2021 – Part 1

 

Shortly after the above events, my colleague and I were invited to give a demo lesson for BAE at a Saudi Air Force military base. We were cautioned to be at the visitors’ entrance promptly

at 7am as there was only a 15-minute window for us to be admitted to the base. Accordingly, we took an early taxi and arrived at around 0640. We stood around for a couple of hours and were eventually collected at the gate at around 0915 and taken to the school, about 5 km from the gate. We gave our lessons and in due course we returned to our accommodation.

Several days later we were informed that we had been accepted by BAE and that we would commence teaching on the following Sunday. There were forms to be completed and photos to be provided to obtain a base pass. I completed the forms and submitted edited photos which I had on my laptop. A few days later I was informed that the photos were not acceptable

and that I needed to get proper visa photos.

The next day I consulted Google Maps which informed me that there was a photography studio, Studio Al-Sahafa, about 2km from my accommodation. I took a walk to the given location of  the studio, and after wandering around for about an hour I concluded that the studio either did not exist or had moved. I looked at the next place on Google Maps and found Digital Photo Studio. I decided to Uber to this one as by now I was tired of walking in the hot sun. Happily, this place existed, and I was able to quickly get the photos done. The photos were given to the base and I then awaited feedback.

At this time the recruiter (a Jordanian) informed me that he needed to travel to Jordan for a week to attend to an emergency, but when he returned, we would sort out all the paperwork, including the transfer of my iqama. Soon after he left, KSA entered lockdown again and all borders were closed. A few days after the commencement of the new lockdown, he messaged us that we should go to his office to sign the contracts for our application to proceed and for the iqamas to be renewed. All his colleagues, he assured us, were in the loop and would deal with our affairs speedily. Accordingly, the next day we took a taxi to his office. We spoke to three of his colleagues, none of whom had the faintest idea of who we were, what we were doing there and what they were supposed to do with us. Eventually I told them that, in the circumstances, we would return when the recruiter was back from Jordan, which he had told us he would be that weekend.

As it turned out, the lockdown continued for three weeks, and when the recruiter returned, we had just one week before we were due to start teaching at BAE. That is when things turned even more pear shaped. After assuring me that things were well in hand, a day later he told me that he could not transfer my iqama due to my expired exit visa on my file. Since Al Jazeera had applied for the exit visa, only they could get it cancelled.

I phoned Al Jazeera HR and asked if they would please cancel my final exit. No problem, they assured me, just come in and sign some papers. So I Ubered to Al Jazeera Head Office and

the papers I was required to sign were a commitment to pay Al Jazeera 25,000 SAR (about R120,000 of my retirement money) to renew my iqama and transfer it. I explained that the renewal and transfer would be taken care of by my new employer, all I needed was for them to cancel the final exit. They were not interested – it was an all or nothing deal. Since only Al Jazeera could cancel the final exit and the fact that I was facing severe time constraints, my back was to the wall and I had no option but to sign.

Firstly, I had to write a request for this expensive and illegal service. I was not given a copy of my document, but I was able to take a photo of it. Then I was coerced into signing a printed "contract" where I agreed to pay Al Jazeera 25,000 SAR. I also took a photo of this 

 document. I was assured that the matter would be finalized by close of business that day.

To cut a long story short, my iqama was not renewed that day and as a result I lost the job I had been offered with BAE. Al Jazeera was in no way concerned about this and made zero effort to expedite matters despite the large sum of money which they had extorted from me. The process will take two weeks, the tin-pot dictator told me when I followed up, reveling in his power over me. He has since ignored my attempts to communicate with him, apart from one email “instructing” me to come to the office to meet someone. I was ignored when I asked who the someone was and why I needed to meet them. Most frustrating is that there is no one to whom I can escalate this toxic situation. The owner of the company has another office and another business to which he devotes all his time, and the COO is in Egypt for an unknown length of time.

So once again, I grit my teeth and hurry-up and wait.