Types of visas

Types of visas
This perhaps is one of the most important things you should be aware of before you come to the kingdom. Every work visa is associated with a profession, eg., doctor, engineer, nurse, teacher, carpenter, etc. You must be absolutely sure about your job title mentioned in your visa. It will be in Arabic, so you will have to get the help of someone who knows Arabic fluently to know its "exact" meaning. Confused? Read on. Every sponsor is given some visas by the Saudi government. Unfortunately, the profession or the trade mentioned in the visa need not necessarily be the job you are supposed to do, though officially this is not the case. In 9 out of 10 cases, the sponsor just grabs whatever visa is available and brings expats into the kingdom on that particular visa. For example, let's say a sponsor has a visa for a plumber. However, he may not be needing a plumber but rather an engineer. Since he was given only a plumber visa by the government, he would try to bring the expat on whatever visa is available. However, the catch is that the expat coming into the kingdom, blissfully unaware of this, will be in deep trouble when he wants to bring his family. Only certain trades can bring their familieis. The Saudi government has decided that only those who can afford to bring their families should do so (which is right to a certain extent). Hence, a labourer / helper will not be eligible to bring his family, nor can he obtain a multiple exit/reentry visa (more about this later) for weekend trips to Bahrain. So, if an engineer comes to Saudi on a helper visa, it is impossible for him to bring his family, because on paper he is still a helper, no matter what his qualification or experience is There was this classic case of the principal of the Indian school, a Phd and with 25 years experience. Unfortunately, he could not bring his family to the kingdom as he was on a painter visa. Since on record he was a painter hence was not eligible to bring his family. Despite moving pillar to post, he was unsuccessful in getting his profession changed and finally had to quit his job in utter frustration and go back to his home country