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Remember to notify the recruitment department and general coordinators as soon as you know your arrival time in Yanbu so that arrangements can be made to meet you and take you to your initial accommodation.
CONTACT INFORMATION TO BE INSERTED
New teachers should try to arrive in Yanbu on a working day (Saturday to Wednesday). Yanbu is not an international airport so you will enter the Kingdom at either Jeddah or Riyadh. Once there, you will disembark, go through immigration and clear your luggage through customs before travelling on to Yanbu on a domestic flight. This means you will have to check your luggage in again in the domestic terminal for the onward flight to Yanbu. As a result, if possible, you should allow at least 2 hours before your onward flight to Yanbu. The flight from Jeddah takes around 40 minutes and the flight from Riyadh about 90.
If you have a particularly long wait before your connecting flight, there are airport hotels which are connected to the terminals. Perhaps Saudi Arabian Airlines will give you a voucher for food or a hotel room if you have more than 5 hours between flights. This can be obtained from the Customer's Services Desk inside the arrivals terminal.
You will be met at Yanbu Airport by a driver who will take you to your accommodation at or near the college. You will be temporarily housed in one of the guest apartments which are located in the single staff block or about a kilometre from the campus. You will live here while your processing is completed and you are allocated permanent housing. The guest apartments have a telephone so you can receive calls. Local calls are free but you will have to purchase a scratch card if you wish to make international calls. These are widely available. Make sure that you point out the scratch card is for a land line phone and not a mobile.
Next, the driver will take you to meet the YIC Personnel Manager, Mr. Saud Hamza. He will take your passport, passport-sized photos (the more the better), originals of qualifications and other relevant documents. This will allow him to start the process of obtaining your Iqama (residence/work permit), which you must carry with you at all times. The Iqama is a pocket-sized booklet which is brown for non-Muslims and green for Muslims. Although in the private sector, companies are liable for Iqama and visa fees, the Royal Commission charges SR 500 per year for the Iqama and this will be deducted from your first salary. Your passport is retained by the Royal Commission and is returned to you, in exchange for your Iqama, immediately before you leave the country on holiday. It is obligatory to return your passport to the RC personnel office shortly after returning from leave. In addition to an Iqama, you will also receive an RC identity card which should be displayed when on Royal Commission premises.
The next stage in your processing is to be taken to the hospital to undergo a further medical exam which will involve blood, urine and stool samples being taken. Be prepared! After that, you will be taken to the RC Personnel Department to sign your contract.
In the spare moments of you first couple of days you will also be taken to the English Department of the college to meet your supervisors and colleagues. You will attend a short orientation program, be given a teaching schedule and assigned a mentor. You will also be provided with office space and a desk.