Saudi Arabia forum: Advice needed on moving to Saudi arabia
Posted in the Saudi Arabia forum: Advice needed on moving to Saudi arabia
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a traveller
02 Sep 2008, 11:23Advice needed on moving to Saudi arabia...I am muslim,asian and British and have been living in London all my life. I may be offered a role wth a bank in Riyadh. The package woud include travelling, housing allowance etc. I have a few questions and was hoping you'd be able to answer:
1) As a single male, what kind of challenges do you envisage me facing by living on my own over there? would it make a difference for me to socialise? is there anything for a single guy to do?
2) How expensive is the cost of living there? what kind of inflationary increases are there across the board on a yearly basis? and what is the minimum amount you think i would need to live comfortably on?
3) How hard would it be for friends to visit me? would they need to infor the ministry in advance? and if they do come rouind, would they need permission (as i assume i would) to go to another city? travel internally?
4) how bad is the beuracracy there? and how slow? can't embassies help with expediting driving licences etc?
5)I have also heard that it is also a racist place..ie the local population don't exactly welcome foreigners with open arms..would you say that this is true?
6)What do you think would be the major obstacles in residing in saudi? what would i have to completely give up on (apart from the alcohol etc).
7) do you think that working in an arab organsiation may hinder my career development internally? ie are promotions more political than on merit etc?
8)How safe is riyadh compared ot other places? also is it easy to reside on the compund? ie more to do and people to meet? (ie to minimise the chances of going stir crazy..!)
I really appreicate you taking time out of your busy schedule to answer these..hope you are well and still enjoying your time there!
Take care
