Vacation entitlements

Your contract IS the final document which would stand by you in case of a dispute between you and your employer.  There are a few contracting companies in Saudi Arabia, which take the expatriates' ignorance of law as granted. Not all of them are this way, but as in any place, there are bad apples in every basket.
Specifically talking about your vacation entitlements, you must know that you are entitled for an annual vacation of minimum of 21 days each year for the first five years. Some of the contracting companies allow the employees to go on vacation only once in 2 years. But this does not relieve them of their obligation towards the law. If you are planning to sign such a contract, ensure that your entitlement is a minimum of 21 days each year.

If you continue to stay in this company for more than 5 years, your entitlement becomes 30 days for each year, from the 6th year onwards. An interesting thing to note here is that, even if your employer has forced you to sign a contract of 21 days vacation after the first 5 years, the law clearly states that your entitlement is 30 days, so this will supersede what you have signed in your contract. In other words, when you go on final exit from the kingdom, your employer is supposed to pay you for the remaining 9 days per year for each year of service after the first 5 years.

Working in Saudi Arabia is a challenge as well as a rewarding experience, but you must know your rights and obligations clearly before signing any contract.

Exit Re-entry visa procedure after expiry in Saudi Arabia

Any expatriate has to obtain an exit / reentry visa if he wants to go out of the kingdom and re-enter. The rule is that he has to leave the kingdom within 2 months from the date of stamping the exit / reentry visa (if not there is a fine of SR 1000) and has to return within the date specified on the visa.

Let's take a special case when due to some reason an expat leaves the kingdom on vacation or any other reason, but is unable to enter the kingdom within the date specified. Under normal circumstances, he would not be able to enter the kingdom, because technically his visa has already expired. However, there is still a provision by which he can re-enter, though the procedure is a bit cumbersome.

Everything depends on your sponsor. and the relationship you have had with him, i.e., was it cordial or otherwise. If you would like to re-enter the kingdom AND your sponsor still wants you back AND (most important of all) your iqama (residence permit) is still valid, then here is how you go about it.

Your sponsor must first file an application with the Saudi Passport Department. There is a special form for this. He will then be given a "yellow" slip. This is nothing but permission from the Saudi Government that you can re-enter the kingdom. This "yellow" slip must be sent to you by courrier immediately. You must, upon receipt of this slip, attach copies of your passport, iqama along with this slip and submit it to the Saudi consulate or embassy in your home country. Once the embassy or the consulate puts their stamp on this yellow slip, you must necessarily leave your home country within 7 days from the date of stamping by the consulate / embassy. Otherwise your reentry visa would be permanently cancelled.
As mentioned above, this procedure is valid ONLY if your iqama hasn't expired already. If so, then you have no chance to re-enter the kingdom and your visa would have got automatically canceled permanently.

Hence, it is absolutely essential for an expatriate to:

Renew your iqama well in advance, and particularly if you are going on vacation. Never be under a false sense of security that you could always renew it after arriving back in the kingdom. Remember, the only thing certain in Saudi Arabia is uncertainty!
Always carry a photocopy of your iqama with you, whenever you go out of the country.