Moving to RIYADH

You are most welcome uglybetty. The guys in this blog are very helping and they can answer all your questions.

You have been living in Dubai, so I guess you already know well about the culture in Arab countries. However there are many differences in terms of activities, malls, rules etc.

For the malls, I like those in Dubai more; because of the multitude & variety of stuff. You'll not need to visit shops other than the ones in the Malls

The locals of Riyadh are generally not considered very good (no offense against anyone please). My 10 years experience with locals is 'just fine'. As a lady, be very cautious about hiring a taxi driven by a local.

Feel free to explore other posts in this site. There is lots of useful info out there.

In overall, this is a calm and placid city. Very good & secure place for families. You have to maintain some sort of social activities, or you'll get bored fast.

Thank you LegendLeads.
I have lived in Dubai and therefore understand the arab culture to the extent that any expat can understand but from what I have researched KSA is so much more strict, particularly for women. Are the authorities allowed into the compounds and do you get malls and pharmacies on the compounds? I think thats where I would stict to other than travelling to and from to airport. I hear there is also a requirment for exit visas as well as entry. Are these easy to obtain?

Hi Betty,

Rules are stricter than Dubai.

When you venture out of the compound you must wear a black abaya.

Malls are nice and are family friendly, so you wont have any problems there. (malls are not on compounds - there is a small shop on the compound for everyday goods)

Traffic is chaos unlike Dubai.

You are right in that you do need an exit and re-entry visa everytime you leave Saudi, there is no problem in obtaining these. For most expats the employers sort these out.

What my wife found is that Saudi is lot more conservative than Dubai and there is little or no entertainment/leisure activity in Riyadh.

Percentage wise compared to locals, there are far less expats in Saudi than Dubai.

On the whole its not bad, we moved from the UK to Riyadh just over three months ago and are really enjoying the experience.

Welcome to Saudi!

HI Everyone,
I am C.S.RAGHUNANDAN presently in Hyderabad - India planning to shift to Saudi - Riyadh in june / July. I got an offer in Company called JAVA TIMES and posting in RIYADH. I visited Jeddah in 2004 for some official work and found the city was quite good. But i never visited Riyadh Can any tell me the difference between both ? I also require more informat ion on company JAVA TIMES as i could not collect much on this.

No, the authorities don't enforce things in compounds like they do in the down town or other streets.

Almost all compounds have grocery stores and some good compounds even have pharmacies. But of course, no Malls inside compounds. Almost all sort of medicines are available in pharmacies with exception of alcohol based, tranquilizers and sleeping pills. (It doesn't mean you must bring them along )

Exit Rentry visas are required if you want to travel out of Saudi and they are easy to get. Your (or your husband's) company will get this issued.

(By the way, there is a service available now through which husbands can get exit re-entry visas for their wives right from their cell phones.)

hey legend, thru cell phones? any more info u have on that?

The service name is 'Ishaar' and here is the link:

http://www1.elm.com.sa/Portal/En/Topics … eentry.htm

But please note that it is for dependants and not for employees.

wow! u sure u received it??