How to bring my family with me when moving to Doha?
Hi,
I'm in the process of being offered a position to work in Doha.
I'm Australian, but I live in Canada with my wife and 15 month old child who are both Canadian citizens.
A big factor for us in accepting the position or not is the possibility of my wife and child being able to travel with me to live when I first leave and stay there in Qatar as a family.
I've been reading differlent things about the different visas from a tourist, to a visit visa, to a family visa, but I'm confused as to exactly how this actually all works, and if indeed it is even possible for my family to come over with me without having to leave the country at the end of a tourist visa?
Is there something my employer can do to get my family out here permenantly from the get go as well?
Can someone please give me the low down on how this all works?
Thanks for any advice that can be given!
Regards,
Tony
Hi Tony,
I came here abouyt 5 months ago as well from Calgary, Alberta. Things are not as very well organized here.
I am not sure you can apply for a family visa right away. You need to meet certain requirements before your family can join you which indirectl means you have to be here first, to meet all requirements before you can apply for them. Thisis the reason why most poeple bring their family on a tourist or visitor visa as they have to be here to process there RP.
On another note the process for attestation of documents is very difficult. You wilhave to attest your certificates first with teh Ministry of Foreign Affiars in Ottawa, and then by MOFA at the Qatar embassy in Ottawa before you come. Once you get here, the same process will need to be done first at the Canadian embasssy (which I am told at the embassy now that they d not do) and then at MOFA here as well before you can get your RP or sponsor your family. I am going through that right now as it is a mess. You will nee to do the same for your marriage certificate.
My advise is get a proper handle on what documents need to be attested and make sure you go through all the process on teh Camnadian side before you get here. It is very messy and and very frustrating to have to arrange for document attestion remotely.
If you have school age children, schools are not cheap. make sure you put all of that into consideration when you negotiate your offer.
If you need any further information i will be more than happy to call.
Thanks to everyone for replying to my post. I will be speaking to the company once I get a formal offer and hopefully they can sort something, if not I'll go down the tourist visa path. Thanks again.
If your family is Canadian Citizen then they Entitled for Visa on arrival. Initially it is 1 month. You can extend it total 4 month. When your company will Provide your work visa you can take them with as I mentioned above. After coming here try to proceed for their resident permit. You will get all information on below link.
http://dohahamadairport.com/airport-guide/at-the-airport/visas-immigration
It is possible.. Your company can do it ..
My advice is this: ask your company to apply for a family visa now. Do not come unless you have the visa for your wife and child. Everything else might be a big hassle.