Post by O&GEngg on Aug 22, 2014 17:46:45 GMT
Hey everyone,
This forum has been a HUGE help for my family and I (wife + kids aged 2, 4, 6) so I promised to write a post about my arrival experience in order to pay it forward. This is my second attempt; I wrote for an hour straight a couple days ago and got logged out so it didn't post.
We flew from Into Dammam. Business class definitely helps but you will be tired when you get here. Google the best ways to get over/prevent jet lag and you should be in good shape in a few days. If you're travelling with a lot of carry-on luggage I suggest that you have whatever arrival documents you need (including the Aramco name tag) handy. Also, have a plan when you're getting off of the airplane so that you don't look like an absolute train wreck. Shout out here to my AMAZING wife who is able to organize herself and all three kids. Without her I would have been screwed. Our immigration experience was very good compared to some of the stories that I have read on here.
TIP - read as much as you can here on the forums. This is your best tool to reduce the culture shock.
TIP - you'll receive a photocopy of your passport and visa. On the photocopy of your visa the immigrations official will write a number in Arabic. Ensure that everyone in your family has this number written down before you leave. Apparently, a recent arrival didn't have this number and they had to go back to the airport to get it. Could be just a rumour though.
TIP - for the husband: take a picture with your phone of each persons passport and visa. You'll need these often.
Once you're through immigration you'll head to baggage claim. Grab the first porter you see (they wear bright yellow shirts) and tell him to grab a few buddies if you have lots of luggage coming. We had 8 dish barrel boxes, 3 roller suitcases, 5 roller carry ons, 5 back packs, 3 car seats and a double stroller. We had all the tools to become a train wreck but didn't. Did I mention I have an awesome wife? Your porters will get you into the correct line for baggage scanning.
TIP - inform your porters how much you will be tipping them BEFORE they start handling bags. 5-10 SAR is customary. I suggest 5 SAR per bag for your first set of porters unless the customs baggage scanning line is extremely long.
TIP - bring only SAR cash. US$ is pretty well useless. The NCB bank in Dhahran wouldn't exchange my US$ because they claim to have only accepted brand new $100 bills. So now I have $5000 cash that I can't do much with. Apparently there is a place in Khobar that will exchange it but I haven't found it yet. You're going to go through a lot of money in your first little bit. We've done three solid shopping trips and have spent easily 4500 SAR in our first week and compared to a lot of people around here that's low. You can pull money out from ATM's with just your bank card so long as you've told your bank that you'll be here in KSA. Otherwise you might get your card locked. This isn't ideal as your bank is likely screwing you on ATM fees and on the conversion but you can't open a bank account without your iqama. It's ok though...you're getting a hardship allowance which should cover this.
Once through baggage scanning your porters will take you to the Aramco Lounge where you get your temporary ID. If there is no one ahead of you in the lounge you'll be out in 10-15 minutes. My first set of porters didn't wait so I had to get another set of porters to take me from the Aramco Lounge to our taxis. These guys do all the work loading my 70 lbs boxes into the SUV taxi so they got 10 SAR/bag tips.
TIP - it's important to let your relocation advisor know how much baggage you're travelling with so that they can inform Arrival Services. Also, try to find out who's meeting you at the airport. Next, when you leave customs (after bags have been scanned) keep your eyes peeled for someone holding a sign with your name on it. There were easily 200 people waiting outside of customs when we came through so we missed our sign.
TIP - keep a few copies of each persons passport photo or scan them and have copies available electronically.
After getting your temporary ID you'll go with your taxi drivers down one more level to a parkade where they'll load you up and take you to your new home.
TIP - get 100% confirmation/guarantee from you relocation advisor as to where EXACTLY you'll be living. A surprise like this is not what your family needs upon arrival. Translation: surprise = angry wife. My wife was not "surprised" because I was persistent.
TIP - if you don't understand something: ask a question. If you don't 100% understand - ask again. DO NOT ASSUME ANYTHING, EVER!!!
When you get to your new home there should be some sort of welcome package there. Dishes, basic utensils/tools, pots, pans, and some food to get you through 1 day. However, some people have arrived without anything at all in their unit.
TIP - by being an active member on the forums you should have made some contacts before getting here. Let people know when you're arriving and don't be afraid to ask for help. We have all been new here and most people are more than happy to help.
Groceries - you’re going to need some for sure. Plan to go first thing in the morning when you get up. The earlier you go the better off you’ll be. You’ll likely have only slept for a few hours (if you’re lucky). Make a list of the things that you know that your family needs/wants before you leave your home country. You’re more than likely able to find it here. If you know that there is something that you REALLY need then I suggest you pack it. Us, for example, brought 25 lbs of protein powder in our checked luggage. We should have brought more. When you get to the grocery store don’t think that you’ll be able to work isle by isle. Also, don’t worry about the price; you can become a cheap & thrifty Aramcon later. The point of this grocery trip is for your family to survive the next couple of days while you’re away at work. This is especially important if you’re in the Tower because if your wife is anything like mine she will not want to leave unless you’re with her. If you’re lucky enough to be place on an actual Aramco compound then this won’t be a problem.
Appliances - if you're bringing your 110V appliances you're going to need to make a trip to the local electronic store (Extra) for voltage converters. These are about the size (and weight) of a car battery and easy enough to obtain here. The alternative would be to just leave all of your 110V appliances at home and buy the ones you want here. We are really wishing that we had done this. However, if you're in the tower and get moved to the main camp or another one that has 110V you're in a bit of a predicament. Your call...just think it through before coming. For us - we shipped all of our appliances and just picked up a few of these converters.
First day of work - check the papers that you received from the Aramco Lounge. They will specify what you’re supposed to do. In my case, the instructions were contradictory. One paper said a taxi would pick me up at 6AM another said a colleague would pick me up at 7AM. I called the phone number listed for the colleague and he had no clue what I was talking about (not overly surprising really). So I opted for the taxi. That never showed up so I took the bus. Everyone will know you’re brand new from the bright yellow temporary ID card you have on. Ask them for help if you take the bus. The bus system is fairly complex. You’ll be EXTREMELY lucky if there is a computer for you. Your department may not even know what you’re arriving. I read drilling programs and daily reports all day on my first day.
Day 2: Orientation day - a taxi should be there to pick you up. If not the orientation team has taken this into consideration if you need to call your own taxi. For the most part taxis are reliable when booked in advance. Orientation is when you’ll get filled in on all of the different things that you need to do in the next couple weeks. It’s literally a 5 page checklist. Also you get your blood work done for your iqama. Good luck! That’ll take all morning, then lunch, then back to DHA to grab a phone card.
TIP - be the first person off the bus so you don’t have to wait behind a whole group of people.
In my case the payroll cut off was a couple days away so it was important to get all of my payroll info filled out so I could get paid. Be sure you have your SWIFT and IBAN numbers and a void cheque when you go. Also, payroll is in the same building as personnel; if you’ve sold your house and/or vehicles you can take all of your documents for that there. A taxi will take you home as well. I got my Majestic taxi driver to take me to the Majestic Car Rental place on camp to rent a car (which is a necessity while living in the tower). I also asked the cab driver to show me which way to go home. He was a bit hesitant until I reminded him that Aramco had already pre-paid him to drive me home. The car cost me SR2500 for a month which is pretty decent. It’s nothing fancy though but it’s better than relying on taxis and buses with 3 kids.
Next few days just chip away at your paper work. You’ll be all over the main camp getting all of these things done. Read and re-read your check list so hopefully you can group a few of the tasks together into one trip.
The most annoying task for us was the temporary ID’s. I “assumed” that both the wife and I would get ours at the same appointment. Nope. I had to get mine first and then had to go online to get an appointment to do hers. In order to do so I needed full network access. In your team there will likely be some computer guru who handles all things computer related. Ask him/her to get you hooked up.
As with this whole process, patience is a virtue. You’re going to need more now than ever. Again, if you’re not sure just ask the question. Everyone realizes that you’re new here and most people are willing to help. I’ve learned to suck up my pride and tell everyone that I’m dealing with that I’m new and I need their help.
Pretty sure that it. Feel free to ask questions; I’ll do my best to answer them and if I can’t there is likely someone here that can.
If you have any questions about things to bring/not bring just post them and myself or someone else here in the tower will be able to help you out. The one nice thing we're noticing is that a lot of stores are within 10 minutes of driving and if you go early enough in the day you won't have to deal with the mayhem on the roads.
This forum has been a HUGE help for my family and I (wife + kids aged 2, 4, 6) so I promised to write a post about my arrival experience in order to pay it forward. This is my second attempt; I wrote for an hour straight a couple days ago and got logged out so it didn't post.
We flew from Into Dammam. Business class definitely helps but you will be tired when you get here. Google the best ways to get over/prevent jet lag and you should be in good shape in a few days. If you're travelling with a lot of carry-on luggage I suggest that you have whatever arrival documents you need (including the Aramco name tag) handy. Also, have a plan when you're getting off of the airplane so that you don't look like an absolute train wreck. Shout out here to my AMAZING wife who is able to organize herself and all three kids. Without her I would have been screwed. Our immigration experience was very good compared to some of the stories that I have read on here.
TIP - read as much as you can here on the forums. This is your best tool to reduce the culture shock.
TIP - you'll receive a photocopy of your passport and visa. On the photocopy of your visa the immigrations official will write a number in Arabic. Ensure that everyone in your family has this number written down before you leave. Apparently, a recent arrival didn't have this number and they had to go back to the airport to get it. Could be just a rumour though.
TIP - for the husband: take a picture with your phone of each persons passport and visa. You'll need these often.
Once you're through immigration you'll head to baggage claim. Grab the first porter you see (they wear bright yellow shirts) and tell him to grab a few buddies if you have lots of luggage coming. We had 8 dish barrel boxes, 3 roller suitcases, 5 roller carry ons, 5 back packs, 3 car seats and a double stroller. We had all the tools to become a train wreck but didn't. Did I mention I have an awesome wife? Your porters will get you into the correct line for baggage scanning.
TIP - inform your porters how much you will be tipping them BEFORE they start handling bags. 5-10 SAR is customary. I suggest 5 SAR per bag for your first set of porters unless the customs baggage scanning line is extremely long.
TIP - bring only SAR cash. US$ is pretty well useless. The NCB bank in Dhahran wouldn't exchange my US$ because they claim to have only accepted brand new $100 bills. So now I have $5000 cash that I can't do much with. Apparently there is a place in Khobar that will exchange it but I haven't found it yet. You're going to go through a lot of money in your first little bit. We've done three solid shopping trips and have spent easily 4500 SAR in our first week and compared to a lot of people around here that's low. You can pull money out from ATM's with just your bank card so long as you've told your bank that you'll be here in KSA. Otherwise you might get your card locked. This isn't ideal as your bank is likely screwing you on ATM fees and on the conversion but you can't open a bank account without your iqama. It's ok though...you're getting a hardship allowance which should cover this.
Once through baggage scanning your porters will take you to the Aramco Lounge where you get your temporary ID. If there is no one ahead of you in the lounge you'll be out in 10-15 minutes. My first set of porters didn't wait so I had to get another set of porters to take me from the Aramco Lounge to our taxis. These guys do all the work loading my 70 lbs boxes into the SUV taxi so they got 10 SAR/bag tips.
TIP - it's important to let your relocation advisor know how much baggage you're travelling with so that they can inform Arrival Services. Also, try to find out who's meeting you at the airport. Next, when you leave customs (after bags have been scanned) keep your eyes peeled for someone holding a sign with your name on it. There were easily 200 people waiting outside of customs when we came through so we missed our sign.
TIP - keep a few copies of each persons passport photo or scan them and have copies available electronically.
After getting your temporary ID you'll go with your taxi drivers down one more level to a parkade where they'll load you up and take you to your new home.
TIP - get 100% confirmation/guarantee from you relocation advisor as to where EXACTLY you'll be living. A surprise like this is not what your family needs upon arrival. Translation: surprise = angry wife. My wife was not "surprised" because I was persistent.
TIP - if you don't understand something: ask a question. If you don't 100% understand - ask again. DO NOT ASSUME ANYTHING, EVER!!!
When you get to your new home there should be some sort of welcome package there. Dishes, basic utensils/tools, pots, pans, and some food to get you through 1 day. However, some people have arrived without anything at all in their unit.
TIP - by being an active member on the forums you should have made some contacts before getting here. Let people know when you're arriving and don't be afraid to ask for help. We have all been new here and most people are more than happy to help.
Groceries - you’re going to need some for sure. Plan to go first thing in the morning when you get up. The earlier you go the better off you’ll be. You’ll likely have only slept for a few hours (if you’re lucky). Make a list of the things that you know that your family needs/wants before you leave your home country. You’re more than likely able to find it here. If you know that there is something that you REALLY need then I suggest you pack it. Us, for example, brought 25 lbs of protein powder in our checked luggage. We should have brought more. When you get to the grocery store don’t think that you’ll be able to work isle by isle. Also, don’t worry about the price; you can become a cheap & thrifty Aramcon later. The point of this grocery trip is for your family to survive the next couple of days while you’re away at work. This is especially important if you’re in the Tower because if your wife is anything like mine she will not want to leave unless you’re with her. If you’re lucky enough to be place on an actual Aramco compound then this won’t be a problem.
Appliances - if you're bringing your 110V appliances you're going to need to make a trip to the local electronic store (Extra) for voltage converters. These are about the size (and weight) of a car battery and easy enough to obtain here. The alternative would be to just leave all of your 110V appliances at home and buy the ones you want here. We are really wishing that we had done this. However, if you're in the tower and get moved to the main camp or another one that has 110V you're in a bit of a predicament. Your call...just think it through before coming. For us - we shipped all of our appliances and just picked up a few of these converters.
First day of work - check the papers that you received from the Aramco Lounge. They will specify what you’re supposed to do. In my case, the instructions were contradictory. One paper said a taxi would pick me up at 6AM another said a colleague would pick me up at 7AM. I called the phone number listed for the colleague and he had no clue what I was talking about (not overly surprising really). So I opted for the taxi. That never showed up so I took the bus. Everyone will know you’re brand new from the bright yellow temporary ID card you have on. Ask them for help if you take the bus. The bus system is fairly complex. You’ll be EXTREMELY lucky if there is a computer for you. Your department may not even know what you’re arriving. I read drilling programs and daily reports all day on my first day.
Day 2: Orientation day - a taxi should be there to pick you up. If not the orientation team has taken this into consideration if you need to call your own taxi. For the most part taxis are reliable when booked in advance. Orientation is when you’ll get filled in on all of the different things that you need to do in the next couple weeks. It’s literally a 5 page checklist. Also you get your blood work done for your iqama. Good luck! That’ll take all morning, then lunch, then back to DHA to grab a phone card.
TIP - be the first person off the bus so you don’t have to wait behind a whole group of people.
In my case the payroll cut off was a couple days away so it was important to get all of my payroll info filled out so I could get paid. Be sure you have your SWIFT and IBAN numbers and a void cheque when you go. Also, payroll is in the same building as personnel; if you’ve sold your house and/or vehicles you can take all of your documents for that there. A taxi will take you home as well. I got my Majestic taxi driver to take me to the Majestic Car Rental place on camp to rent a car (which is a necessity while living in the tower). I also asked the cab driver to show me which way to go home. He was a bit hesitant until I reminded him that Aramco had already pre-paid him to drive me home. The car cost me SR2500 for a month which is pretty decent. It’s nothing fancy though but it’s better than relying on taxis and buses with 3 kids.
Next few days just chip away at your paper work. You’ll be all over the main camp getting all of these things done. Read and re-read your check list so hopefully you can group a few of the tasks together into one trip.
The most annoying task for us was the temporary ID’s. I “assumed” that both the wife and I would get ours at the same appointment. Nope. I had to get mine first and then had to go online to get an appointment to do hers. In order to do so I needed full network access. In your team there will likely be some computer guru who handles all things computer related. Ask him/her to get you hooked up.
As with this whole process, patience is a virtue. You’re going to need more now than ever. Again, if you’re not sure just ask the question. Everyone realizes that you’re new here and most people are willing to help. I’ve learned to suck up my pride and tell everyone that I’m dealing with that I’m new and I need their help.
Pretty sure that it. Feel free to ask questions; I’ll do my best to answer them and if I can’t there is likely someone here that can.
If you have any questions about things to bring/not bring just post them and myself or someone else here in the tower will be able to help you out. The one nice thing we're noticing is that a lot of stores are within 10 minutes of driving and if you go early enough in the day you won't have to deal with the mayhem on the roads.
