I have been working in Saudi Arabia for 10 years. My iqama expires in March. My contract says “transportation provided by the company.”
I was provided a vehicle and was expected to pick up coworkers. The vehicle stayed with me. How do I calculate my end-of-service (ESB) benefit? My last monthly salary will be SR6,875, which includes my housing allowance. I have health insurance and as a bonus my company paid me the sum of my basic monthly salary every year for the past three years. — J.A.
As a senior employee shuttling other workers in a company-provided vehicle, add SR1,000 to your last monthly wage (SR6,875 + SR1,000 = SR7,875). If your company compensated you in cash for medical insurance, it is included in the ESB calculation. If the company provided the health insurance directly, it is not included. That bonus you have been receiving is included too. To add it, you must calculate the monthly value of that bonus, which is your basic salary divided by 12. I presume your basic salary is the SR6,875 LMW minus the housing allowance. As I do not know what your housing allowance is, you will have to calculate that yourself. You get half LMW for each of those first five years. For the other years you get a full LMW for each year. I am going to assume you were directly insured by your company under a group plan. Your calculation goes as follows: SR7,875 + your annual bonus divided by 12. Take that sum and divide it by half, then multiply that by five to get your first five years' worth of ESB. Take the sum and multiply it by five to get the second five years' worth of ESB. Remember: if you didn't work 10 years to the day, if you worked a little more than 10 years, then you should calculate the daily sum — SR7,875 + your annual bonus divided by 12, and then divide that sum by 365.25. Then multiply that daily estimation by the number of days into an uncompleted year and add that to the ESB.
My current profession listed on my iqama is "laborer." I want to switch employers. I also want to bring my family, but am unsure if I can do this under my current listed profession. Is it possible to change the profession stated on my iqama to one that allows family status when I make this shift? I have a degree from an accredited Pakistani university. My employer said he would not object to my resignation to work for somebody else. I have worked for that employer for about 18 months. — A.A.J.You must work for an employer for two years before you can switch jobs, even if he provides the no-objection certificate. Otherwise, everything you want to do is possible. However, changing your profession requires the Saudi Embassy in your country to certify that your educational certificates are authentic. Finally, bringing your family requires that your salary is at least SR3,000 a month.
I have been working in a company for more than four-and-a-half years. I started working on June 13, 2006, with family status. The company provided family health insurance and plane tickets each year for the family. I resigned in December due to health problems. I was asked to stay until April to complete a project. Please advise me about my ESB. — email query
Your last day of work is the expiration date on your iqama. You have been working for four years and 10 months. Advising people regarding their ESBs can be difficult when they want to resign prior to the expiration date of their iqamas. The starting and ending dates on your iqama is the term of your current contract. A new iqama is a new contract period. Employers can claim certain rights if an employee resigns prior to the expiration date of the active iqama. Since your employer has agreed to let you resign prematurely in April, then your employer is basically agreeing to let you resign early, so you should accept that offer. If your employer has been paying for your family's home-visit tickets then he should pay for your family's final-exit tickets, too. It would help your case for that if this is stated explicitly in your contract.
I am an accountant from Pakistan currently working for a firm in Dammam. I have signed a four-year contract with my current employer and I have agreed not to join any of my company's clients or competitors. Currently I have an offer from another firm who is a competitor of my company. Is there any chance for me to switch over to the other audit firm, assuming that my employer will not provide a no-objection-certificate (NOC)? Can I obtain a final-exit visa. I have completed one year with my current employer. If I get a final exit, will I be able to join another audit firm with a new visa? — M.H.
This is a sensitive matter. You agreed to work for four years and want to resign after one year. You agreed not to jump to competitors or clients. It would come as no surprise to me if your employer does not help you out with a no-objection certificate to work for a competitor after resigning prematurely. You can resign and leave the country, of course, but don't expect your employer to roll out the red carpet for your departure. He may not even provide air fare. Technically, he can demand compensation from you for any costs incurred to get you here. Not only that, but once you leave on final-exit you may not return to Saudi Arabia for two years. Also, under GCC cooperation, your employer could get you barred from working in the GCC states for five years. But, of course, this is negotiable between you and your employer. He can agree to all of your terms if he wishes. Good luck with that.
On my way back from a visit to India I was arrested by Saudi immigration, who claimed I am an absconding worker — that my employer reported me as such. I was in jail for two weeks before a Saudi friend helped get me out under his custody. I have not been able to find my sponsor. I have been in this legal mess for 45 days and all I want to do is leave. What do I need to do? Also: I don't want my future opportunities in the GCC to be harmed by this, as I have done nothing wrong. — A.H.K.
Many things are not clear to me about this. Is it possible you are here on the illegal "free visa" scheme where Saudis obtain permission to acquire foreign workers under false pretenses and, through middlemen, basically sell the visa and even garnish workers’ wages as a monthly service fee. In some cases, sponsors report their workers as runaways in order to avoid paying wage or end-of-service benefits. All of this is illegal, and the only thing you can do it show up at the Labor Office with your story. You need Saudi friends to help you leave the country. There are specialists who can help you leave the country safely, but you may have to pay them
