Officially Official

I moved to Saudi Arabia on January 10th, 2010.  When I got here I thought that it would be fairly straightforward to obtain my work visa.  Well nothing is easy with any sort of visa, no matter where one is traveling. 

I quickly found out that work visas in Saudi Arabia are applied for on a bi-annual basis by the host company.  I'll never forget the Shoaibi GRO (Government Relations Officer) looking at me and voicing two very disconcerting statements.  He looked at my current multi-entry/exit visa and said, "This is for 5 years.!  Why did they give to you for 5 years."  I don't know Samir, I just submit the paperwork and cross my fingers.  This was followed with, "I don't know if we have any work visas available.  You have to talk to management."

"Houston, we have a problem."  Without a work visa I can't get a driver's license, which means nothing but a rental car (and those are nice), no bank account locally, which means nice withdrawal fees from my US bank, and mobile phones have to be purchased in the name of the company; this actually turned-out to be an easy fix.  But most importantly, my personal items can't be imported.  That means no new books, no new clothes, other than the ones I lugged over on the plane, and most importantly, now music/guitar to rock and roll with.  AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!

So I was a little frustrated to say the least.  I'm getting checks and work is going well, but I can't help but think that I need that work visa long term, plus it will just make life more comfortable when I have my personal items with me.  Well low and behold, our partners came through big time and took a work visa they had reserved for another person and gave it to me.  That was 3 weeks ago, and now, with final papers in hand, I am heading to the USA on February 25th to finalize my work visa.  I am officially a working resident of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

So a boring post probably, but I promised play by play news of the big events.  This is a big one.  I am glad to be heading to Houston for a few days, but it will be weird now that it's not home anymore.  Look forward to seeing everyone that's in Houston.