Changing Iqama Profession in Saudi Arabia

If your current profession on passport or Iqama is different from your actual profession, you need to change your profession. In Saudi Arabia, you are known with the profession you have on your visa or Iqama. Even if you are a doctor but the profession on your visa or iqama is labor, you are considered labor in the government office. By the way, it is very important to mention here that it against the law to have a different profession in your Iqama than your actual profession. Passport office conduct raids to different companies time to time and if somebody is caught, he is kept in detention center and later on deported from Saudi Arabia.

Need for change in profession arises normally when you enter to Saudi Arabia on Azad or Free Visa. Before changing the profession of the Iqama, I would suggest you to go through the list of profession which is benefited on priority basis by the Saudi authorities. However, you should make sure that your intended profession is not one of those professions reserved for Saudis. In order to change the profession on your iqama, you need to have;

• An attested degree from Saudi Culture and Saudi Embassy in your country.
• Attested degree should be of relevant field of your intended profession. If you want to change your profession to doctor, you should have attested degree of doctor.
• Deposited SR 1,000/- for the change in profession. However, according to Arab News, The labor Ministry has waived the SR1,000 fee for changing professions if the process takes place through its online portal. You will have to bear these charges
• To contact Mandoob of your company after fulfilling all the above mentioned steps. Mandoob of your company may also have to bribe someone in the Jawazat for which he may ask you to give him some money e.g. SR 1,000.

Consequences of having Different Profession

• As it is already mentioned, it is illegal to have a different profession on your iqama, you can be detained in the detention center in case of any raid of Jawazat in your office.
• Your application for visa will not be successful if your profession is low profile.
• You cannot get family status in Saudi Arabia. You cannot bring your family to Saudi Arabia on permanent basis.
• You cannot apply for visit visa for your parents, unmarried sisters and others.

Visa profession cannot be changed if any of the following exist;

1. Traffic violations present against employee
2. The employee’s Iqama is expired.
3. There is no approval for the request from the ministry of labor.
4. The status of the employee is “runaway”.
5. Traffic violations present against the sponsor.
6. No sufficient funds are available for profession change stop the process
7. If you have been awarded an individual visa like Driver for Home, Housemaid etc.

If you have already applied for change of profession, you can check the status of change in profession in this article.

FAQs

How easy or difficult is it to apply for Change in Iqama Profession?

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If You Want To Work For Apple, Microsoft, Or Google, Go To One Of These Schools

For all the talk of "cognitive ability" and "behavioral interviewing," tech firms like Microsoft and Google have a similar hiring pattern to just about any other business: proximity. 

That's according to Wired, which found that  recruitment is typically tied to how close a college campus is to the corporate campus, with a few notable exceptions. 

To find this out, Wired did a little poking around LinkedIn to find the top five "donating" schools for seven tech firms. The magazine's mission was "to see if non-Stanford grads have a chance at Silicon Valley firms (they do) and whether Ivy Leagues dominate (they don’t)." 

Take Microsoft, for instance. Bill Gates's empire is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Correspondingly, lots of recruits come from that state. Judging by Wired's infographic, Microsoft employs approximately: 

• 5,000 University of Washington grads
• 1,000 Washington State grads
• 800 Western Washington University grads

Then there's Apple. The house that Steve Jobs built has this employee breakdown: 

• 900 University of California, Berkeley, grads
• 800 San Jose State grads
• 300 University of Texas, Austin, grads

Lastly, let's look at Google. The prestigious search giant has loads of California connections, with some East Coast schools thrown in. The approximate numbers are: 

• 2,500 Stanford grads
• 2,000 University of California, Berkeley, grads
• 800 Carnegie Mellon grads
• 800 University of California, Los Angeles, grads

Why would big, global companies hire from their nearby colleges? While we don't have anyone in HR at Microsoft, we do know hiring trends. Namely, people hire people they know, and it's easiest to know the folks who are nearby. 

And if you didn't go to Stanford, fret not; you can still end up at Google. Just spend a stint at Microsoft: Wired reports it's the top feeder company to Google. 

Click on the image below to peek inside two of Google's magnificent offices

Applying H1B Visas – Sample Plan

Applying H1B Visa 2015 – Sample Plan

Below is the sample plan with information on what you need to do at every step. It should give you enough information and time to plan for this year’s H1B visa petition filing. Depending on the activity, you would have to carry out few activities in parallel. It is assumed that your profile is

Month	Dates	H1B Visa Application Activity
January	15th  – 31st	Research on H1B Visa sponsoring companies. You need to create a list of all the companies that are likely to sponsor H1B Visa for your profile.  Read article :  How to find H1B Visa 2015 Sponsors. You use our H1B Visa Sponsors Database to look for companies that sponsor H1B visas in a particular City or Zipcode. You will apply for jobs during this period with these companies and do job interviews with the companies. Think of this period as intensive job search. If you are in US and doing internship at a company, you would need to check with them, if they would sponsor H1B Visa for you. If Not, you need to do the above.
February	1st   – 15th
February	15th  – 31st	You need to make sure, you have an offer on the table from a H1B Sponsoring company. If you get multiple job offers, it is even better. You have the choice to negotiate, before you finalize the company. Verify the H1B Visa Sponsoring companies – Due diligence on the above list of sponsors you have created and the companies that you interviewing with.  You will need to dig into details like the types of jobs and LCAs these companies have filed, including approvals, denials, etc.  You can use our H1B Visa Sponsors Database for the same. Check main menu above.
February	15th  – 31st	Secure all the required documents for filing the H1B visa application. Typical set of documents you would need are transcripts, degree certificates, experience letters, etc. Read article H1B Visa Petition Filing Check list.
February	15th  – 31st	Negotiations with H1B sponsoring companies.  Usually, you will talk to companies as part of the HR round or consulting companies and finalize the offer.  Read the below articles What to Ask H1B employer  before offer letter How to Negotiate  Salary & benefits in consulting
February	21st – 28th	You need to finalize the H1B Sponsoring company by this week. If you have multiple offers looking attractive, you need to put them in an excel and rank them based on various aspects like salary, benefits, good will, brand, etc.  If you are joining a consulting company, ensure that you know someone in that company, talk to someone working there so that you know the ground reality.
March	1st – 7th	You need to work with your employer and their attorney for filing H1B petition. You will need to send the documents, usually only scan copies of the documents are requested by attorney. Do NOT provide any origianls. Read article on What NOT to give to H1B Employer to file petition. Send out all the scan copies via email. If anything required as hard copy, just courier the same.  It is critical that you work with your attorney and have it ready so that they file for your LCA during this week itself. Your LCA has to be filed this week as it can take a week to be processed.  As soon as you have a decision made, just work with attorney and ensure they file the LCA for you.
March	8th – 24th	You need to check with your attorney and employer, if they have all the documents and everything is on track. This is the most busiest time for employers and attorneys. If everything went well and your attorney has all the paperwork, there is no activity for you.  Just keep tabs on everything so that you don’t hear last minute surprises.
March	24th – 31st	You have no activity.  Your attorney/ H1B sponsor would work with companies like UPS, FedEx, USPS to deliver your H1B visa application petition exactly on April 1st, 2014,  which is a Tuesday.