[Yinekol]

What are the difficulties that people from pakistan face while working in Saudi? I have heard that every foreigner's passport is with a local sponsor known as qafeel and if a foreign national has to go back home he has to take permission from a qafeel who has the authority to delay your departure..Is it true for all kinds of jobs? If anyone can write their experience of how it is working in saudi, please do so..

[PhillipHer]

Yes brother u r right. the passport is held as a security with the sponser and an National ID called as iqama is given which a foreigner needs to carry all the time. Reg the permission from kafeel. There is a system called as Exit and ReEntry. When u wish to go to ur home for a stipulated period of time ur passport is attached with an exit reentry stamp, there is a duration for that and a max of 11 months. Now a days almost everything is done online. If it's a good enough sized company the HR deparment can arrange that exit reentry in 5 mins from online. but for smaller companies u need to go to govt office to get the same done. If ur working for a company then it's the head ache of the comapny to get it done. Othrwise u need to pay 500 SR to get it done from ur kafeel. In case of urgency it can be done on airport as well. In that case a companies registered person need to accompany u to the airport.

Well if u do not want to return back to saudi then only exit stamp is done and u need a new visa to come to saudi again as the old visa is dead with the exit stamp.

[Yinekol]

brother, but why does the kafeel charge you 500 riyaals, is it part of the system or is it just at the bloody kafeel's discretion whether he wants to rip a traveller apart in his time of need or not?

[PhillipHer]

as far as I know there is a govt fees for that process. Not sure it's 500 but kafeel takes that much for exit re-entry stamp. But if u r working in a company and a company is ur sponser then it's all their headche. the exit re-entry, the insurance, the iqama and every expense related to u is the responsibility of the company and company doesn't charge any thing to the employee. But if u r coming on free visa u should be prepared to spend a lot of money. Becoz everthing, tell u everthing even a piece of paper is charged by those blood sucking kafeels. Best thing is come on a free visa if u don't find a company visa and take transfer as early as possible to a good company.

But the new rules have made that part difficult as well. If u come on free visa u can't take transfer for 2 years. that means be prepared to feed the kafeel for everything for the first two years until u r eligible to take transfer. and that blood sucker also takes money to give the release as well.

Becoz of the new neqaty system where companies are categorized in 3 color codes red, yellow and green. The green is the safe house. the yellow is the border and with time the kafeel can jump in red or green depending upon hiring of saudis. The red is the danger zone. No official works happen when the kafeel is in red.

Coming to bribes. dear this place is no diffrent from any other place. and the percentage of bribes is rising to it's high and govt is doing nothing to stop it. So be prepared to give that when u fall in trouble.

jazakallah khair.

[blodwarttufla]

It would be best if someone living and working in Suadi Arabia, having experience with above issues would respond to that. However, being in a neighboring state which employs a similar immigration system, I could probably comment on some laws and practices:

1. Any foreigner entering Saudi Arabia must have a sponsor (this is valid even for visit visas - the only exception is Umrah, but in that case you must apply via a registered agent). The sponsor is called Kafeel. This could be a person or an organization.
2. Only the Kafeel may request to extend or cancel your visa.
3. Kafeel is also involved if you run into legal problems, as he/she/it is considered responsible and accountable for your actions.
4. You may not leave the country without the Kafeel's authorization, and his application at the Ministry. This is what's called Khuroojiah, or Exit Permit. I am not so sure, but I've heard it costs SR 100 per exit, and much higher for multiple exit permit (then you don't need explicit permission to exit every time you do). In Qatar, where I live it costs QR 10 per exit, and something like QR 500 for multiple exit permit. A good organization or individual Kafeel would normally pay for at least one exit permit per year (along with the airfare to home country).
5. Kafeels generally treat white collar workers and executives much better than blue collar workers and laborers, who unfortunately have to face some really harsh conditions and behaviors.
6. There's much pressure on Saudi Arabia (and Qatar) to scrap sponsorship laws and replace them by something that's more acceptable to organizations like WTO etc.

In most cases people entering Saudi Arabia to work already realize the terms of engagement and the conditions they are going to face, and they accept them willingly or otherwise. We know it's unfortunate how our Saudi (and some other Arab) brethren treat poor workers from South and South East Asia, but all we can do is pray and try to raise awareness within them as well as the aspiring workers.

[Yinekol]

brothers Akk001 and Abu Yusuf. I will look into this issue with some local recruiter before deciding on anything. This kafeel business has a touch of slavery in it, May Allah protect...