Saudi Red Crescent Authority

[WTEngel]

Hello from Riyadh!!!

Greetings everyone! Sorry I did not write earlier, but I got off the plane and got very very busy, then very very tired...

I only have internet at the clubhouse at the compound I am in, so posting messages in the comfort of my own villa is not an option. Jet lag was not too bad for me as I already work nights, so I ended up going to bed exhausted around 2100 Riyadh time, and now I am up at 0600, feeling pretty good. Riyadh might actually make my circadian rhythms normal again!

Alright, now for the details...the plane ride on Saudi Airlines was great. They had pleanty of food and beverage and they also had a DVR type movie system that had 15 or so movies along with TV shows and music. They also had a camera feature that let you look from the belly of nose of the plane using a live camera...each seat had a tv in the backrest, so everyone has a TV.

When you arrive at the airport, you will walk a small distance to customs, which went by fairly fast (maybe 25 minutes). The you go to baggage claim. All the bags you pick up have to go through and x ray scanner. There are many assistants to help you with the baggage, for either 10 riyal (2 USD) or 10 USD, I am not sure which....I gave him 10 USD and it worked out for both of us....he hauled my heavy crap, I was happy...

When I arrived, an American who has been here a while named Scott picked me up. He is a ground supervisor for SRCA. HIs wife, his child, and him are extremely nice people.... I also met another flight medic here named Brian. Everyone has been super nice so far. The locals I have met have all been extremely nice and telling me how happy they are to see me here. One of Scott's friends, a local named Kamal actually bought everyone dinner last night. We ate at a pretty upscale restaurant. I will post pics...the food was great.

The compound I am in is small, maybe 16 villas and that is all. They are also using many of the parking spots here for SRCA vehicles. I am roomed in a 2 bed, one bath with Brian. The building itself is old, but seems to have been remodeled inside nicely. I will post pics.

The cab fares can get quite expensive, so a few of the people I am talking to actually purchased vehicles. The gasoline is about 50 cents american a gallon, so purchasing a cheap vehicle and driving yourself actually works well...SRCA gave me a transportation allowance of about 200 USD a month, so I am not sure what I will do in the long run, but it is cabs for me for right now...All of your SRCA processing appointments, a vehicle is sent to pick you up. You only have to get your own transportation for personal trips and to and from work.

My advice to everyone is to travel on a Wednesday and arrive on Thursday. Thursday and Friday are the weekend here, so that will give you two days to shake off the jet lag and you will also begin processing on the first day of the week (Saturday) that way you can hopefully be processed without interruption. The processin I am told takes about 2 weeks, with only a few days that you actually need to show up for, the rest is waiting on the paperwork to process. I will post a comprehensive list of everything required when I find out....

As I said earlier, the people here have been extremely nice so far, but I am not getting complacent. I have been careful to follow the rules and try not to offend anyone. I am working on getting what few pics I have taken so far up for you guys....hope everyone is well...

Cheers!

 

[alphatrauma]

Glad to hear you made it safe!

Despite my reservations, I'm pretty intrigued and look forward to hearing more actual accounts. They don't serve pork and women can't drive... my kinda town ^_^

*tongue firmly in cheek*

 

[Armor10]

WTEngel, glad you made it over there safe. I should be right behind you; I’m still waiting for my back ground check to come back from the Oregon State Police. I picked up my physical med form, from my Doc yesterday in triplicate. Total cost by the way was $600.00, and that included the X-rays on a disk that I can bring with me. Maybe it was so cheap because I had a PA do my physical? Anyway that was without insurance, so out of pocket wasn’t too bad.
Hey I talked to my friend who worked over in Saudi for 18 months (He was a medic and is now a PA, the one that I went and saw for my Physical). I mentioned about driving and he said don’t. It’s crazy to drive over there; he said the way it works over there is that when your involved in an accident they take both people to jail. You stay in jail until the police figure out whose fault it was (This could take days). He said if you hit another person who is from another country like yourself, you have a chance at a fair investigation. If you hit a Saudi person, it’s automatically your fault. When they conclude their investigation and it’s your fault, you pay your fine up front before you leave jail. If you can’t pay you don’t leave. He said he was taking a patient to the hospital once, when his driver got into an accident. Because he was the medic who said the patient had to go to the hospital the police arrested him. His patient in the back was on a backboard after being in a car crash and needed to go to the ED. He told the police this; they took his pt off the gurney and put him in the back of the patrol car. The back doors wouldn’t shut so they had to pull him of the back board to shut the doors. They then flew to the hospital, when they got there they tried to take him to jail but one of the hospital administrators worked something out for him. He said it’s normal to look over, while you’re driving down the road, over there and see an eight year old driving. Don’t drive if you can help it. He said the people over there by now have the phone numbers of reliable cab people who won’t rip you off.
Hey I’m not a marathon runner by a long shot, but I have been working on running 5k over the last 5 months and can now run 5k three times a week. I’m now working really hard on running 10k. And I have lost 17 pounds. I used to hate to run, but now I really enjoy it now. Good luck man and I hope to see you soon.

 

[EagleMedic]

Nice...

Good you had a good trip, that's how overseas flights are (most of 'em). Just wondering what happened with te passport matter, is that still in your possesion?, do you know what's next on the process within the next few days? Thanks for keeping us posted.

Good luck to you, looking forward to meet ya'll in the field.

 

[WTEngel]

Scott has been here 18 months and he said buying a car was the best decision her made. The traffic is terrible, but the matter of going to jail and all is not as hyped up as everyone makes it out to be. I am not going to go cruising by any means, but it would be nice to have transportation, and many of the expats here either rent or lease to own a vehicle during their stay.

The passport matter is interesting. When you arrive you hold onto your passport until your HR processing and medical processing is complete, then you have to give your passport to the people responsible for obtaining your iqama, very similar to how you relinquish your passport in the states in order to get your visa. You pick up you iqama and passport when the process is finished, then the SRCA takes your passport and locks it into their safe. Once you have been here 30 days, you can apply for a multiple entry and exit visa, which you need your passport for. Once you get that visa, you have your passport back in your hands.

A few points to mention about the passport, which I know is somewhat of a hot button issue to many. First, it is common practice to have to give your passport to your employer in Saudi. The state department of the USA is well aware of this, and if you have a quality color copy of your passport information page, that is enough to get your foot in the door with the US consulate here in country to get matters resolved, should you get into any trouble or need consular access. I am not saying that you want to lose your passport or that a color copy is equal to your passport, what I am saying is that having that color copy in hand is enough to grant you consular access to get the ball rolling on getting matters resolved. Second, I don't know if any of you caught this earlier in the thread, but the SRCA actually had employees (not American) take a loan from them and then leave the country without repaying it. This may have something to do with them wanting to retain passports for the first 30 days until you apply for the multiple entry and exit visa, with their permission. Lastly, the SRCA is not a fly by night contractor...they have been in business for years and as far as companies over in KSA go, they are on the up and up...

Alright, thats all for now...I have a few pics to post...

 

[ExpatMedic0]

Wow man! It must be cool finely being over there after all this work and time!

So just to get a couple things strait....
You have a room mate?
There are multiple compounds?
There is no internet in your room?

 

[Sweety]

Welcome to Riyadh WTE. Which part of town is your compound in? Love the velour bedhead

In the hospitals forfeiting passports is a contract requirement. If it's not in your contract then you shouldn't have to hand it in!

 

[helimedic39]

For those of you that would like some info if you have not had it yet, feel free to ask. I have been doing my recruitment through action aviation and it's been great. Just got my official contract today and have a tentative start date of Feb 1st. I too started a blog. Hopefully i can add some insight through the process I have gone through. Thanks


http://rawinsaudi.blogspot.com/

 

[WTEngel]

Yes, I currently have a room mate, but it is not bad, the villa we are in is plenty big for two people. This is temporary though, I am not sure where we will go from here.

The compound is not new, but the rooms seem to be updated. I am pretty happy with it so far.

No internet in the room, I have to walk to the recreation area to use the internet and it is sporadic. I am purchasing an internet card today that will be maybe 60$ a month for internet, and I can use it wherever. It should work for my voice and video chatting along with basic internet needs.

The internet is censored here, but I have not noticed it yet. It is basically the level of censorship your employer or school in America would have, so as long as you aren't looking up anything you shouldn't be, then you will not likely notice the censorship.

Everything is great so far. I am trying to answer as many questions as possible, but if it takes me a few days to get to the PMs and messages here, please forgive me. The internet is sporadic at least for the next few days...

Cheers!

 

[WTEngel]

By the way everyone, I will soon be putting together a checklist for people to utilize on arrival in KSA. One of the medics who arrived 3 weeks ago and myslef are testing the waters and trying to put together the best way for everyone to do things on arrival. Do not worry, everyone so helpful here! I am extremely pleased with my decision so far!

Everyone here so far has been extremely friendly, and mutual respect goes so far. No room for arrogance or disrespect. I am sure everyone knows this, but I feel like it is worth mentioning since there seems to be some misperception that many people in this country are rude. So far, I have been made to feel very at home!

Cheers!

 

[rhousewa]

criminal history

I have noticed a few people that have done a criminal history on themselves... In Washington State you can't just go in to the local police station and get your criminal history. You are told to go to the state patrol web site pay, your money and input your social information and send it in. You will then receive your history on state letterhead. I did this but was skeptical so I then ran myself again the same way an employer would through NCIC III. That too came back over the Internet and that is what I sent to the embassy. This past Thursday the embassy called and told me their were concerns with the way I got my history. I explained everything and was told the history would be resubmitted with my explanation. I have not heard back but I am going to start the FBI process ASAP. They have not denied my attempt yet, but I am a pessimist and will plan for the worst. My advice to all is that if all you have is a self run Internet criminal history you start a backup plan right away, it can't hurt if you don't need it. JMO Jeff

 

[Armor10]

Thats what I was telling people. If you go back to page 25, you'll see that I sent off for my Criminal Back Ground check through the Oregon State Police. There sending me a notarized copy, I also sent off for my FBI check approx 2 weeks before I sent off for my Oregon check. Because the FBI check takes 8-10 weeks. One guy, said he was just pulling his non-certified copy off the Florida State Police web site. Why does that make any sense? Why would a company that wants notarized letters of employment from previous employers accept a non-certified copy of your criminal background that you could pull off the web or make up yourself. Save yourself the trouble get a notarized version from your State Police. And send off for your FBI check. That way if they come back and say your State Police check won't work for them. You wont have to wait an extra 8-10 weeks before you can deploy. I will send off my paperwork for my Visa next week. The only thing I'm waiting on now is my Back ground from OSP.

 

[ExpatMedic0]

It will be 2 weeks on Monday since I emailed everything to Dr. Nakity and 1 month since Dr. Nakity emailed me requesting additional paper work. I have not herd from him in a month.... Kind of getting worried

 

[ExpatMedic0]

Some one named Sarah got back to me today from SRCA recruitment by email. Asked for some addtional information regarding height weight ect... Has anyone delt with her yet?

 

[WTEngel]

There are 4 girls who work in the recruiting office, all of them are great. Sarah is nice. I will see her tomorrow and try to get a feel for how things are going.

About the criminal history check...As long as the criminal history check is certified, it will be ok. I got my criminal history from my state department of safety (Texas DPS). It required fingerprints and had to be sent in with a small fee. When I wen tot the office they specifically asked me why I needed the check. My options to answer were for employment, travel, etc. If they ask you why and employment is an option and travel (visa) is an option, I would choose travel, even though the larger reason is employment. This way the letter may criminal history report will be worded more for the nature of obtaining a visa. This is how it worked in Texas anyway... I am just saying that an FBI check is not absolutely necessary, your state check will work, as long as it is certified.

Life here is amazing. People are really warm to you when they hear you are American, especially if you are friendly. I am enjoying things immensely so far... I had my medical physical today...that was a CULTURE SHOCK! Nothing to worry about, it is just an experience all in itself...I don't want to spoil the surprise for anyone...

Cheers!

 

[calimedic]

Driving in Saudi

If you drive in Saudi and are in an accident. The only time you will go to jail is if you have hurt someone. Everyone is required to have insurance and this will cover any person you may hurt in an accident.

I owned a car my entire time in Saudi. I was in a few fender benders. You go to the police station and they assign guilt right there on the spot. A Saudi hit me and it was 100% his fault. The police said it was 50% my fault. So my insurance paid to fixing my car and he fixed his own.

All that being said. The car was the best thing I ever did. Exploring the countryside, camping in the desert. Exploring caves. You cannot do that in a taxi. Go to Jarir bookstore and buy Desert treks around Riyadh. A great way to enjoy your time off.

I hated driving into downtown Riyadh. So when I went shopping I would take a taxi. I used my car for trips to the desert, camping and exploring. Gas is cheap cheap and you can pick up a good used 4x4 and off you go.

Glad things seem to be going good. Say Hi to Jay for me.

Patrick

 

[medic#7201]

Just got my packet

I just received my official job offer with the sheets for the physical. What else do I need to do besides the physical?

 

[Armor10]

Well thats easy, in your packet. If you received it from the Red Crescent Authority, there should be a list. Requesting 1. Valid Passport. 2. 10 Passport Photo's. 3. Completed Visa Application Form. 4. Authorization letter from SRCA
5. Certified and Notarized Copy of your Degree. 6. Signed copy of employment contract 7. Three copies of your medical report. 8. Your Criminal background check. 9. Official College Transcripts in a sealed envelope. 10. Degree Verification Letter from the college registers office. 11. Verification from either the national or state ems board. Stating that your license is in good standing, must be in sealed envelope. 12. Three professional letters of reference. 13. Notarized Letters from your previous employers. I got my packet via FedEx on Christmas eve. So if you just started getting this all together it might take a couple more weeks to get it all. I'm kinda dragging because of the holidays. Still waiting for my background check from OSP. Forgot, no mail today on Martin Luther King's B-day. So hopefully it'll be here tomorrow.

 

[ac dispatcher]

:sad Finally I recieved all my information, it was different than the original offer. I'm declining to accept the offer for this as well as the Very restricted internet acess they have there. I'm so used to emailing my family and friends. I'm just staying put. Good luck to the ones that go.

 

[WTEngel]

Restricted internet...

If you are declining because you don't think you will be able to access the internet to e mail you family and friends, you might want to reconsider.

I can get facebook, gmail, any e mail, and most American websites. I have not noticed any censorship so far, and no website I have tried to visit has been denied yet...

Now some things are censored, but like I said, these are basically the same things that would be censored at work or school...sexual in nature primarily...