Hey everyone,
Looking for some genuine advice from people who have experience with the Saudi job market.
Background: I'm an expat currently working in KSA (under 1 year with current employer). I've received a verbal offer from a well known global multinational consulting firm for a role in Riyadh. The offer is for a full time position with the multinational but they mentioned my Iqama will be sponsored through a third party manpower/PRO vendor due to Saudization quota reasons.
They clarified that I would be a full time employee of the multinational in every functional sense, salary, benefits, career progression, project mobility within the region, but the Iqama sponsor on Qiwa would be the vendor not the multinational directly.
A few questions for anyone who has been through this:
Is this arrangement common for large multinationals in Saudi?
What are the risks practically speaking?
Whose name appears on Qiwa? the vendor or the multinational?
What happens if the project ends? does the multinational actually move you to another project or are you at the vendor's mercy?
Any red flags to watch for in the offer letter specifically?
Also separately I'm currently under 1 year with my current employer. Anyone have experience with Iqama transfer under 1 year? How complicated did it actually get?
Any advice from people who have actually been through this appreciated. Not looking for theoretical answers — ground reality only. Please feel free to reach out for any additional context.