Living and working in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Working in Saudi Arabia

The main areas where Westerners work in Saudi Arabia are defense, healthcare, and the oil industry. IT, telecommunications and banking are other areas that employ substantial numbers of Americans and Europeans. Many professional opinions have been offered that if all the Westerners working in these industries either went home or were forced to leave the country that the economy of the kingdom would come grinding to a halt. Saudis are more than happy to pay large sums of money to have others do their work for them. There has been in the last several years an attempt at “Saudization”, turning jobs traditionally done by outsiders over to Saudis to reduce the reliance on foreign labour, but there are a number of jobs that either require skills they do not have or are types of work that the affluent Saudis simply will not do.

Life in Saudi Arabia

The primary item of interest in getting a family into the kingdom is the “iqama” Every person who applies for a residence visa gets issued an iqama (pronounced “ih-gaa-muh”). This, and your permanent passport, plus your employment visa, form the basic package of commencing the move to the Kingdom.

Life in Saudi is measured mostly by Sharia, or ultra conservative Muslim law, of which the Saudi version includes women not being allowed to drive, wearing the abaya at all times, forbidding all alcohol and virtually all other Western “vices”.

Islamic law also dictates 5 prayer times a day; sunrise, mid morning, just after the noon hour, mid-afternoon, and midevening. In most Middle Eastern countries when the mullahs give the prayer call from the many minarets dotting the cities, the faithful go to the mosque and perform their ritual prayers and then return to work or whatever they were doing at the time of prayer call. Businesses continue to operate, and life goes on as usual.

In Saudi, however, when prayer time comes, the entire economy comes to a halt! Stores close, restaurants shut their doors, and things come to a complete stop until the prayers are over. Considering this happens 5 times a day, it is advisable for westerners to carry a copy of a prayer schedule at all times.

Gender considerations

The Abaya is the floor length long sleeve garment that all women in Saudi must wear when out in public. The Muslim women in Saudi must also wear a headscarf, and most of the actual Saudi women wear a veil.

Housing in Saudi Arabia

For Westerners there are two types of residences; most live on large resort-like compounds where you can wear shorts or swim suits or even halter-tops. Most compounds are provided rent and utilities free for working on a particular contract, usually with the Saudi military.

Life inside the compound can feel like being in America or Western Europe (there are more British and European workers in Saudi than American). Most compounds have small convenience stores, libraries, gyms, several swimming pools, beauty shops, recreation centres, and other amenities. Some compounds have villas with their own swimming pools along with the large community pools dotting the compounds. The Mutawwa (religious police) cannot come onto the compounds and hassle the residents, but when you leave the compound, the women have to put on their Abayas and follow the other strict rules.

The other type of residence available is renting an actual house on the economy. Most people try to stay on the compounds even if they have to pay rent, as it provides some insulation from the world outside, which can feel very different to perhaps what one is used to.

Saudi Justice System

Please read very carefully about the Saudi justice system and become familiar with the cultural, regional and gender sensitivities of the region when submitting an application for employment within the Kingdom.