New here and to the ex pat life....any and all advice much appreciated

Hi emmvee and welcome to Expat.com!

Your thread has been moved to Riyadh forum for better visibility.

Hope that you'll soon be enlightened.

Harmonie.

emmvee wrote:

hey all,
i am in the process of relocating to riyadh for my first ever ex pat job as an efl teacher, i have a few questions if anyone is able to help?

1: what would be the best way to bank over in KSA so that i am able to still transfer money to uk?

2. which resources for teaching would you recommend i take with me from uk to aid me in my work?

looking forward to hearing from anyone who is able to shed light to my queries

love and peace
M

Hi and welcome,
1. Once you get you iquama you can open a bank account, company pays into your account, transfer money back home. I have a SABB account which has online banking, I recieve a text from the bank saying Salary paid, I go online and transfer. It was a bit of a chew on to set it up but its excellent now.
2. I can,t help with that sorry, but if you were teacing in the UK its fair to say you will not need to bring your Tazer here!!!!

Al

Hey ...

1) once you get your residence permit, you can open a bank account in any bank. Saudi British Bank would be best for you. No hassle in transferring money back to UK. Or you can even use Western Union. Fairly simple and easy. The best part, no income/salary tax deduction or any kind of tax deduction on any part!

2) The students which you are going to probably teach in Saudi are two generations behind in terms of education and syllabus compared to the civilized countries of the world. A master's level Arab student in Saudi can not even compete with a higher secondary school student of the rest of the world. Furthermore, saudi is among top in the list of countries which have short education calender years. Like literally they get a month off after every educational month. So don't worry about it, it will be a piece of cake for you.

All the best!

emmvee wrote:

hey all,
i am in the process of relocating to riyadh for my first ever ex pat job as an efl teacher, i have a few questions if anyone is able to help?

1: what would be the best way to bank over in KSA so that i am able to still transfer money to uk?

2. which resources for teaching would you recommend i take with me from uk to aid me in my work?

looking forward to hearing from anyone who is able to shed light to my queries

love and peace
M

Arbab wrote:

Hey ...

1) once you get your residence permit, you can open a bank account in any bank. Saudi British Bank would be best for you. No hassle in transferring money back to UK. Or you can even use Western Union. Fairly simple and easy. The best part, no income/salary tax deduction or any kind of tax deduction on any part!

2) The students which you are going to probably teach in Saudi are two generations behind in terms of education and syllabus compared to the civilized countries of the world. A master's level Arab student in Saudi can not even compete with a higher secondary school student of the rest of the world. Furthermore, saudi is among top in the list of countries which have short education calender years. Like literally they get a month off after every educational month. So don't worry about it, it will be a piece of cake for you.

All the best!

@ Arbab   Sure, she can use any bank she wants but the thing is, her employer will deposit her salary into THEIR bank of choice and there's no reason not to stick with that bank.

Also, I agree with much of your second statement but she'll be teaching PYP and they don't get every other month off like the kids.  I believe there are two semesters with a break inbetween and EID breaks.

Agreed.

Alliecat wrote:

Arbab wrote:

Hey ...

1) once you get your residence permit, you can open a bank account in any bank. Saudi British Bank would be best for you. No hassle in transferring money back to UK. Or you can even use Western Union. Fairly simple and easy. The best part, no income/salary tax deduction or any kind of tax deduction on any part!

2) The students which you are going to probably teach in Saudi are two generations behind in terms of education and syllabus compared to the civilized countries of the world. A master's level Arab student in Saudi can not even compete with a higher secondary school student of the rest of the world. Furthermore, saudi is among top in the list of countries which have short education calender years. Like literally they get a month off after every educational month. So don't worry about it, it will be a piece of cake for you.

All the best!

@ Arbab   Sure, she can use any bank she wants but the thing is, her employer will deposit her salary into THEIR bank of choice and there's no reason not to stick with that bank.

Also, I agree with much of your second statement but she'll be teaching PYP and they don't get every other month off like the kids.  I believe there are two semesters with a break inbetween and EID breaks.

Hi emmvee,

I am going through this process right now. I move in August to Riyadh. I bank with HSBC so the most logical thing for me is to get an offshore account. Also other banks would offer this service. I am sure other EB'ers would be able to give their 2 halala's worth to what you can do banking-wise

All the best on your move.

I think all banks do money transfers.  I use Al Rajhi.  If you're friendly and smile, they'll waive the transfer fee (75SAR)

Alliecat wrote:

If you're friendly and smile, they'll waive the transfer fee (75SAR)

Are you serious ??

saimans wrote:

Alliecat wrote:

If you're friendly and smile, they'll waive the transfer fee (75SAR)

Are you serious ??

I just transferred my salary to India through ANB - Telemoney. Fixed Charges per transaction (without smiling) - 16 SR only

excellent advice everyone, very much appreciated.
thank you all

emmvee wrote:

excellent advice everyone, very much appreciated.
thank you all

And I thought, I was the only Gujju in Saudi Arabia

saimans wrote:

Alliecat wrote:

If you're friendly and smile, they'll waive the transfer fee (75SAR)

Are you serious ??

Al Rahji to USA?  yes, 75SAR fee.

Alliecat wrote:

saimans wrote:

Alliecat wrote:

If you're friendly and smile, they'll waive the transfer fee (75SAR)

Are you serious ??

Al Rahji to USA?  yes, 75SAR fee.

I was not asking for the 75SAR thing, I was asking for waiving it for a smile ???

ghanshyampdave wrote:

emmvee wrote:

excellent advice everyone, very much appreciated.
thank you all

And I thought, I was the only Gujju in Saudi Arabia

lol well i guess im the second

emmvee wrote:

lol well i guess im the second

Oh, then Aavjo Aavjo ! (welcome) 

ghanshyampdave wrote:

emmvee wrote:

lol well i guess im the second

Oh, then Aavjo Aavjo ! (welcome) 

Hopefully now Sheikh will no longer be SINGLE !!!

saimans wrote:

ghanshyampdave wrote:

emmvee wrote:

lol well i guess im the second

Oh, then Aavjo Aavjo ! (welcome) 

Hopefully now Sheikh will no longer be SINGLE !!!

Oh, no no. I'm already seeing someone here in Saudi Arabia.
Phew, so much can happen over a cup of coffee and a cone of ice cream

(Hope the muttawas don't find out !)

ghanshyampdave wrote:

Oh, no no. I'm already seeing someone here in Saudi Arabia.
Phew, so much can happen over a cup of coffee and a cone of ice cream

No Spilling Beans over here, Shhhhhhhhhhh !!!