PREPARATORY STEPS FOR NIGERIA MEDICAL EXPATRIATES TRAVELLING TO WORK IN SAUDI ARABIA
First Published – July 26, 2019 8:41 am
This is documentation from the shared experience of health workers who traveled to work in Saudi Arabia. We understand that traveling, especially for the first time, comes with uncertainties and questions. We believe that this piece will help to answer some of your queries.
The preparatory process involved in migrating from Nigeria to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be discussed in the following parts:
Planning, gathering of items, and packing arrangement
After a successful job application, interview, and job offer, and after the visa has been issued, the next worry will be to book your flight. Around this time, many questions come to mind. Some of the important mind-boggling issues to deal with are:
Traveling bags – you need three separate bags, one for food and one for everything else. Each of the first two bags is to weigh 20 kg (maximum). You are also entitled to a hand-carry of 8 kg where you can pack items such as change-wears, toothpaste, body lotion, wallet, etc.
Food stuffs – Do your best to get in red oil although this is not allowed on flights, not because it is illegal but to avoid spillage and damaging people’s luggage. Put it in small water bottles, sealed with seal tape, and freeze to avoid detection by scanners at the airport. If detected, plead with them. Some of them do understand. About three to four (3 – 4) litters would be enough for a year. We don’t have a complete list of foodstuff but some things you don’t need are salt, pepper, sugar, provision, groundnut oil, etc. What you do need are things that you can’t find in Saudi Arabia such as egusi, ogbono, ukwa, uziza , soup spices, red oil( not groundnut oil), dry fish, stock fish (Okporoko), dry okazi leaves, dry bitter-leaf, and ugu vegetables, etc. Please buy a packet of Maggi (Knorr or Star as you prefer) because most people do not like the Maggi there. There are options available for swallows such as wheat and semo-versions but if you like garri for occasional purposes, especially for drinking, you can add 1 or 2 paints. Some people even bring Abacha and it helps a lot with making local varieties.
Cloths – You should try to come along with a sweater because inside of the flight will be very cold and in winter most parts of northern Arabia are very cold. It is advised that emphasis should be on bringing enough food and less on clothes. You can always buy clothes from cheap shops when you settle down. Clothes are not costly compared to Nigeria because they also buy from China and Turkey. Please, I repeat, food first before clothes. With this in mind, you can try to bring your old good clothes if you have space left. Another kind of wear you will need is scrubs (Theater gowns). you need about five pairs, you can make it yourself, quality ones of any color you like. Your hospital will give you some pairs of theirs too, but they may be too big or you may not get them at all. So it is better to bring yours to kit perfect. You do not need to worry about white coats because you will get enough of them.
Documents and devices – You will need to put your credentials, Laptop, mobile phone, internet Modem, and one change of clothing in your backpack. Please, you will need to do another verification called Dataflow and Mumaris. So bring the original of all your academic and practice certificates. Also, bring your evidence of house job (MDCN signed doctor copy is the best or you get a letter from your hospital) certificate.
On the day of your travel, at the Nigeria International Airport:
Proceed to get your boarding ticket, and have your passport with you at all times. It is your most precious document at this time. Please do not misplace it because your journey will just stop there.
Wrap your luggage. Like I said before, check in your luggage on time. You pay one thousand naira to wrap each bag with seal tape (So that nobody can put anything inside or remove your stuff while in transit). This is very important. Watch until your bags are checked in to avoid stories that touch the 💓.
Check-in everything else. You can check in 2 bags, each about 20 kg. So try to pack your bags and weigh them at home to avoid many talks at the airport. Split the weight evenly. If it weighs a bit more, you can plead or pay extra so that you don’t leave your stuff at the airport. Arrive at least 3–4 hours before departure time to start your check-in process.
Change all your money to dollars at Lagos or Abuja airport. Keep like five thousand naira which you can use when you return to Nigeria (because agalacha must come back one day). They have a good bureau d’change there. You could change at 360(Dec. 2018) N per $. Rarely, you may be lucky to change Naira to Riyals at Ikeja Airport. But please be careful so that they do not give you bad currency. If you are lucky you can get the cheapest conversion rate at 93N per SR, instead of 97N per SR they sell in Saudi Airport. When you get to Saudi International Airport you can quickly convert the dollars to Saudi Riyal.
Yellow Card. You will pay like 2- 3 thousand naira for yellow fever vaccination and the card. You can get it at any Ministry of Health (MOH) office within your state to avoid stories and delays.
But if you have not gotten yours as at the time at the airport, there is no problem. You can still check at the MOH office inside the airport, get vaccinated, and take the card (total maybe like 1500 naira, and this is the next best option you have), but it takes a little more time, that is If you have the time, fine.
Anything outside this is illegal and you could be arrested. Please do not rely on sourcing fake yellow cards at the airport, you can also be deported if caught at any level of your journey.
At first stopover in Addis Ababa, Egypt, Dubai, or Morocco Airport as the case may be
Most flights go through Ethiopia whereas some stopovers at Egypt, Dubai, or Morocco airports. In Addis Ababa, you don’t need to get your luggage, they will transfer it to the next boarding flight for you.
Here you can surf the net with WiFi available. There is usually free WiFi at the airport terminals. Use this to send updates to your loved ones for them to know how your journey is moving, and try to connect with your friends over there in Saudi if you have any. At this point, you do not need to worry about your luggage as this will be done for you automatically.
At the Saudi Int. Airports – Jeddah, Riyadh, Markka as the case may be.
This is the time to be on alert. You have just an hour or two to achieve so many things.
Clearing Immigration:
You should get your bags at the international airport in Saudi (eg Jeddah.
As you land, on your way past the airport terminal they will give you a tab or drop of Ciprofloxacin to drink. (It’s probably for meningitis prophylaxis or so). Take the oral medication and match-on, there is no shaking.
After clearing immigration, quickly rush to carry the following crucial steps:
Confirm the new time zone and set your watch accordingly. Or simply set it at two hours faster.
Get your bags from the old flight and check in on the next flight. This is very important as it helps to reduce delayed or missing luggage upon arrival at your last airport.
Find a bureau de change there in the airport at Jeddah and Change your dollars to Riyals. This is your best and only chance to do so, using a passport.
Use your Riyals currency to procure a new SIM card and load it with enough Data. This is also your only chance to do so, to avoid being messed up communication-wise for the next 2 to 3 months of your initial stay. You can subscribe for a three-month data of 100gig at 365SR (N35,000 as of 2018 Dec). Don’t worry about recharging for airtime. You can always do that later when you get to your region. For instance, with 20SR airtime you can make local calls at work and that’s enough. You can equally enquire from your friend staying in the same city where you are posted about the best network available. The very common ones are STC, Zain, and Mobily.
Lastly, then check-in and wait for your last flight to your local city.
Note: Sometimes, depending on your flight schedule, you may not have enough time at the international airport in Saudi between landing and takeoff to your local city, so you need to be sharp or prioritize. Check the time gap for your next flight and use it appropriately.
There’s usually a long layover at stopover airports like in Dubai or Addis Ababa as the case may be. Sometimes I could get up to three hours or more. You can use this time to rest because you will be busy at the Saudi International Airport. However, please don’t rest too much so that you won’t miss your next flight. If you are traveling alone, try to set your alarm for every flight. But if you are lucky to travel with friends you may go into a group/batch. Also, you try to find those going to the same place with you and exchange telephone/WhatsApp numbers, stick together.
