KSA is one of the most restrictive countries in the world to get into. Someone within the country must first apply for your visa. Only a limited number are awarded to any particular "sponsor" and how many is often dependent on how much wasta the individual has. There a few different types available but for the most part they can be divided into two categories: a full work visa known as an iqama or a visitor's visa. Visitors visas are good for one entry and one exit. As soon as the sponsor has filed the appropriate applications from inside Saudi, they can be obtained at any Saudi embassy, usually in a matter of a couple days. Once in country, the holder maintains possession of their passport and within the visa's validity period, usually 90 days, they can leave whenever they want, for the most part without penalty. Some need to be renewed outside of the country, but these days most can be renewed from within KSA up to three times. The situation with the iqama is somewhat different. Once inside the country your sponsor holds on to your passport. You are given an iqama card which functions as the only form of I.D. you need. With it you can open a bank account, buy a car, sign a lease-- everything you'd need to do -- except one little thing: leave. In order to be granted an exit visa you must reacquire your passport and obtain an official letter from your sponsor granting you permission. Without it, you'll be denied your exit visa.
The situation on the ground, therefore, can be kinda scary. I have to imagine that if you really wanted to leave, there would have to be something your embassy could do for you, but it would not be without a fine. The problem, then, would be if you ever wanted to come back and the way laws are written here, employers can make it quite difficult. When your exit visa is issued on your iqama it's often issued with a reentry. If you still have a valid visa with an unused reentry, you can't get a new visa from a new sponsor. It's your old sponsor, or none at all. Excluding the fact that most foreign workers don't have the resources to come or go even if they wanted to, if their sponsor isn't accommodating, which they have no obligation to be, they become veritable prisoners. The visitor's visa may seem to afford its holder more freedom, but similar to the iqama, if the sponsor doesn't want to take the necessary steps to allow you to return -- i.e. apply for a new visa for you -- you're not coming back, at least not with that company. So again, it comes down to if your sponsor -- who for the most part is your employer -- wants to accommodate your exiting, which considering the risk of employees not returning and the effect this would have on business, doesn't seem to be the case.
I was told before I came here that I would have at least a few opportunities to travel. In the contract it stipulates that we would be given the Eid holiday (the holiday after the Hajj) and any other Islamic holidays off. Other breaks like those in the university's schedule, however, are not written in, and even if they were given to us -- and it's looking more and more like they won't be -- it is completely at the discretion of our company if they want to let us leave or not. I'm on a visitor's visa and because of the length of my contract -- less than 10 months -- it is not looking likely that I will be granted permission to leave unless for some special circumstance. So my goal of using Saudi as a homebase while I travel the region is not looking like it will be accomplished although I will have time and definitely the resources to travel once my contractual obligations are fulfilled. I feel a little bit like I've been lied to, definitely like I've been misled, and the worst part is that I am in danger of breaking the promise that I made to Amy of coming home at least once during my stay here. Some employers seem to be more lenient and willing to allow people to leave -- something I would think they would have to be in order to incentivise employees to sign subsequent contracts -- but in my situation, where it seems that the short term gains are so much more the focus, keeping teachers here, even if they're unhappy, unfortunately seems to be the primary concern.
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