Yes, it is possible to bring your new wife in the same way that you brought your first wife. Your sponsor can send your marriage license and your work permit to the Passport Department requesting a visit visa for your new wife. After her arrival in Saudi Arabia, this visit may be processed for her to be given legal residence.
 
I am currently working in Saudi Arabia as an electrical engineer and have completed my one-year contract. I am going to Pakistan on vacation. I also recently received a work offer from another company. Can I return on a new work visa to join the other company? — H.S.

You may do that only if your present employer gives consent. Ask him if he is willing to release you to another employer. If he agrees, then you have no problem. If he does not agree, you may leave the country and return after one year to work with a new employer. If you intend to do this, you should inform your present employer so that he may give you a final-exit visa. Do not do as some have done and go for vacation on an exit/reentry visa and then return to work with another employer. That is illegal and you risk being banned from the GCC countries (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Oman) for five years.
 
I have been working in a reputed company for four years and eight months. I have already resigned from the job and requested tickets for myself and my family. I have family status and my employer provides tickets every year. Am I able to get my one-way exit tickets for myself and my family for all the past five years vacations? And what is my end of service benefit (ESB)? — M.Z.

On what basis did you resign after four years and eight months? Did you resign at the expiration date of your work permit or sooner? I also need to know about your past vacations and whether you used all of them, some of them, or none of them. According to the law — unless your employer has agreed to pay for tickets for your family members in your contract — an employer is only required to provide a ticket home to the employee, and only then if the employee was hired from abroad; if you were hired locally, your employer isn't even required to provide you with a ticket every year. Assuming you were hired from abroad, and assuming there are no special concessions in your work contract, your employer is only required to provide you with a ticket every year. Also, your employer is not required to compensate you with cash for past unclaimed tickets. Your employer is only required to compensate you for the unclaimed vacation days. Your ESB is based on your last monthly wage (LMW), which is your last salary plus all other allowances monthly averaged. For each of the first five years you get half LMW per year. For your last eight months divide your LMW by 12, multiply it by eight and divide that by two, then add that sum to your four-year calculation.
 
I went on vacation to my country and after I returned I started working in the same company 2,000 km from Riyadh. After two days I went to register my vehicle to discover that I have been reported as an absconding worker. I came to realize that during my vacation the partners of the company I worked for separated. On my return I didn't realize that I was working for the partner who did not have my sponsorship. My sponsor was the partner that broke away, and he reported myself and five others as runaway workers. My employer tried to obtain a release from my sponsor and get me removed from absconding status by submitting my ID and passport. Later, they asked me to come to company headquarters, but I told them that under my current status I risk being arrested at a checkpoint. I also later learned that two of the employees who did report were then turned over to police as runaway workers. Now I don't know where my ID or passport are. I have done nothing wrong and the employer is not responding to my phone calls. Please help.            — A.K.

The first thing to do is go straight to your embassy and take their advice. They usually have a competent person to advise on issues like this. You need to submit your complaint in writing — in Arabic — providing all the details to your local Labor Office accompanied by an Arabic-speaking interpreter. Ask for your work permit to be transferred to another employer.

— Answers given by Muhammad Jaber Nader