Saudi Resident Visa For New Thai Wife

[passepartout]

Greetings to all--

I am an American university prof teaching in Saudi Arabia and soon to be married to a wonderful Thai lady.

Given the complexities of trying to coordinate with the Saudi Embassy in BKK, we are considering working with a Thai visa agency to help us with all the paperwork, including communicating directly with my university, since it is the employer who provides the Saudi embassy in BKK with the residence visa number as the employer must sponsor the spouse. There is also a timing element involved in this consideration, since we will marry early in Thailand in September and I hope to bring my bride back to Riyadh with me by the end of the month in time for the start of the new school year.

The agency we are condidering, Worldwide Visa & Translation Service Co.,Ltd. appears to be reputable. They have quoted a total price of 26,000 bhat for the service including registering the marriage, corrdinating with my university, and getting all the paperwork processed in a timely manner with the Saudi embassy in BKK.

I am wondering if anyone on this forum has had any dealings with Worldwide Visa & Translation Service Co.,Ltd. in BKK.

I would appreciate any advice from forum members including any other agency recommendations. Does this seem to be a wise path or are we better off handling everything ourselves? What about the agency's fee-- reasonable or out of line and should be neogtiated if we go that route?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[lopburi3]

Actually this is wrong forum as you do not have a Thai visa issue.

[Mario2008]

Moved to visa and migration to other countries.

Remember that we don't allow naming and shaming in the open forum. You can recommend or not recommend a company.

[tutsiwarrior]

there's an old thread in this section 'visas and migration to other countries' about dealing with the BKK saudi embassy...check it out. My information is that all visa applications for wives to join their husbands in saudi must now be handled thru an agency. If you haven't already you should check with the embassy to see if they have a designated agency for this purpose.

[passepartout]

there's an old thread in this section 'visas and migration to other countries' about dealing with the BKK saudi embassy...check it out. My information is that all visa applications for wives to join their husbands in saudi must now be handled thru an agency. If you haven't already you should check with the embassy to see if they have a designated agency for this purpose.

Many thanks for pointing me to the old thread. Some useful information there!

[truthfulfox]

saudi embassy will not consider anything ,unless the aproval comes from saudi ministery of foreign affaires.once you handle all your paper work in saudi arabia then you can contact the embassy .if the agencu told you he can handle it , I will be so surprised.

for the marriage and registration , I paied only 15,000'00 baht 2 years ago for the same process.

try on chidlum road there plenty of agencies, all of them do the same job, sorry I forgot the agency name . but it's on the same road I refered to .

for your future wife visa , it won't be eazy , you are from different countries and she will be applying from her country not yours.

good luck

[bruceeverett]

saudi embassy will not consider anything ,unless the aproval comes from saudi ministery of foreign affaires.once you handle all your paper work in saudi arabia then you can contact the embassy .if the agencu told you he can handle it , I will be so surprised.

for the marriage and registration , I paied only 15,000'00 baht 2 years ago for the same process.

try on chidlum road there plenty of agencies, all of them do the same job, sorry I forgot the agency name . but it's on the same road I refered to .

for your future wife visa , it won't be eazy , you are from different countries and she will be applying from her country not yours.

good luck

i went thur this with myseconf wife. first are you on a married contract at the university in saudi?

if not then you have to have their permission that you cna be the sponsor of your wife, and you

will be respponible for her medical, etc. you have to have the marriage certificat translater into english and arabic, that is the easy part. i came back to saudi with the paper work and got her vias in riyadh. i donlt hold much luck for you bringing her back right after the wedding, way too much to get done.

[zzaa09]

Saudi. That's a great place for a Thai girl.

[The Philosopher]

Saudi. That's a great place for a Thai girl.

could not agree more i spent 11 years in KSA and all the thai girls married to expats were miserable op should really consider how his wife will cope

[Brewsta]

I would not take my Thai wife & kids to KSA personally, as social customs there restrict independant female activities drastically - such as her leaving your home or compound without a direct male relative in tow - basic activities e.g. shopping and travel for her can be onerous and legally fraught with trouble.

IMHO, you would be better travelling alone to KSA - a pain I know, but my personal experience of working in KSA on a number of occasions means that I give this advice in good faith.

Good luck in whatever you choose to do - KSA can be miserable for a spouse & family, even if you work for reputable western companies or good learning establishment.

rgdz,

Brewsta

Edited July 26, 2009 by Brewsta

[metisdead]

Does your soon to be wife really understand what life will be like in Saudi? It could be the mother of all culture shock for her. Saudi, the land of fun haters, and there's no pork there!

[DerringDo]

Some very good points made here especially about living here.

My wife hated it at first. Until she made a friend she felt like a fish out of water. However my son loved it as it's cartoon heaven on our compound. I bought them both out for a holiday to start with although they have full Iqamas. After 6 weeks however she is willing to return for a further holiday which makes it a lot easier on the sanity for yourself.

When we got married years ago we did the leg-work ourselves and it was painless, about 6k all in (photocopies, taxi travel to Muang Thong etc) and you still have to present yourself at the register office anyway. You put all the paperwork in, go and have something to eat and come back and collect it after about 2hrs. We completed the process in about half a day but I was living in BKK at the time. We did get married and register it on different days, so maybe parts of 2 days would be more truthful.

With the Iqama process here (this year), the company did the paperwork for me to get my wife and son's visa reference. Then I sent it off to her and she did the rest using Nilly Travel, recognised by the Saudi embassy, for 5k Baht for both of them. 50-50 on the recommendation level. Although you need to give a lot of documentation here it is a GOOD idea to do another copy for her to have to hand in Thailand. Like having a copy of your Iqama and relevant Saudi visa in YOUR passport and YOUR picture page. So basically copy everything and give it to her. Our visa process after that was completely painless.

I doubt you'll be able to get the visa number without a valid marriage certificate, which you will need to have translated in KSA before they will give her a visa number. So be prepared for her to follow you about a month later.

I hope this helps, but it has just been my experience.

[chuckd]

Here goes.

I spent nearly 30 years in Saudi and brought three (3) wifes to live there with me. Two of them were Thais and they both loved it. My current wife would go back tomorrow if I hadn't retired.

What you will need to do is this...

1. AFTER you are married, get your marriage certificate translated into English and then Arabic for your employer. If there are any children you will need to get the birth certificate translated as well. I had my translations done in Thailand and then got them certified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Watthana in North BKK. It is also helpful to have a copy of your wife's passport, just in case.

2. Your employer will then apply for a resident visa on your behalf, with the proper documentation, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Riyadh. When the visa is issued, you can download the approval with the number from the MFA website in Saudi. My personnel department handled all this for me, as should yours.

3. After the approval is received, your wife should travel to the Saudi Arabian Consulate on the 23rd floor of the CitiBank building on Sathorn Road. She can present this approval to the clerk there where they will confirm if it is good. If they like the number the Consulate will provide her with the medical exam forms. She will also be told she must use the services of a Saudi company to obtain her visa and they may provide a list of those approved companies. In fact my wife was approached at the counter by a tout from one of the companies so she used them. The cost was 5,000 baht for their services.

4. Your wife will be required to take a complete physical examination prior to obtaining the visa and this must be done at a Saudi approved hospital. We used St. Louis Hospital on Sathorn Road and were well pleased with the service. The cost here was 1,600 baht all in. This requires chest x-ray, stool sample, HIV test and doctor's examination.

5. I would suggest your wife also have a copy of your Iqama and passport as the Consulate wanted to see them the last time we did this. They might also request a copy of her e-ticket so you should be prepared for this as well.

You can't do this until after you are married so you will either need to go back and get her or let her travel alone. If she has to travel alone, you might wish to consider using Gulf Air, which flies direct from BKK to Bahrain. You could even meet her in Bahrain and drive back across the Causeway the next morning. Spend a romantic night in Bahrain.

I would not spend 26,000 baht with a company that can only do the work in BKK. Unless they are on the approved Saudi Consulate list, they can't get the visa anyway. They will likely hire one of the approved companies to get the visa, using part of your 26,000 to pay the 5,000 baht fee. You can do it for a fraction of the cost.

I hope I have not left out an important step. We last did this in 2008 when my daughter returned to Saudi, along with my wife.

Good luck.

Edited July 26, 2009 by chuckd

[mrbojangles]

I hope I have not left out an important step. We last did this in 2008 when my daughter returned to Saudi, along with my wife.

I did the same for my Mrs this year and I think you covered it all chuckd.

I spent nearly 30 years in Saudi and brought three (3) wifes to live there with me. Two of them were Thais and they both loved it. My current wife would go back tomorrow if I hadn't retired.

My wife came out in Feb this year and loves it as well, as do I. I suppose it depends on the kind of compound you are on and i must admit, ours is second to none. Abaya's are only needed when off shopping (external to our compound), so the Mrs puts up with that and she's already got 6 good Thai mates on our compund.

Riyadh can be a tad more strict than other places in Saudi but we haven't had any problems thus far. Just gotta respect the customs like you should any where you go.

[chuckd]

passepartout:

Just another little piece of advice. If you are in Riyadh, get involved with the Thai Embassy functions.

Your wife will enjoy being at the embassy during Songkran and the other Thai holidays.

My wife thoroughly enjoyed them and I had no trouble getting visas when I needed them.

[mrbojangles]

I had no trouble getting visas when I needed them.

And I was advised that because my Daughter was born in the UK, I could only apply for her Thai Birth Certificate in London. However, the Thai Embassy sorted it for me from Riyadh. Took a bit longer cos the forms had to go to London but at least we didn't have the hassle of having to go.

[passepartout]

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and advice. Very much appreciated!