Arrival Experience at Dammam Airport

The office is after immigration. There may (or may not) be an Aramco representative available at customs. I did not see one when I came more than two years ago.


I would advise your wife and daughter to dress conservatively/well covered per local custom. My wife bought and wore an abaya before coming, and at least she felt she was treated better because of it, and now she always wears an abaya when we travel to/from DMM. Others think it doesn't make any difference.


The day after you arrive will be a day off. Most departments try to send a representative to meet you (may be Saudi or expat). They may or may not accompany you to your accomodation. I usually meet folks coming to my unit and take them to their compound. Some others do, some do not.

Wutz

There are two Aramco offices. One just before customs and one outside of security.
An Aramco employee should be waiting for you at the Office just before customs with a list of names of people he is expecting.
Be sure to have the immigration forms filled out that you were handed on the plane. The representative will ask for them. Our emirates flight from Dubai was so short that the Aramco representative ended up helping my wife and I fill them out while my kids had drinks from the mini fridge.
I would recomend trying to find a copy of that customs form online and trying to fill it out before hand. One less thing to worry about at the apex of your epic first trip to Saudi Arabia. Even if all you did was fill out a similar form so at least your not having to look up the information while you fill the form out.

Our 10:30 flight was about 40 minutes late and there wasn't much of a line at customs. The aramco representative escorted us all the way through customs to the aramco office on the outside.
The office on the outside has a sitting room with couches and toys, but after the trip from the US, my kids were bouncing off the walls..
I was glad that someone from my department came, but it was a little embarrassing to have a new colleague trying to corral your kids for you while you and your spouse are trying to focus on doing paperwork and listening to the briefing. My colleague also handled paying the porters which was unexpected but very much appreciated.

There was a single guy from europe who was also coming to Saudi for the first time and was escorted with us through customs. I felt bad for someone else who walked up to the office with his family, but was turned away because although it was his family's first time in country, he had already been working for Aramco in Saudi, so no escort for them.

Be warned, the women's bathroom nearest the second aramco office is authentic... My wife may never forget her first bathroom experience with our three-year-old in Kingdom...
I would recommend using the facilities before exiting the plane.

Our experience was very positive. We arrived in Nov 2014, there was a small Aramco office before the passport check point, and another one downstairs. We were approached by an Aramco representative before the passport check point, very kind person, he gave us some water bottles, some candy for the kids, reviewed all the papers my husband had and checked the inmigration forms were filled correctly. The queue for inmigration was not extreeeemely long but I think if we had had to wait would be there around an hour, the Aramco representative spoke to one of the immigration officers and he let us through inmediately, I was covering my hair and the officer told me it was not neccesary, it was very respectful and kind, actually greeted my youngest very kindly and told her welcome to Saudi. I was not wearing abaya, and no one said anything, stared at me or made me fell unconfortable. After inmigration, the representative guided us to the other office to get our temporary IDs, when we got there we were pleasantly surprised that one of my husband's coworkers was there waiting for us, he was there with my husband answering all the questions he had, and drive us to Radium, while the taxi carried aaaall our luggage, he waited here until we received our keys, and told my husband that he could call him for anything, even shopping if needed! That was unexpected. I know not everyone had been that lucky, so I wish your experience will be as positive as ours.

Thanks rft et all for providing the feedback.

I will be flying out to Dammam on the 25th March, not long to go. Will provide my update when in Saudia for this post.

Thanks once again.

A K

NoleinKSA

I would arrive on the same day (25.03) around 11:00 p.m. Hopefully would expereince the same as stated by others. Housing still to be confirmed.

Good luck with your Journey. bon voyage & hopefully see you some where in the Kingdom.

Thanks

A K

Hi All

Here is my experience story

My arrival was at 8:25 a.m. which is not early. There was nobody at the airport had to wait for 2 hours before SA guy was here.

The customs/passport control was very fast (10 mins altogether for 3 family members), this included finger prints. They will write a entry number on the passport if this is first time you are arriving for work at Kingdom.

For Engineers, that is required for the SCE approval process later on.

We had to take a taxi ourselves to Radium where our apartment was located. SAR 140.

Regards

All,
I've been with the company for almost 2 years now. I've taken Majestic and Samara taxis to and from the airport. I've tried the airport taxis a few times and today's experience was something you would refer to as "highway robbery". I arrived at about 2 am today from a connecting flight from Riyadh. I came from an international flight. Anyways, I decided just to take an airport taxi. As you know, there are people who try to solicit business even inside the airport as soon as you exit the baggage claim area. I decided to proceed instead to the taxi dispatcher counter. Told the person where I'm going which was the Dhahran compound. Usually the fare can range anywhere from 100 SAR to 125 SAR. This time the quoted fare was 100 SAR and gave me a coupon stating the contracted amount. The local taxi driver who spoke Arabic asked me where in the camp. I said the main camp. He mentioned, "hills"? As we were driving he said the fare now is 200 SAR gesturing with his index and middle fingers. I was beginning that this would not turn out well. I mentioned that the route usually takes me to 2 security gates. He mentioned if it is Al Munirah, then it would be 300 SAR. Of course I did not argue with him during the ride. He has full control of the vehicle. I waited until we passed the second gate and I told him to drop me off by the fire station still within view of the guard house instead of my accommodation a few distance ahead. I paid him 125 SAR and can hear him say Arabic words which I assumed is probably "this is not enough" or colorful Arabic words to the effect. Knowing that I am already inside the camp in view of the guards I unloaded my baggages and proceeded to walk over the security gate and told them about this taxi driver's attempt to charge me 200-300 SAR instead of the usual rate as above. My advice for travelers: Take Majestic or Samara instead. If you need to take airport taxis, take down as much information that you can about the taxi (license plates etc.). Take a snapshot of the coupon as proof of the contracted amount of fare. Make sure you are at least driven inside the camp/compound. At least security officers will be available to assist you in case of a dispute. I decided to be dropped off at the gate instead of my accommodation for obvious reasons. A walk early in the day with baggages in tow has some health benefits. Take care.