Applying for Saudi work visa in India with USA attested degree

Hello Raghava and welcome to Expat.com!

Hope that some members may shed some light to your query soon.

Regards
Kenjee
Expat.com Team

Raghava21 wrote:

I have 3 degrees (all in Aerospace engineering; BTech, MS and PhD) - one from India and two from USA. According to some agencies, getting my Indian degree attested in Delhi would take a very long time (3-4 months). At the same time, a USA degree could be attested in USA in maximum 30 working days. I wonder if I can get my USA degree attested and submit it in Delhi embassy for work visa. Would they accept it?

I don't have the complete answer for your query, but i know a case same like you, where he was specifically asked to attest his engineering degree from India and his MS degree was never asked for attestation. The reason could be 1) His job was based on his mechanical engineering.
2) Too many fake engineers are working here in Saudi, so to curb this menace they want the candidates should get their basic degree attested.

Well regarding time, the attestation usually takes 1-3 months. Also talk to the agency who is taking care of your relocation process.

Good Luck

Hi boss, You have bachelor degree from india, so plz get it attested. It would take 15-30 days if your agent can manage to speed it up.  For mine i got it in india, but when my university received the letter from Embassy, i pushed these guys to reply it asap. So sometimes even it depends on your univ guys weather they reply it on time or not.

If you apply ur MS or PhD one, may be saudi embassy in india will send a letter to your univ in US. not pretty sure how things will go for this.

Good Luck.

Hi,
Thanks a lot saimans and suribhai for your nice replies. I was not told by HR or anybody to specifically attest my Indian degree (May be I should ask regarding the second point of saimans - getting basic degree attested). As the profession on visa corresponds to the major of all my 3 degrees, I was wondering if any one would suffice.

I felt that as I am in India now, getting Indian degree attested would be the efficient way until I talked to agents and read the forums. The company appointed agent bluntly said that the minimum time would be 3 months for Saudi cultural and embassy attestations and there is no way to check the status. When I talked to some other agents, even they did not instill confidence regarding the time (one guy said it may even take 1 year when I persisted with time! I don't know how he does business - they appear to be a big agency from their website). I read in these forums that due to the fake engineers issue, Saudi embassy in Delhi is not letting agents or the candidates know the status.

Regarding attesting in USA, there are some agencies in Washington DC who would do Saudi cultural and embassy attestations from Saudi Embassy in Washington with verifications from US University. They appear to be more efficient regarding time.

I was thinking if I should proceed with both attestations and see how things turn up. I started the attestation process on my Indian degree last week.

Thanks once again for your time,
Raghava

Thanks a lot Kenjee for your genial welcome.

Best regards,
Raghava

Raghava21 wrote:

Regarding attesting in USA, there are some agencies in Washington DC who would do Saudi cultural and embassy attestations from Saudi Embassy in Washington with verifications from US University. They appear to be more efficient regarding time.

I see your point, but there is a drawback in that. Once here you will have to get the SCE (Saudi Council of Engineering) attestation  done and for that they will ask you the attested Engineering degree certificate which is from India and in case you wont be having the same you will have to go through the same process, even though you will be having attested degrees from Uncle Sam.

Thanks saimans for this point. Attestation from SCE is something that I was not aware of.

I am planning to go ahead with both attestations to save time. If everything goes according to plan, I will save a couple of months and I can always fall back on Indian degree attestation if it is really needed later.

Regards,
Raghava

gosh, it is not possible to get US certificates attested easily from india, but its easier to get indian certificates get attested
and you can endorse for visa on bachelors,but make sure you speak to employer knew that there would be delays in getting certificates attested.once you land in there you can send for attestation through US council,
good luck

Thanks akshara for your thoughts on this subject.

The main distinguishing feature of getting attestations in USA and India looks like the time taken to get the job done. I think in recent times, the Saudi Embassy in India has become very strict in verifying the degrees and thus resulting in long delays. In US however, the verifications and attestations appear to take a short time. Anyways I shall know in future from personal experience.

Best regards,
Raghava

Hi Raghava,

I am a physician working on a locum in Dammam. I have been offered a permanent job here. I have MBBS degree from India and two other degrees from the US. Kindly advise how to proceed for visa application in New Delhi. My locum contract ends in October. I would like to not waste time in India when I come for visa stamping.

Thank you

Hi Ali,

I had my US degree attested but it was of no use. The company appointed agent insisted to get the Indian degree attested to apply for visa from India and the whole process took its own sweet time. It was a frustrating wait as the agent seldom updated me saying that he cannot speed up the process. In my case, from the time I mailed my degree for Saudi attestations to visa stamping it was almost 4 months. Good luck and hope you do not have to wait this long.

Thanks,
Raghava