Is this for real????!

My husband was offered a job at a university in Khobar, he accepted it and they were about to start the work visa process.
they got back to him today saying that after checking with the government relations department they were informed that they don't currently have a work visa for PALESTINE!!!!!

they knew from the start he was palestinian living in France!

is this not descrimination????

I am speechless and discusted, can someone confirm that there are restrictions against certain nationalities???

Which country's embassy rejected your husband's work visa?

Hi Nash,

My husband didn't even get to apply to the embassy he received the following e-mail:

We are sorry to inform you that we have looked up for a visa for Palestine and after coordinating with the government relations department we have been informed that we do not currently have a work visa for this country!!!!!!

Does this sound logic??? this is pure descrimination and they knew all along his nationality, in addition Saudi should be very supportive of palestinians!!!! and in any case he lives in France and not palestine

Thank you so much for any clarification

hmmm. This is sad. Actually I agree with you that nationality must no way be a factor which is not the case in KSA.

In my honest opinion & long time in KSA, I have seen Palestinian are respected and loved in KSA. No one asks them to go out. They may have some genuine problems with visa because after all visas are issued to organizations under nationality quotas. That is how it is in KSA.

There is no point to lose hopes. If this offers has turned tarnished, God has certainly thought of something much better for you guys.

I am still confused to why they can't process his visa? are you saying they have a specific number of visas for each country, and they have reached that limit for palestinians??

I am just trying to understand and make some sense of this!

Yes. This is the case in my view. It seems they had visas in hand at the time they contacted your husband. That's why they sent that offer. Now, when they started processing visa etc, they found that the quota has all been consumed.

Of course, that's a mismanagement which are quite common here.

Sadly this happens very often here. Fyi, there is no clear laws and rules here, and they may change within weeks or maybe days.
The government sometimes set some restrictions on some nationalities or jobs. An Iraqi friend of mine is married to a guy who lives in Saudi. He tried for years to get her any visa to get her to the country. At the end, he managed to get her another nationality and and finally made it.

Hope your husband's issue will be solved soon.

This is playing with people's lives and future! I guess it can only happen in Saudi Arabia and perhaps this has happened for a good reason!

it happens in america too.

@sunrise    The comments here about 'quotas' are correct.  Often I'll read job ads and even though for native speakers of English, the ad will stipulate that they only have visas for England and South Africa, or the USA and Ireland or whatever. 

As TLL said, they have a set number of visas per nationality and when those are gone, they're gone until which time new ones are added.

sunrise75 wrote:

This is playing with people's lives and future! I guess it can only happen in Saudi Arabia and perhaps this has happened for a good reason!


It happens in every country. Recently the UAE was not giving visas to Iranians for security reasons. The EU is a lot more relaxed over who they let in. Move on.

its not like this . u guys didn't understand what it means ... there is no restriction in Saudi Arabia for any Muslim country . specially for Arabs they are very caring and in 8 million expats almost 6 millions are Arab expats here,,, this means
the work visa for this specific university is banned , because every organization is allowed to have specific numbers(limits) of visa for each country.may be this university have already enough expat employees and they need more but according to Saudi law they can hair only specific number of expat employees. there should be 40/60 ratio of Saudis and expats. might be possible this company already crossed the limit of  allotted visas for this year .

Hi sunrise75,

in Saudi there is a government program named netaqat

that mean if a company Hired a saudi they deserve a point, if they hired someone has a Physically disabled issue they deserve 5 points.
if they hired a Palestinian they deserve 0.25 point but any other nationality dose not account.

this system to push companies to hire Saudis and Palestinian to make a points so the can get a visas.

i believe the problem in your husband situation that there is no visas for Palestinians teachers.

anyway my Q is what kind of documents your husband has ?
Jordanian, Syrian or Lebanese.

if he has a Syrian documents that will explain every things. Because of the war in Syria. and Strained relations between Saudi and Syria. for that Saudi stopped visas.


BTW i got a Palestinian colleague in work and there is too many Palestinians lives in khobar and they lives better than Saudis do. and we are lucky to have them here because they are our brothers in islam.

excuse my English :| but I'm learning here and doing my best to be helpful to you guys :)

@Moe  No need to apologize.  Your English was very  good!

Moe is rite .... they have enough open heart to live with Muslim expats as well as non Muslims are having wonderful life here.

At Moe he holds a palestinian passport.
We were so looking forward to starting a new life in Saudi and we are very disapointed...
Do you guys think that we should contact the university to see if they could do something or this is a final decision?

@Alliecat
thanx ma'am for ur support :)

@desertlifestyle
touché Bro ;)

@sunrise75
ma'am its never too late I believe you have to double check with this university. anyway can you tell me the name of this uni maybe i can help u :)
but about the passport regarding to my small knowledge there is only a documents for the Palestinians.

sunrise

i am shocked . cozz i saw palestinians people working here in saudi .
frankly . i gues that the official visa needs some money :unsure

Sunrise,

Check with the Saudi embassy if they can grant your husband his work visa under exceptional circumstances outside the quota.

We have heard back from the Uni that they didn't anticipate to employ a palestinian national and therefor didn't have pre-authorised Visa for this nationality. They promised to do their best to try and get the visa and can't confirm employment until then. We are staying hopeful and positive!

sunrise75 wrote:

We have heard back from the Uni that they didn't anticipate to employ a palestinian national and therefor didn't have pre-authorised Visa for this nationality. They promised to do their best to try and get the visa and can't confirm employment until then. We are staying hopeful and positive!


That university isn't your only option, you know.  Rather than sitting, waiting and hoping, I suggest you apply to other schools, too!

Good luck :)