Housing for British Asians

This is an interesting situation - and a dilemma for you?
Me thinks you  do need to thrash out accom. details of the contract before you arrive! - or things could potentially get ugly if you leave it until arrival to argue this...if British is your only language then that is your main point of argument of course.... Say that after living xx years you identify with British culture etc - and when staring a new job with all of the associated demands of that - to live with a cultural enclave that I identify and feel comfortable in is important for the success of my probationary period ...etc

Hello. Thank you for your response. It wouldn't normally be an issue. However, I have a friend who has just arrived within the last two weeks. From home, they were promised a 'western/british' compound but on arrival they have been placed with eastern nationalities. This isn't a problem except they speak a totally different language to English and their mother tongue,  making communication impossible. Needless to say there are culture crashes too. They have tried to negotiate with the accomodation office to no avail. I too was promised 'western/british' accommodation although it isn't specifically stipulated in my contact. My allocation says depends 'on availability'. I just wanted to be prepared in case I need to find alternative accomodation!

Yes, not good. I did think the language may be a lever - eastern accom. is obviously much cheaper (and probably a far lower standard) - and Saudi feeling the pinch with oil a third to what it was 2 years ago.

But the cultural differences when you are starting a new job is not good.

Do stress you are British by culture and language, you were hired from the UK so you need to live amoung the UK community! Looks like they have done the application process, so you have some weight. Maybe get your actual boss-to-be to get involved?

Thanks Nigel

I've emailed them hopefully I get a response and no nasty surprises once I get there!

...on this occasion it would help your cause to speak only English! 0r stress English is my first language - and that as I am to be working in an English working environment, it is better job wise to live in an English  culture, which you are used to doing.
Interesting point!

Seems a little strange to me the fact that you call yourself a British Asian is not going to help your argument at all.

I'm being told by some of the medical people I know that its about where you were born and trained more than a passport nowadays, this is going to be the case more when they all privatise next year ?

Hello Friends,

This is a typical dilemma I have noticed upon many occasions when British passport holder  Indians and Pakistanis travel to their home countries and they queue up as VIPs at the airports but upon their return to Saudi since they do not carry a union jack flag, they are treated as a normal ( I do not use the word ordinary)  Indian or Pakistani.

I believe the whole point in directing British Asians to eastern compounds is to make them feel comfortable with their religious and cultural norms. I do not take this as discriminatory.

You see this is the problem as long as you classify yourself as "British Asians"  you'll get treated as one, bit like the <anything you want I did 1000 days for a passport>Canadians who proclaim how un-Canadian they are.

Your perpetuating what you think is discrimination, Donald Trump doesn't say he's half German Half Scottish, just plain old Vanilla American, not <something>American. Clinton is the same.

You leave the old place behind for a reason, if you can't or won't accept the citizenship you tried so hard to obtain you could always go "home". It might sound racist but this is a problem made by those who refuse to leave behind something they left for a good reason in the first place. If your going to place yourself in a classification you can't complain when your treated as such.

My understanding of India and Pakistan is that you can't have two passports anyway so why describe yourself as a "British passport holder  Indians" what other one are you holding ?

mr thoth,

I agree with most of your comments except " you can not have two passports" . Actually you can !

Under the treaty between two governments they do allow "dual nationality" where you are a British as well as a Pakistani citizen and passport holder at the same time.  The details are available on the net.

Mrthoth, again how are you so sure that the OP has really left behind the place of origin and moved to western world? He could be someone who was born there.