Just Blowing Off Steam
When my employer sent me my visa via email, one is immediately apparent- my gender is incorrect. I quickly pointed it out to him but I did not get any response. I thought perhaps it was no big deal, because,why would he send it in the first place if it's going to be a problem? Besides I read some threads here that it's no biggie. So, I went through several procedures that my country requires before departure,I gave up the lease of my apartment, hauled my son off in the care of my parents 500 miles away and book a flight for doha. And all that time I did not hear from my employer. When finally I'm ready to go, i emailed them to let them know I'm coming on a certain date. Whaddayaknow, i got a call. I was told not to go on that visa because I will be sent a corrected copy. I am floored.Why didn't he say so before?I so much want to curse the guy but I want this job so much that I restrained myself. Told me that the visa will be sent next week. But 4 next weeks later, still no visa. Now here I am, everyday-waiting and waiting. I have to ask my landlord to let me stay another month in the apartment...I am so furious! Grrr!
Efficiency and communication don't seem to be their strongest point. I put it down to "Arab time". The inability to meet expected deadlines or do things in the time frame that they implied. For example, a 1pm lunch date, may actually be at 3pm. They don't seem to put as much emphasis on the importance of timing. Guess it might just be a culture thing.
That happens to one out of ten propective employee to be in Qatar. Too bad. But then you have to be patience in dealing with this eventhough you the need the job badly. Don't ruch to make the first move until you know all papers are in order
Is it usual for contracts of employment to be signed in Qatar and are potential employees sent a draft copy of the contract first?
I was still holding to my old job, until every detail of the contract was satisfactory. Specially when I had to relocated 5 states away. Until one day after supposedly waiting 3 weeks, they send me the best offered letter via regular mail.
My returned call was very cordial to them. After listening to the HR man speak his heart out, I told him: Did you ever noticed that relocating cost money and gas? All I'm asking was first month rent deposit, refund for my gas mileage and some kind of compensation for expenses of moving. The HR guy kept giving empty words of annual bonuses and nothing in writing, finally I told him: I will call you with an answer.
I kept the old job, got a pay raise and more hours later during that month. I totally forgot about the other job offer/new company.
One day I received a call from them asking me to report to work on certain date, they will take care of everything. I replied back to them , Sure I'm ready. I will be there in 30 seconds, just keep waiting for me..... I found out they laid off 140 people, six month later.
Cardinal OF QATAR LIVING
Good day to you.
I can feel your pain and sorry.
Immigration in here is dead slow especially during ramadhan, it is arriving in a couple of days, they dont work at all during this period and believe me once after this month EID holidays will approach. So, you need to get things sorted our quick or need to wait for another 6-8 weeks atleast...
Similar thing happened to us. We put our stuff in storage, rented out our house and moved in with my parents "for just one week" since we already had our departure date arranged with the company. One week turned into a month, then we ran into an Eid so everyone in Qatar went on vacation (not that they told us this, we had to figure it out). Eventually we got here but it taught us something important: never make major life changes until you have everything you need IN HAND. They mean well, but written or verbal promises don't mean much. Keep this in mind when you start working too... We also were told we had a furniture allowance, so finally after 6 weeks of sleeping on the floor and hearing "next week you will get money for furniture", we finally sucked it up and put it all on the credit card, assuming we would eventually get the allowance. Nope, we're still paying it off, no furniture allowance (and to be honest, I would have shopped at the souqs instead of the mall if I had know I was going to pay it all out of pocket)... So, be careful. Unfortunately, one often has to make decisions based on insufficient information here. I can't tell you how many times I have looked back on a decision and said "if only I knew this... when I made that decision". Oh well. Life in Qatar. Challenging but interesting.