Settling Your Finances Before Leaving Saudi Arabia

Ending your expat journey in the Kingdom can be bittersweet. There’s usually a feeling of excitement to go back home mixed with being sad that the experience is over. There are so many things that you need to take care of before you leave, including packing, selling your assets and cancelling your residency.

However, one of the things that should take priority is sorting out your finances. Failing to do so can result in delaying your departure from the country as well as encountering issues at the airport.

Financial history

You should start by backtracking through your finances, especially if you’ve been here for a long time.
Ask yourself the following questions:

• What bank accounts have you had?
• Have you ever changed your bank?
• What’s the status of your loans, if any?
• Have you settled all your credit card bills?
• Do you have any other bills that need to be paid (phone, electricity, traffic fines, television, etc)?

That way, you’ll be able to write down all your debt that you’ve had while in the country. Once that’s done take the time to call up each of the financial institutions and companies you’re tied to and make sure your accounts are closed. This is important because you might have thought something was closed but wasn’t.

If you want to go the extra mile, contact the police and ensure that there are no cases registered against you.

Savings

If you have any savings or fixed deposit accounts, you should also take out all your money and make sure you close them as well.

If it’s with an international bank, then you might be able to open a new account in your home country and then simply transfer the money into it. However, if you decide to go this route, make sure you do so in advance as to ensure that you have enough time for the money to be transferred and for the account to be closed all before your departure.

It’s complicated to close accounts after leaving the country, so avoid that as much as you can. Doing all this is so important so that you can ensure that banks or companies don’t file a police case against you for absconding. This could result in you getting stopped when leaving Saudi Arabia or, if done later, from re-entering the country or even getting arrested upon re-entry.

Even if you have done everything, double checking can be useful since administrative mistakes can happen. Keep all proof of closure documents and proof of debt settlements with you.