- 1 September, 2009 I applied online for a flight medic position with the Saudi Red Crescent Authority. They are starting a brand new 911 flight service, and they intend to cover the entire country with 28 helicopters and 6 airplanes over the next five years. They are hiring paramedics with flight experience from all over the world in order to safely begin this dangerous operation. The staff they are currently recruiting will also be training the Saudi nationals in order facilitate their ability to integrate with the flight program safely.
- 12 September, 2009, I sent in the first set of required documentation including my resume, certifications, and references.
- 23 September, 2009, I received a request to send a second set of paperwork. The paperwork requested took me approximately 2 weeks to get together. I sent in the second set of required paperwork on 5 October, 2009, which included notarized letters from my previous employers, professional letters of reference, and copies of my paramedic diploma.
- 14 October, 2009, I received a request for my official transcript from paramedic school. While waiting for this transcript to arrive for me to send to the SRCA, I received a call on 18 October, 2009 from the SRCA recruiter in KSA and was given a conditional offer of employment, pending the arrival of my paramedic school transcript.
- 19 October, 2009, I sent my paramedic school transcript.
- 3 November, 2009, I was contacted by the SRCA to confirm my address so they could send me my contract and visa documents in the mail.
- 23 November, 2009, I received my FedEx package with my instructions on processing my work visa for KSA. The required documents took approximately 2 1/2 weeks to get together (criminal history, medical report and lab values, etc.)
- 7 December, 2009, I sent my visa paperwork to my visa handler in Washington, D.C. I was told it would take 3 to 4 weeks to obtain my employment visa. I was pleasantly surprised when the Saudi consulate issued my visa in 6 business days. Gaby at Rendezvous Travel was an amazing help in this process.
- 18 December, 2009, I received my visa and original paperwork by FedEx and picked a travel window that I would prefer and sent the dates to Gaby at Rendezvous so she could select the appropriate flight information for me to travel to KSA. She sent me travel information back on this same day. I had to forward this information to the SRCA so they could make the eticket arrangements and send me my itinerary.
- 22 December, 2009, the SRCA sent me my confirmed travel itinerary for 13 January, 2010.
So, starting on the 1st of September and lasting until the 22nd of December, this entire process took nearly 4 months. The actual time it took from when I was offered a conditional job offer until I was confirmed for travel was 11 weeks. Either way, I progressed pretty fast through the process, and from what I understand, the SRCA is getting faster at processing applicants. Most of the time it takes to process the applicant has to do with how organized the applicant is and how long it takes for them to track down the required paperwork.
I hope this helps anyone who is either in the process with questions or considering applying. If you have any questions feel free to post a comment so I can answer them here, as it would probably be beneficial for others with the same question.
Lastly, www.emtlife.com has a really comprehensive forum thread on the SRCA, started by me, that is being watched and contributed to by many people currently in the process. This is a good resource for people who may have questions about this job opportunity and application process.
Cheers!
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