Hi, I'm new to Riyadh

Excellente!

then we have to taste the cake.

Hey there!
Welcome to the land of sand and more sand!
I'm sure you'll have a great time here, you just have to get to know the right places to go = )

Hello Dweeb (nice name ! )
Ive been here 6 years with my husband, if you ever have any questions i would love to help girlie

you are more then welcome in riyadh don t be late if you need any advice proud to have a friend like you

welcome and enjoy

Anyone know where to play TT table tennis here ?
Hope to find good place and good players as well.

Welcome Galiloegy!

Thank you to have a look in the Riyadh Forum there are already similar subjects there.

Good Luck!

Marjorie

Hi Dweeb,

I am Farah and I have just moved to Riyadh too. I came with my 7 month old son to join my husband who has already been working out here for a year. I am from the UK and I am a Psychologist currently on maternity leave. I'm trying to make new friends and meet other ladies/mothers/families, so would love to hear from you.

Best wishes,
Farah

DrFarah wrote:

Hi Dweeb,

I am Farah and I have just moved to Riyadh too. I came with my 7 month old son to join my husband who has already been working out here for a year. I am from the UK and I am a Psychologist currently on maternity leave. I'm trying to make new friends and meet other ladies/mothers/families, so would love to hear from you.

Best wishes,
Farah

Assalamu Alaikum Dr Farah.

I will be moving over to Riyadh on 13th March and my wife and new born should be joining me a month-2month later.

My wife has said she would love to meet other ladies and mothers, particular those who have gone from the UK and can help her settle in.

Vaa laykum aslaam Hafiz,

Nice to hear from you. That is really good, thank you for getting in touch. Congratulations on the birth of your baby, is it a boy or girl? It would be great for us to meet together, my husband Saif is working here in Riyadh. I would be more than happy to help your wife and baby settle here, looking forward to meeting her. We can keep in touch on here or my email address is [email protected].

You are more than welcome to pass my email address to your wife, she may find it helpful to get in touch with me directly and we can introduce ourselves.

Best wishes,
Farah

welcome to Riyadh,

Hafiz, how are you?
You were searching apartment, did you get any?

Jazakallah Farah. I will pass on your details to my wife who will be in contact with you. We had a baby boy Alhamdulillah. 

how long have you and your husband been in Riyadh?  Do you guys stay in a compound? 

also what does brother Saif work as?

Hi Umair. I've taken down notes of all the advice received to date. Once I'm in Riyadh I'll start a proper search. I think it's better to see the area in person. so far I've just been searching on saudi dubizzle

Hello Hafiz,

Yes allah ka shukar a baby is truly a wonderful gift from allah, you forgot to mention if you have a son or daughter! Anyhow I am sure your baby will become playmates with my 7 month old son, he is called Sohrab. Saif was a Creative Director for his own 3D company back in UK and here he has a job as Head of Digital Department for Model Craft. They are based in Olaya, Riyadh. Yes, we live in a Compound called Reef Compound, which is not in the city centre. It's about 20-30 minutes drive in a place called Diriyah. It's beautiful here, but the only disadvantage is that there are no families here.

I have been here for about a month, but Saif has been here for a year. How about you and your wife? Were you working in UK?

Sorry Hafiz I forgot to mention that if you need any help/advice on looking for a compound and the procedures etc here then I am sure Saif will be more than happy to help.

Hi

sorry I thought I had written we had a baby boy. he is currently 7 weeks old alhamdulillah. Indeed it is a blessing.

I'm a management consultant.  In UK I work for Accenture and I will be transferring with them to KSA and will also be based in Olaya.

did Saif company give him a compound or does he pay for it himself ? I'm actually looking to stay in an apartment within the city rather than a compound.

I will be moving over to Riyadh on 14th March and my wife should be joining us (once I have iqama and their visa) end of April inshallah. but I will ensure she gets in touch with you in advance ! where in UK are you guys from?

Hi,

That's wonderful, we both have baby boys. What is your son called? That sounds brilliant that your company have transferred you over here, I hope you are looking forward to it? I am from Newcastle, and Saif is from Manchester. Where are you from in UK? Lots of people stay in apartments in the city too, I am sure you will find a decent place there.

That's great, your job will be based in the same area as Saif. I will mention to him tonight when he comes home from work about us getting in touch with each other, I am sure he will be delighted. 14th March is not long at all, if you like Saif could meet you sometime when you arrive here? He can show you around Olaya and Riyadh, would that help?

Hi

My son is called Ayyub. Alhamdulillah I am looking forward to it a lot. will be difficult though living the first month or so without the wife and kid.

Both me and my wife are from London.

Yes that would be brilliant to meet up with Saif and have him show me around. Jazakallah again.

Hi,

Ayyub is a lovely name, he must be starting to smile now? It usually develops around 6 weeks I think. Saif has family living in London and I have two cousins who live there. Yes it will be so hard, I can empathise with you because our situation was very difficult. Sohrab was born 6 weeks premature and I was in UK and Saif was stuck out here. He did not come to UK until Sohrab was about 2 months then had to go back after a few weeks. It took 6 months for our visa but I am still so thankful to allah that we are here now together as a family. It could have been much worse I guess.

Hopefully it wont be long for Ayyub and your wife to join you inshalla.

Hi

yes he does do the random smiles.

why did it take 6 months for your visa? what where the issues you were experiencing?  subhanallah that is a very long time! but good it finally came through.

If you could let me know of some of the things which caused it to take 6 months it would help me as I can look out for it and try and see if I can escape the same issues.

Hafiz,
saudi dubizzle isnot recommended here, I suggest:  www.expatriates.com/classifieds/riy/
you will find number of houses in different areas here, further you can also go through different things like vehicle etc

Hello,

Sorry for the delayed reply, we went out yesterday evening. Sohrab was born in August and we got our visas in December so sorry it was not actually 6 months. When Sohrab was born, because he was premature, we were both in special care at hospital for a few weeks. For that reason, I was unable to apply for Sohrab's passport. It was Haaj in October and all the visa offices close here for Haaj applications only. So in actual fact, our visa papers were not processed until sometime in middle to late October over here in Riyadh. We then did not hear about the outcome until December and we found out that our visas were both rejected. They gave no reason but Saif's employers applied again, as you are allowed to apply as many times as needed. We then finally got our visa in the middle of December at our second attempt.

Don't worry inshalla this situation will not occur with you, as it is not Haaj. I am sure you will have all your paperwork submitted correctly. Your job title on your iqama will be more than sufficient too to sponsor your wife and son. Our situation was due to poor timing with our premature son and with it being Haaj also. So poor Saif missed out on 6 months of our son's development, but we are making up for it now mashala and I am so thankful that I am here.

I spoke with Saif last night, and he said he will be delighted to show you around. I think you also added him on linked in?

Jazakallah sister for that explanation. Inshallah my families visa comes quick. But Alhamdulillah Allah gave both of you strength to go through that testing time.

Thanks for speaking to Saif. Yes I found him on LinkedIn and added him.

Inshallah will touch base again when I'm in Riyadh!

No problem at all. Ok, inshalla will speak soon. Hope you have a safe journey getting here inshalla.

Bye for now.

Dears,

Please note this is a public forum and any private information shared is accessible by all. If there is a need to share private/ specific  information there is the PM option you can use. Better to be safe than sorry so as not to let some misuse the information you give out.

Welcome to Riyadh Saudi Arabia.

Welcome

Very welcome yoo 🌺