feelcheated

I am a licensed engineer in Saudi Arabia, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan and Canada. To maintain my work/ resident permit in Saudi Arabia, I am bound by the immigration law to renew my membership with Saudi Engineering Council every year.

The Saudi Engineering Council does not provide a receipt for the fees received. Every time you call, a receptionist repeats the same sentence to you again and again. "YOU can not PRINT A RECEIPT of your payment FROM YOUR PROFILE, PLEASE VISIT THE SEC OFFICE." This is happening in an organization which is trying to represent 201,000 non local/ expat engineers. This is happening in a country which has a population of around 35 million with only 18 thousand Saudi licensed engineers. The specialties that lack Saudi engineers are planning, construction, marine, technology, health and safety, electronics and information technology, technical industries, nuclear, technical civil engineering, mechatronics and medical engineering. 4 of these specialties have no Saudi Engineers at all.

In such a scenario, the SEC with the help of the Government has devised a money making scheme. No expat engineer will get a resident/ work permit renewed, and/ or be able to work as an engineer, unless he/ she obtains a valid or renewed membership with SEC. Saudi Engineers can work as engineers without having a membership.

If SEC had a service level that was acceptable then the above requirement of membership wont be such a big issue. The problem is that the SEC has a website that crashes all the time, no one picks up the phone, and even if they do they can not respond or satisfy and will put you on hold and transfer you to an answering service. People complain of the delays, lack of responses. One has to question the existence of a so-called regulatory body that has not been able to deliver but only take money from engineers providing no returns/ benefits, or services, and even basics are not provided like membership cards, receipts for memberships and answering phone calls by a reasonable person experienced in membership processes of engineers.

On the websites of Professional Engineers Ontario, or the Engineers Australia, or Pakistan Engineering Council, I can print my membership card or the receipt of payments made whenever I want. Why not on Saudi Engineering Council.