Visas

Hello Lilojosefina,

Welcome to Expat.com

A lot of discussions have been debated on Visas lately, maybe you will find some interesting information if you can browse through the section Information on visas in Riyadh please.

Thank you,

Priscilla
Expat.com team

Thank you. I will post it again in the recommended forum.

Hi Priscilla,
I think my post is in your mentioned forum. I hope somebody could advice me about what shall I do regarding my situation.
Thank you.

Hello Ms LiloJosefina, There is no other option than waiting for his IQAMA. Once he get his IQAMA, he can invite you with visiting visa for soem time or family visa for permanent. He cannot invite you with any of the visa's unless he get his IQAMA. If he can manage to get a business visa for you through his company, then it can be possible. But again a difficult situation, to extend business visa he would pay 2000-3000SAR every month. Any other things wanna know?

Thank you for your answer suribhai. I am not sure when he will get his iqama. According to the posts I have read in this forum and if I understood them right, he won't be able to get his iqama until his business visa expires. Is that correct or not? I am really disheartened because if that is correct I have to wait for another four months in order for him to get his iqama and then to be able to apply for a visitors visa or a permanent one.
Also, it seems to me that when he gets the iqama and he applies for a visiting visa for me, how long will that take in order to get one. And if he gets one, would I be able to change from a visitor's visa to a permanent visa while I am visiting him?
Thanks again for your kind reply. We did not know how different it is to get a resident visa in Saudi Arabia.

Lilojosefina wrote:

Thank you for your answer suribhai. I am not sure when he will get his iqama. According to the posts I have read in this forum and if I understood them right, he won't be able to get his iqama until his business visa expires. Is that correct or not? I am really disheartened because if that is correct I have to wait for another four months in order for him to get his iqama and then to be able to apply for a visitors visa or a permanent one.
Also, it seems to me that when he gets the iqama and he applies for a visiting visa for me, how long will that take in order to get one. And if he gets one, would I be able to change from a visitor's visa to a permanent visa while I am visiting him?
Thanks again for your kind reply. We did not know how different it is to get a resident visa in Saudi Arabia.

Yes, the iqama / work visa will not be attained if he has a valid visit visa.

If he applies for a family visa and if all documents are in order the visa will be issued in one week, usually the time is taken in preparation of the documents required.

No you wont be able to change a visit visa to resident visa for dependents.

For clear understanding i gonna explain you my case,
I was invited by my company to saudi through business visa and once i am here i simultaneously did the processing of my work visa. I sent all my certificates and offer letter to india for Degree attestation. Once the attestation is done, i went back to india to get my work visa, that took around 1 week. After i return to saudi through work visa, it took nearly a month to get iqama. considering medical and engineering council process. So plz tell your husband to start processing for his work visa. Once he get work visa, he has to leave saudi and return. No matter he just take a day. Another example, usually chinese people they have 2 passports, so they enter saudi using business visa and use another passport to process work visa. Once they get work visa, they travel to bahrain or dubai and return on next day through work visa. Work visa is always necessary to invite you with family visa.

At last i could say, work visa is important and he has to leave and enter back through work visa. Business visa validity dosent play any role, coz he is applying different visa. So tell him to start the process asap.

Thank you to Suribhai and HRguru for your answers. They are greatly appreciated and being considered.
I will give your information to my husband.