Switching from Tourist Visa to Work Visa?

Hello everyone,

I am wondering if anyone has experience with switching from a tourist visa to a work visa in Qatar, as well as how likely it could be to secure a job there whilst on the tourist visa?

I’ve recently accepted a job in Doha. My husband and I are very excited to relocate to Qatar from Canada and we think it would be a great career opportunity (hopefully) for both of us. The problem lies in the fact that, while a woman technically could sponsor her husband, it is very rarely successful – and if successful, a husband sponsored by his wife cannot work.

My new employer has advised us that the best and only course – aside from somehow getting his own job offer in the next few months before we move, which is unlikely – is for him to enter on a tourist visa and just keep renewing it indefinitely until he finds a job and gets a work visa. We have been told that with his Canadian passport he just has to show up, pay the fee, and if necessary exit the country every other month to Dubai or Bahrain for the day, then come back and renew. My employer will provide his airfare and relocation expenses along with mine, as well as provide insurance for him – basically everything but the work visa.

He has been contacting companies and applying for positions like crazy, and has made what we hope is some positive headway – he already has a list of companies who have expressed interest in meeting with him when we arrive at the end of August. To return to my initial questions: does anyone have experience with this type of situation? Do you know anyone with experience of job searching whilst on the tourist visa and how successful, or unsuccessful, they were? Also, any experience in renewing a tourist visa multiple times? My employer has ensured us it can be done, and that some people renew them for upwards of a year, but the information out there is terribly conflicting – some of it saying it can’t be done at all!

Any information would be greatly appreciated; thanks is advance

(I know a lot of it depends on career field, so for additional reference he is a business journalist & editor with special interest in commercial real estate)