Hello friends,
Guess what? I am going back to Jeddah today!! I am so excited, I can barely contain my excitement. Everytime I leave Saudi Arabia I have to re-enter within six months in order to keep my residence visa. So, I had left on the 30th of June 2005, which means I have to get back to Saudi Arabia by the 30th of December 2005. But somehow, according to the Islamic dates, the days get less, so that means I have to get earlier than the 30th of December.
This trip will be somewhat a bit sad, because it cold very well be my last trip to Jeddah. You see my father is about retire soon and move back to Pakistan. That means, we will have to leave our home in Jeddah. I cannot even begin to comprehend this yet. I was a baby when I came to Jeddah, and I can clearly remember going to the kindergarten, the Arabic school, and the the two different British schools. I practically grew up here, and when I am outside of Saudi Arabia, I tell people I want to go back home, and I mean Jeddah. Although I am from Pakistan, my childhood was spent in Jeddah, and in effect, I get to have two homes!
It will be a very emotional moment for me, and for everyone of us in the family, because we have been there for 28 years now! Talking to my mom earlier, she said that we have a lot of sorting out to do in our house. What do we take? What do we throw? What do give away?
But for now, I am going to live every single day in Jeddah as if they are my last days. I just cannot imagine knowing that there will come a time when I know I will not get to go back "home" for my parents will not be there.
Mansur
7 comments:
as-salamu alaykum..
you've been there 28 years - can you not apply for permanent residency, even if not citizenship?
(btw i am ignorant of saudi immigration laws)
..in any case, may Allah make it easy for you and your family through this transition. ameen
- junaid
Assalama alaikum that is so sad you grow up and think its your home and then you have to leave Its a shame if you do not have the right amount of degrees to apply for saudi citizenship. Saudi should be made free for any muslim to settle in as its the land of our prophet .
I guess I share the same sentiments as you. My parents are leaving Jeddah by June 2006. It's truly heartbreaking that they have to leave and go back to Canada, a place where they really don't want to live. We are all very sad.
Jeddah has been our home for almost 29 years. Infact there is no other place we call home other than Jeddah.
I wish we could live here for the rest of our lives. I really do.
xena
I thought that the Saudis passed a law a few months back enabling people who had lived in the country for 10 years to apply for citizenship? If such is the case, why don't your family apply for such?
Hey all,
sorry for the delay. I know Saudi Arabia has allowed for people who have lived here fro 10+ years to apply for Saudi passport, but there are several catches to that. You need to be fluent in Arabic, and you need to prove that your skills are really needed by this country. My dad is the only one now who is eligible to apply for the Saudi passport, but then, he is about to retire and move back to Pakistan, and so a Saudi passport would render useless for him.
In the long run, it is difficult for me to get a Saudi passport, because I don'tk now the language and I don't work here.
Mansur
woah - hang on a minute. You lived there for all those years and you "don't know the language?"
Yes Kashif,
I lived here for 28 years, and I dont know the language. I wrote an earlier post in my defense of why I did not pick up the language, and I shall find that for you and post the link here. In any case, I can read very fluently, and I can speak very basic Arabic, since there are some similar words between Urdu and Arabic...
Mansur
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