary basis until something in RT becomes available.
In light of the talks that Americans are being asked to leave Rakah, has anything actually changed in the housing assignments? are there any empty houses in RT? Have any new American families just joined and can share their experience?
what is the official message regarding this?
Thanks in advance for the response.
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Post by vpainter on Feb 12, 2014 19:40:28 GMT
Nothing, and I do mean nothing can be taken as official from this forum.
You may even get policy quoted and copied here, but things change constantly here. Please do not assume what is written here is official. The posts are the opinions and knowledge of the posters, but would not stand up if you came and things were different than what you learned here. The posters on this forum are a great source of help and information, but it is not official even when completely accurate. This forum is not associated with the company even though it is about the company.
Americans are being moved out of Rakah, slowly. Timeline, unknown, will be as housing comes available.
DHA, RT and UDH are considered full. A percentage of houses must always remain empty in order to accommodate residents with emergencies that require the family to be moved from their residence, ex: a fire in the home. There was a fire near us and housing had to move 4 families immediately, housing personnel were very efficient in providing new houses for these displaced families while repairs had to be completed.
Can you be assigned a home in these full compounds? Yes, depending on availability at the time of your arrival.
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Post by azraeil on Feb 14, 2014 18:51:03 GMT
Previously houses were also kept empty to allow for current residents to move into them temporarily if their assigned houses undergoes major refurbishments (re-painting, changing of carpets, re-flooring etc etc) so yes, you may see empty houses but those are what housing calls reserve houses for such cases. As vpainter says, the compounds currently are considered full.
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Post by doonhamer on Feb 19, 2014 12:37:56 GMT
They are moving a certain number of US families into Dhahran each month to free up houses in RKLC.
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Post by O&GEngg on Feb 20, 2014 17:25:24 GMT
To free up houses in Rakah? Is Rakah full as well?
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Post by vpainter on Feb 20, 2014 17:32:10 GMT
No, Rakah is not full, but it has been being renovated in stages in preparation for new families. 525 homes eventually. 250 families living there at the moment.
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Post by Belltex on Apr 8, 2014 10:10:32 GMT
Are US Citizen contiued to move out to Main Camp?
can someone offer an update?
regards
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Post by vpainter on Apr 9, 2014 6:46:12 GMT
Dhahran is considered full. As houses come available and are renovated, Rakah families are being moved to DHA. A very slow process.
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Maursh
Senior Member
Posts: 169
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Post by Maursh on Apr 9, 2014 9:05:20 GMT
I hear of maybe one family a month moving to Dharhan - it would take 5+years to empty the compound at this rate. There are also some families here temporarily awaiting space in Ras Tanura. If you have been told that your permanent residence will be Rakkah, I would not make a decision thinking that you will be moving to Dharhan anytime soon. There is no formal policy about US citizens being moved off of Rakkah, only speculation.
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revive
Senior Member
Posts: 180
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Post by revive on Apr 21, 2014 7:06:48 GMT
As someone with first hand experience, I think my information is as good as anybody's here.
Yes, folks on US payroll continue to move out to Main Camp. No official word, but this was substantiated by someone from the Housing Dept (albeit informally) that it is indeed what the company is trying to do. This is in line with the new policy that provides housing allowance benefits for non-US payroll (which is not available for US payroll).
There were rumors that the move has been tapered down, but last week 5 more houses were made available for bid for Rakkah/US payroll. So the monthly avee is 4-5 families per month have moved since December.
There are close to 100 American families currently living in Rakkah. Although most prefer to move to Dhahran, some actually prefer to stay in Rakkah for various reasons. At the current rate of housing availability, it may take 15-20 more months (Summer / Fall 2015) to move all interested Americans to DHA.
The bidding process favors those with higher GC, i.e. folks with GC 14 or above have a better chance of move sooner. Secondarily, the types of housing made available so far have favored those with 3 kids or more (not many people have 3+ kids so the compeion is less ). The compeion is fiercest for families with 2 kids, because there are so many families with 2 kids. But at the end of the day GC is still the most important factor. Very few people are GC 15+, so if you are GC 15, you will likely be able to move almost immediately (in 1-2 months). It may not seem fair, but that is how the system works.
Another thought... it is not easy to move again (from RK to DHA) just a few months after you made a major move to KSA. It will put a toll on your family especially the wife. So please be ready. Also, once you are in DHA, be ready to spend $$$ on furniture, internet, cable, gardening, etc.
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Post by llfarms on Apr 26, 2014 19:52:28 GMT
There is just about no chance of a new arrival moving unless you come in at the right grade code and you meet the housing requirements. The JPH folks moving in also make housing tighter so come with the assumption that you will not be moving.
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