Wednesday 23 January 2008

Tips and Preparation to new Malaysian Yanbu

Here are some tips for the new comers before they come to Yanbu KSA. All these tips are from our experiences in KSA.

1) All certificates shall be translated to Arabic language (from Bahasa Malaysia to Arabic) These certs are:
  • Marriage Certificate
  • Birth Certificate (yours, spouse and children)

2) Child Immunisation Record - don't forget to bring it

3) Chilrdrens school assesment record - Translate to English if you wish to enrol your child to International School.

4) Apply International driving licence. Previlage was given to Malaysian when applying Saudi driving licence. We're not required to sit a driving test but just convert our licence to saudi licence. That's good huh.

5) Cellphone / Handphone Charger: This is essential to man nowadays. Make sure the charger is compatible with local voltage requirements i.e 110V.

6) Performed all internet banking in Malaysia before you leave. If you have multiple bank accounts, make one as a master account.

7) Make sure you have allocate sum of money to pay all bills and mortgage for at least 3 month period.

8) Money transfer from KSA can be performed through "internet banking" and "Western Union" to any bank in Malaysia. It is best to create a master account so that you only dealing with one account when transfering money. Make a photocopy of the front page of that account book which contains information about your bank address, account number and etc.
9) There is no entertainment outlet in Yanbu. No cinema, big shopping mall, food court and other entertainment outlets as we have in Malaysia. Yanbu is a quiet and small town. For those "kaki pancing" Yanbu is a heaven.
10) Groceries are extremely expensive compared to Malaysia. Allocate enough money for your daily expenses.

The above tips are only for information to the new comers based on our experiences in the Kingdom. Readers may find our tips not relevant and not consistant with other information they gathered from other blogs or websites. Therefore, we advise the readers to gather as many as information they could before coming to the kingdom.

May Allah bless you

5 comments:

Zuraili said...

Thanks for the tips. These are really helpful. One questions though,
why do we have to perform all internet banking before leaving Malaysia? Any reason for that?

Thanks

shah said...

To perform internet banking such as transfering money through GIRO required TAC. if this TAC send through mobile phone while U were here, isn't it a big problem. The best thing do all account setup to the master account before U leaving to KSA. InsyaAllah you'll have a peace of mind later.

Anonymous said...

For driving license, they will accept malaysia driving licence or international ?

Jane Bright said...

TQ for the tips.

I will be joining Yanbu Universtity College soon and planning to come alone. My kids are sitting for their SPM and PMR next year.
My question is, where do you think my accomodation is for a married man w/out family. How far is the normal accomodation for Malaysians to the Yanbu University.
Secondly,how much is a dmall car over there, for a single man I guess I would be looking for maybe a kancil size.
Thridly, the bank account- can you explain furyher, or can you suggest the bank that I can open acco8nt in Msia for online transaction from there.
Thanks

ctyanie said...

Dear mustafa,
Mabrook and ahlan wa sahlan

to answer your question:
1) accomodation: Yanbu is a very small town and can be reached from point A to B easily within 10 minutes by car. As for today, most of faculty staff were provided an accomodation approximate to the college. As for family status, they will provide you with 2,3 or 4 bedroom furnish houses depends on your family size. I truly adivise U to bring your family in order to get all the facilities such as family house, allowances, air tickets etc and apply for Iqama. After receiving the iqama, you can send them back to Malaysia for whatever reason.
This trick has been applied by the Pakistani and Indian in order to get the benefits.

2) car is cheaper than Malaysia. Believe me, you will don't want to drive Kancil went you step your foot here.

3) bank Account : you can perform online TT to any bank in Malaysia. Rememeber the bank details or bring the bank account photocopy along with you. As for me, I use RHB transfer from Riyad bank. No problem so far. Before that check the comisyen rate charge by the bank for TT transfer. As my knowledge, maybank have a better rate.

Shall you need more information, please do not hesitate to write at shahapandi@yahoo.com
InsyaAllah, we will assist you as much as we could.