President Obama calls on Iran’s government to take “constructive action” to reassure the world that its nuclear program is peaceful.

By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer

Washington — President Obama says the first day of talks between Iran and representatives from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany (collectively known as the P5+1) were a “constructive beginning,” but Iran’s government needs to follow up pledges of cooperation with “constructive action.”

Speaking at the White House October 1, Obama said Iran’s delegation to the talks in Geneva, led by Said Jalili, “heard a clear and unified message from the international community [that] … Iran must demonstrate, through concrete steps, that it will live up to its responsibilities with regard to its nuclear program.”

The president called upon Iran to “demonstrate its commitment to transparency” by following through on its agreement to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and allow IAEA inspectors unfettered access to a newly revealed nuclear site near Qom within two weeks.

Iran must build confidence that its nuclear activities will only be used for peaceful purposes, Obama said. Earlier in the day, negotiators in Geneva agreed in principle on a proposal by which Iran’s low-enriched uranium would be transferred to an unspecified third country for fuel fabrication. The president described the proposal as “a confidence-building step” that would help reassure the international community that Iran’s nuclear program will not be used to make weapons.

“As I’ve said before, we support Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear power. Taking the step of transferring its low-enriched uranium to a third country would be a step towards building confidence that Iran’s program is, in fact, peaceful,” he said.

The United States will do its part for “serious and meaningful engagement” with Iran “on the basis of mutual interest and mutual respect,” Obama said, but he warned, “Our patience is not unlimited” and “we’re not interested in talking for the sake of talking.”

The United States is “prepared to move towards increased pressure” against Iran if it does not take concrete steps to fulfill its international nuclear obligations, he said.

But if Iran lives up to its obligations, “there is a path towards a better relationship with the United States, increased integration for Iran within the international community and a better future for all Iranians,” Obama said.

“This is not about singling out Iran. This is not about creating double standards. This is about the global nonproliferation regime and Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear energy, just as all nations have it,” he said.

“But with that right come responsibilities. The burden of meeting these responsibilities lies with the Iranian government, and they are now the ones that need to make that choice,” the president said.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters in Washington October 1 that Iranian representative Jalili had a face-to-face meeting on the margins of the Geneva talks with the U.S. delegation head, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns.

Burns “took that opportunity to amplify our position regarding the nuclear program and reinforce the international community’s concerns about the program,” Kelly said, and he reiterated to Jalili that the United States is not trying to single out Iran or practice “any kind of a double standard.”

Kelly said Burns also raised other issues, including human rights and the fate of Americans being held in Iran.

“We stressed that the detention of these American citizens is an urgent matter that must be resolved as soon as possible,” Kelly said. “This was the first face-to-face meeting that we’ve had with Iranian officials in a long time, so we took advantage of that to press this important issue.”

In Geneva, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who is coordinating the P5+1 talks, said the first day of meetings “represented the start of what we hope will be an intensive process.”

Their significance was enhanced, he said, by “the full participation of the United States of America for the first time.”

The P5+1 repeated its offer to freeze U.N. sanctions that were imposed on Iran in exchange for Iran freezing its uranium enrichment, Solana said.

Looking ahead, Solana said a second meeting between the P5+1 and Iran will be held “before the end of October” and will focus on nuclear issues, including the proposals that both sides have put forward. The meeting “will also deal with some global issues that any of the parties wish to address,” he said.

On October 18 in Vienna, technical experts from the IAEA, the United States, Russia and other countries will work out details on how to implement the deal that would take low-enriched uranium from Iran to a third country for further enrichment and processing, before being returned for use in an Iranian research reactor, where it would produce “isotopes for medical application,” Solana said.

The EU representative said the day’s talks had been “only a start,” which will need to be followed by progress on the practical steps that had been discussed. “It has been a day in which I hope that we continue … with the intensive process in order to solve the many problems that still have to be resolved,” he said.

For business visits, a visit visa is mandatory.  The company you are doing business with should automatically co-ordinate the visa, or at the very least their side of the arrangements but they may need a gentle reminder!  All prospective visitors should obtain a letter of invitation from the company or individual Saudi sponsor.  This invitation letter is an acknowledgement that a visa has been obtained on the visitor’s behalf and that authorisation to issue this visa has been sent to the Saudi embassy in the visitor’s home country.  Passports submitted in the morning, with the relevant visa number can usually be collected the same afternoon, but check this directly with the embassy.

Residency Visa

This goes hand in hand with the Are You New and is an in-depth look at surviving the process to get your residence visa and your work permit, known as an ‘iqama’.  For those not bringing families into the Kingdom this process is relatively straightforward.   

For those with families, patience will be required.  We take it for granted in our own country that we can move to a new town and get a job – simple as that.  As a family in your home country there are the usual new house, new school worries but you and your family probably move at the same time and the change over from one life to another is relatively smooth.  When you change countries, unless you have an automatic right to live in that other country ie you have dual nationality, work permits and family papers will need to be processed, medicals sorted out, etc.  Saudi Arabia is no different in this aspect to other countries but that knowledge does not make what can be a long and arduous process any easier!  Just rest assured that everyone has gone through the same procedure. 

Here follows a timetable that starts with you getting your residence visa (congratulations!), through to your family joining you.  From experience, depending on the time of year when the process is started, this can take around three months.

Stage One – Residence Visa 

Before you get involved in this process, your potential employer will have requested a visa for you from the Ministry of the Interior in Jeddah.  Once this request has been approved, a visa number is sent from the Ministry in Jeddah to the Saudi Embassy or Consulate in your country, awaiting the arrival of your completed residence visa application form, sent by you.  To get to that stage you need to do the following: 

·                     Get ‘Visa Medical’ – this is best done by a specialist ‘visa medical clinic’ – your GP will be able to advise you where you can get this done.   (Requires two photographs)

·                     Obtain Residence Visa application form from Saudi Embassy

·                     Get 60 colour passport size photographs of yourself (yes, 60! See important note under ‘Stage Five – Driving Licence), 10 colour passport photographs of your family (together in one photo, without you in the picture) and 10 colour photographs (standard 6″x4″) of you WITH your family 

Send the following to the Saudi Embassy: 

Depending on your employer the following may be handled by your personnel department.  It is just as well to be familiar with the process though, in case you need to chase them up. 

·                     Your passport – check that it has at least six months until expiry

·                     Residence visa application form, with two photographs

·                     ‘Visa Medical’ results

·                     Copy of higher education, degree certificate/s (these need to be notarised)

·                     Copy of contract

·                     Company letter in Arabic confirming your appointment

·                     Copy of visa payment slip (from employer)

·                     Visa fee

·                     No objection certificate – if you have worked in Saudi Arabia before within a set amount of time, your previous employer must confirm that they permit you to return to work in the Kingdom 

Your application is matched to the visa number from the Ministry, your visa is stamped into the passport and you are free to travel to Saudi Arabia. 

Be prepared to have to make a few reminder telephone calls to the Saudi Embassy in your country. You may even have to visit it in person to ensure prompt completion.  Any flights that you book should be ‘changeable’! 

Take the following with you to Jeddah: 

They must be originals – NOT copies. 

·                     Birth certificates for the whole family

·                     Marriage certificate

·                     Educational certificates

·                     Driving Licence

·                     And all those colour photos mentioned earlier! 

It can be daunting on your arrival in Jeddah – perhaps you didn’t realise how much you’d miss your family and that you don’t actually know anybody or where to go to get anything – time to gen up on the ‘Are You New’  section’!  It will be hard, but remember that everyone has gone through the same process, they know how you are feeling – everyone was ‘new’ at some point and people are willing to help.

Stage Two – Your Iqama

Allow eight or nine days 

Your main focus, apart from getting to grips with your new job, will be to get the family to join you as soon as possible.  You will need equal measures of diplomacy and determination to keep the process rolling.  There is a lot of paperwork and ‘to-ing and fro-ing’ before your family’s passports will be stamped with their residence visas – keep as organised as possible to keep on top of the situation. 

The first step is getting your work and residence permit, otherwise known as your ‘iqama’.  This is an extremely valuable document and you should consider arranging insurance for replacing it, once it is in your possession. 

On your first day in your new job, get cracking on the Iqama Checklist: 

·                     Iqama medical

-                      check with the personnel department which hospital or clinic they use. Results will

take two to three days.

·                     Request personnel to produce company letter and copy of your contract

·                     Gather together iqama medical results, passport, two photographs, company letter and copy of contract – either you or the Government relations officer will have to present these documents to the Passport Office (Al Jawazat) 

Once you receive your iqama (green for Muslims and brown for non-Muslims), make photocopies of it for your files.  Carry your iqama with you at all times – your employer will usually keep your passport in the company safe while you are in possession of your iqama.  You will now need an exit/re-entry visa every time you travel outside the Kingdom.

Stage Three – Family Visa

Allow five to six weeks 

We’re getting there!  Once you have your iqama, you can start the process of obtaining a family visa. 

Family Visa Checklist 

·                     Send copy of contract to your wife

·                     Wife to get visa medical in home country

·                     You need to get official Arabic translations of all birth, marriage and educational certificates.  These must be done by a ‘recognised translator’ – ask your personnel department or government relations officer to recommend one.  Allow two days.

·                     Certificates attested at your country’s consulate

-                      take photocopies of the original documents and the translations (suggest at least two copies)

-                      the attestation will recognise that your certificates are genuine and the translations are accurate.  Allow two days and check fees beforehand to ensure you have the correct amount with you.

·                     Prepare Arabic application form and company letter

-                      if you need to get the form yourself, go to the Istekdam office which is just off Prince Mitab Street, level with the Petromin Office, (in the very centre of O3 on the Jeddah Today map!) 

Istekdam Office Checklist 

·                     Iqama

·                     Application form

·                     Company letter

·                     Certificates/translations – take your copies to leave with the department and originals to show to the clerk 

It is best to get to the Istekdam Office for when it opens at 8.00am.  Go to the main room of the building on the left.  Do not take a number – there is a seated queue of foreigners along the back wall and a sort of musical chairs takes you closer to the clerk. 

·                     Application is processed and passed to Foreign Ministry – 10 days

·                     Foreign Ministry forwards the family visa number to the Saudi Embassy or Consulate in your home country – 10 days

·                     You collect family visa number from Foreign Ministry

·                     Advise your wife that family visa number is with the Saudi Embassy or Consulate 

Embassy in Home Country Checklist 

It is worth knowing that the numbers arrive once a week by diplomatic bag, so if the visa isn’t there the day after ‘arrivals day’ then it will be one more week.  There are many agents in the capital cities who do the leg work of ‘visa getting’ for you, for a fraction of the cost in hotels, train fares, petrol, parking – and stress for your wife!  Ask your Consulate here who they recommend. 

The following need to be delivered to the Embassy or Consulate: 

·                     Wife’s and children’s passports

·                     Residence visa application form, quoting visa number

·                     Wife’s visa medical results

·                     Copy of your contract

·                     Copy of marriage certificate (together with a letter of ‘no objection’ from former spouse if children from a previous marriage will be travelling)

·                     Visa fee 

The passports can be collected within two to five days – this may be longer during Haj or Ramadan.  If you can prove that you have flights booked when you put the visa in ie by presentation of tickets, it is possible that the turnaround time can be reduced to 24 hours.  There is no guarantee however! 

Stage Four – Family onto Iqama

Eight or nine days 

They’ve arrived!!  You may think you can relax now – but you can’t!  All members of your family need to be added to your iqama – they can’t leave the country until they are.  Your wife will need to have an iqama medical. 

Family onto Iqama Checklist 

·                     Iqama

·                     Application form

·                     Iqama medical results

·                     Previously attested certificates

·                     Company letter

·                     Family photographs – two 6″x4″ ‘entire’ family and two passport sized of just wife and children 

You should make a copy of your iqama for your wife to carry with her as identification. 

Stage Five - Driving Licence 

Some national driving licences are valid within the Kingdom for three months from arrival.  After this point you will need a Saudi driving licence. 

Driving Licence Checklist 

·                     Translation of national driving licence – this does not need to be attested at your Consulate as there is an office at the Driving Licence Office (DLO) which will translate your national licence and certify it ‘OK’.

·                     Get green hanging file folder from personnel department and place in it a copy of your national licence, a translation of your national licence, a copy of your iqama, company letter and application form

·                     Four colour passport size photographs.  PLEASE NOTE: When you present yourself at the DLO you have to look exactly as you do in your photograph ie if you wear glasses to drive and need to wear glasses to complete your eye test, then you must be wearing glasses in the photographs you give to the DLO.  If you do not, you will not receive your Saudi Licence and will have to complete the entire process again!

·                     Take green hanging folder to DLO

·                     Have blood test at DLO (your blood type is shown on your Saudi Licence)

·                     Have eye test at DLO

·                     Pay fee

·                     Collect licence 

Notes: Some nationalities will be required to complete an actual driving test.  

Well done!  You now have all the paperwork completed!! 

* * * * * * * 

As a final addendum, the above may cover how to get yourself and your family all the paperwork to live and work in Saudi Arabia but one vital part of your family may have been forgotten – your pet! The process is possibly more complicated than that to get your family out so be absolutely certain you cannot be without them! 

There is a long list of inoculations, issued by the Saudi Ministry of Agriculture, that the animal must have.  Telephone the airline that your pet will be travelling to Saudi Arabia with – they will refer you to a vet that is recognised by the Saudi authorities as the relevant health and rabies certificates need to be issued by a recognised vet, before being attested by your country’s Ministry of Agriculture and then authenticated by the Saudi Embassy or Consulate in your country.  All this, and the actual transportation of your animal to Saudi Arabia must happen within a 28-day time frame!  

For business visits, a visit visa is mandatory.  The company you are doing business with should automatically co-ordinate the visa, or at the very least their side of the arrangements but they may need a gentle reminder!  All prospective visitors should obtain a letter of invitation from the company or individual Saudi sponsor.  This invitation letter is an acknowledgement that a visa has been obtained on the visitor’s behalf and that authorisation to issue this visa has been sent to the Saudi embassy in the visitor’s home country.  Passports submitted in the morning, with the relevant visa number can usually be collected the same afternoon, but check this directly with the embassy.

Residency Visa

This goes hand in hand with the Are You New and is an in-depth look at surviving the process to get your residence visa and your work permit, known as an ‘iqama’.  For those not bringing families into the Kingdom this process is relatively straightforward.   

For those with families, patience will be required.  We take it for granted in our own country that we can move to a new town and get a job – simple as that.  As a family in your home country there are the usual new house, new school worries but you and your family probably move at the same time and the change over from one life to another is relatively smooth.  When you change countries, unless you have an automatic right to live in that other country ie you have dual nationality, work permits and family papers will need to be processed, medicals sorted out, etc.  Saudi Arabia is no different in this aspect to other countries but that knowledge does not make what can be a long and arduous process any easier!  Just rest assured that everyone has gone through the same procedure. 

Here follows a timetable that starts with you getting your residence visa (congratulations!), through to your family joining you.  From experience, depending on the time of year when the process is started, this can take around three months.

Stage One – Residence Visa 

Before you get involved in this process, your potential employer will have requested a visa for you from the Ministry of the Interior in Jeddah.  Once this request has been approved, a visa number is sent from the Ministry in Jeddah to the Saudi Embassy or Consulate in your country, awaiting the arrival of your completed residence visa application form, sent by you.  To get to that stage you need to do the following: 

·                     Get ‘Visa Medical’ – this is best done by a specialist ‘visa medical clinic’ – your GP will be able to advise you where you can get this done.   (Requires two photographs)

·                     Obtain Residence Visa application form from Saudi Embassy

·                     Get 60 colour passport size photographs of yourself (yes, 60! See important note under ‘Stage Five – Driving Licence), 10 colour passport photographs of your family (together in one photo, without you in the picture) and 10 colour photographs (standard 6″x4″) of you WITH your family 

Send the following to the Saudi Embassy: 

Depending on your employer the following may be handled by your personnel department.  It is just as well to be familiar with the process though, in case you need to chase them up. 

·                     Your passport – check that it has at least six months until expiry

·                     Residence visa application form, with two photographs

·                     ‘Visa Medical’ results

·                     Copy of higher education, degree certificate/s (these need to be notarised)

·                     Copy of contract

·                     Company letter in Arabic confirming your appointment

·                     Copy of visa payment slip (from employer)

·                     Visa fee

·                     No objection certificate – if you have worked in Saudi Arabia before within a set amount of time, your previous employer must confirm that they permit you to return to work in the Kingdom 

Your application is matched to the visa number from the Ministry, your visa is stamped into the passport and you are free to travel to Saudi Arabia. 

Be prepared to have to make a few reminder telephone calls to the Saudi Embassy in your country. You may even have to visit it in person to ensure prompt completion.  Any flights that you book should be ‘changeable’! 

Take the following with you to Jeddah: 

They must be originals – NOT copies. 

·                     Birth certificates for the whole family

·                     Marriage certificate

·                     Educational certificates

·                     Driving Licence

·                     And all those colour photos mentioned earlier! 

It can be daunting on your arrival in Jeddah – perhaps you didn’t realise how much you’d miss your family and that you don’t actually know anybody or where to go to get anything – time to gen up on the ‘Are You New’  section’!  It will be hard, but remember that everyone has gone through the same process, they know how you are feeling – everyone was ‘new’ at some point and people are willing to help.

Stage Two – Your Iqama

Allow eight or nine days 

Your main focus, apart from getting to grips with your new job, will be to get the family to join you as soon as possible.  You will need equal measures of diplomacy and determination to keep the process rolling.  There is a lot of paperwork and ‘to-ing and fro-ing’ before your family’s passports will be stamped with their residence visas – keep as organised as possible to keep on top of the situation. 

The first step is getting your work and residence permit, otherwise known as your ‘iqama’.  This is an extremely valuable document and you should consider arranging insurance for replacing it, once it is in your possession. 

On your first day in your new job, get cracking on the Iqama Checklist: 

·                     Iqama medical

-                      check with the personnel department which hospital or clinic they use. Results will

take two to three days.

·                     Request personnel to produce company letter and copy of your contract

·                     Gather together iqama medical results, passport, two photographs, company letter and copy of contract – either you or the Government relations officer will have to present these documents to the Passport Office (Al Jawazat) 

Once you receive your iqama (green for Muslims and brown for non-Muslims), make photocopies of it for your files.  Carry your iqama with you at all times – your employer will usually keep your passport in the company safe while you are in possession of your iqama.  You will now need an exit/re-entry visa every time you travel outside the Kingdom.

Stage Three – Family Visa

Allow five to six weeks 

We’re getting there!  Once you have your iqama, you can start the process of obtaining a family visa. 

Family Visa Checklist 

·                     Send copy of contract to your wife

·                     Wife to get visa medical in home country

·                     You need to get official Arabic translations of all birth, marriage and educational certificates.  These must be done by a ‘recognised translator’ – ask your personnel department or government relations officer to recommend one.  Allow two days.

·                     Certificates attested at your country’s consulate

-                      take photocopies of the original documents and the translations (suggest at least two copies)

-                      the attestation will recognise that your certificates are genuine and the translations are accurate.  Allow two days and check fees beforehand to ensure you have the correct amount with you.

·                     Prepare Arabic application form and company letter

-                      if you need to get the form yourself, go to the Istekdam office which is just off Prince Mitab Street, level with the Petromin Office, (in the very centre of O3 on the Jeddah Today map!) 

Istekdam Office Checklist 

·                     Iqama

·                     Application form

·                     Company letter

·                     Certificates/translations – take your copies to leave with the department and originals to show to the clerk 

It is best to get to the Istekdam Office for when it opens at 8.00am.  Go to the main room of the building on the left.  Do not take a number – there is a seated queue of foreigners along the back wall and a sort of musical chairs takes you closer to the clerk. 

·                     Application is processed and passed to Foreign Ministry – 10 days

·                     Foreign Ministry forwards the family visa number to the Saudi Embassy or Consulate in your home country – 10 days

·                     You collect family visa number from Foreign Ministry

·                     Advise your wife that family visa number is with the Saudi Embassy or Consulate 

Embassy in Home Country Checklist 

It is worth knowing that the numbers arrive once a week by diplomatic bag, so if the visa isn’t there the day after ‘arrivals day’ then it will be one more week.  There are many agents in the capital cities who do the leg work of ‘visa getting’ for you, for a fraction of the cost in hotels, train fares, petrol, parking – and stress for your wife!  Ask your Consulate here who they recommend. 

The following need to be delivered to the Embassy or Consulate: 

·                     Wife’s and children’s passports

·                     Residence visa application form, quoting visa number

·                     Wife’s visa medical results

·                     Copy of your contract

·                     Copy of marriage certificate (together with a letter of ‘no objection’ from former spouse if children from a previous marriage will be travelling)

·                     Visa fee 

The passports can be collected within two to five days – this may be longer during Haj or Ramadan.  If you can prove that you have flights booked when you put the visa in ie by presentation of tickets, it is possible that the turnaround time can be reduced to 24 hours.  There is no guarantee however! 

Stage Four – Family onto Iqama

Eight or nine days 

They’ve arrived!!  You may think you can relax now – but you can’t!  All members of your family need to be added to your iqama – they can’t leave the country until they are.  Your wife will need to have an iqama medical. 

Family onto Iqama Checklist 

·                     Iqama

·                     Application form

·                     Iqama medical results

·                     Previously attested certificates

·                     Company letter

·                     Family photographs – two 6″x4″ ‘entire’ family and two passport sized of just wife and children 

You should make a copy of your iqama for your wife to carry with her as identification. 

Stage Five - Driving Licence 

Some national driving licences are valid within the Kingdom for three months from arrival.  After this point you will need a Saudi driving licence. 

Driving Licence Checklist 

·                     Translation of national driving licence – this does not need to be attested at your Consulate as there is an office at the Driving Licence Office (DLO) which will translate your national licence and certify it ‘OK’.

·                     Get green hanging file folder from personnel department and place in it a copy of your national licence, a translation of your national licence, a copy of your iqama, company letter and application form

·                     Four colour passport size photographs.  PLEASE NOTE: When you present yourself at the DLO you have to look exactly as you do in your photograph ie if you wear glasses to drive and need to wear glasses to complete your eye test, then you must be wearing glasses in the photographs you give to the DLO.  If you do not, you will not receive your Saudi Licence and will have to complete the entire process again!

·                     Take green hanging folder to DLO

·                     Have blood test at DLO (your blood type is shown on your Saudi Licence)

·                     Have eye test at DLO

·                     Pay fee

·                     Collect licence 

Notes: Some nationalities will be required to complete an actual driving test.  

Well done!  You now have all the paperwork completed!! 

* * * * * * * 

As a final addendum, the above may cover how to get yourself and your family all the paperwork to live and work in Saudi Arabia but one vital part of your family may have been forgotten – your pet! The process is possibly more complicated than that to get your family out so be absolutely certain you cannot be without them! 

There is a long list of inoculations, issued by the Saudi Ministry of Agriculture, that the animal must have.  Telephone the airline that your pet will be travelling to Saudi Arabia with – they will refer you to a vet that is recognised by the Saudi authorities as the relevant health and rabies certificates need to be issued by a recognised vet, before being attested by your country’s Ministry of Agriculture and then authenticated by the Saudi Embassy or Consulate in your country.  All this, and the actual transportation of your animal to Saudi Arabia must happen within a 28-day time frame!  

Cultural tradition means that dogs must be imported as ‘guard dogs’ or ‘hunting dogs’, so decide before hand which yours is.  Pets can often travel free if accompanied, but their container has to be ‘airline approved’ and they can be quite expensive.  Cats they are fairly relaxed about – importation of any other animals should be investigated thoroughly to ensure they are permitted.