Is there any way my local friend can sponsor me to remain in Qatar?
Hi all,
I have a Qatari friend who says he'd be happy to sponsor me to stay in Qatar - except that neither of us knows if there's an easy way to make this happen; my friend neither owns, nor is involved, in any business.
He does happen to belong to the Aal Thani family though - I'm only mentioning this in case anyone happens to know if that grants him any special concessions as far the sponsorship issue is concerned. (To foretall any snide remarks about being born into privilege etc. I'll mention here that he's an extremely nice, unassuming and down-to-earth guy.)
Is there a way out here? For example - registering a company, or something like that? At the moment we're not planning to actually do business together, so if there's a way it shouldn't be too costly (a few thousand riyals is acceptable), nor should it involve too much hassle for my friend - I don't want to inconvenience him too much.
Constructive suggestions and advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
There was a mistake in my previous post: the visa that QF bring you in is entitled "GOVERNMENT-OFFICIAL SINGLE ENTRY", *not* a normal visit visa.
There are some jobs in some of the research institutes here (under Qatar Foundation's umbrella) where they can hire you as a "freelancer" on a short-term contract. Usually the contract period is 6 months, so QF bring you in on a visit visa. And at the end of the contract period normally you return to your country. But another option is that if you are already in Qatar under someone else's sponsorship they can still hire you (as long as you can submit a no-objection certificate and some other documents from your sponsor).
I've been working on such a contract, but I came in on a visit visa issued by QF (i.e. the first option), and my contract and visa are about to expire. My supervisor is willing to interested in extending the contract for another term, but extending the visit visa beyond 6 months is the issue apparently - he put in a request, but it was denied by HR because of the visa issue. If I can sort out my visa issues so that my friend becomes my sponsor, hopefully I can get an extension through the second option.
Plus I've worked as a private tutor (that's how I know the local guy - I've been tutoring his younger brothers for several moth). Even if I don't get an extension at QF, I can carry on with private tutoring (in many ways better than a conventional job!)
To cut a long story short, I have things I can do here independent of whose visa I'm under - so that's not a worry for me inshaa'Allah.
If you are employed , they must be giving you visa & all the support , if you aren't working what 'll be your purpose to stay here ... .......
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Thu , 10.04.2014 , 07.35 hrs ......................................................................................................