Qatar Sponsorship: New Law Under Consideration

A new sponsorship law for Qatar, which will allow employees to change jobs, is under consideration according to the outgoing US ambassador. The law, which was reported in Business Intelligence Middle East, may be a response to the US State Department's annual trafficking report which heavily criticised Qatar as a country which was a destination for human trafficking for the purposes of involuntary servitude.

Currently an employee arriving in Qatar may not change job without his or her employers permission - or leave the country, take out a loan or enjoy other rights taken for granted in other parts of the world. While the Government have made noises about removing the system of sponsorship in the past (see the End of Sponsorship?), there has been some resistance by local businesses.

Ultimately, allowing employees to change jobs should benefit the country as a whole, as skilled workers will remain in the country. It will also mean Qatar will be coming more into line with international standards.

Qatar has made great strides towards becoming a fairer, modern and more just society in the past few years. While, as both American and Amnesty International reports show, the country is not perfect, Qatar has put a stop to child camel jockeys, improved women's rights and started on the road to democracy. Hopefully an adjustment to the much disliked sponsorship law, if not its abolition, will be the next step.

Also see: Finding Work in Qatar

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Camel Road Sign

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Predicted increase in rents

A real estate firm has predicted that the price of rents in Qatar will increase. Reg Barichievy, general manager of a real estate firm in Qatar, believes that there will two years of rent rises before there is any fall. Qatar Journal mentions that many Qatar Living readers are sceptical.

These things are notoriously difficult to predict, and I am certainly not brave enough to guess what's going to happen. It is interesting, though, that a recent article reported that some landlords were holding on to empty apartments rather than accepting lower rents, which suggests rents are already too high.

Huge building has been continuing in Doha suggesting that the supply of property is going to increase. Silmutaneously, there seems a distinct possibility of a global slow-down with the sub-prime morgage crisis in America and a shortage of credit around the world. Perhaps Reg believes that the huge predicted growth in Qatar's gas output will innure Qatar to these factors. If he has right, we could see yet more long term Doha residents leave the country.

Also see: Renting in Doha

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An interview with the Emir

An interview with Sheik Hamad and his wife, Sheikha Moza.





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New Traffic Regulations

Qatar is getting tougher again with its chaotic drivers with the implementation of a new traffic law. Driving in Qatar has been compared to an extreme sport by the US State Department, and fines, despite the huge number that have been paid, have proved ineffective. Now offenders will get points as well as pay fines, and can eventually lose their license. (See Traffic Offences for more details of the complicated system.) In addition, other penalties have been made tougher, and will include fines of up to QR50,000 and prison sentences.

While this is a positive step in a country where seventy percent of youth’s deaths are caused by traffic accidents, there are concerns about fair implementation. After all, this is the country where a senior policeman blamed the state of the roads on Indian drivers. While it is true to say there are many dangerous expat drivers, Qataris have to take some of the blame. There is, after all, a big difference between being a skilled driver and being a safe driver.

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Driving in Qatar: Practical Information

Qatar Visitor's 90 Second Guide to Driving in Qatar (podcast)

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Qatar Airways: Five Star?

Qatar Airways, the "five star airline" has won three new skytrax awards: best airline in the Middle East, best Cabin Crew and best first class in the world.

I have to admit I am getting tired of Qatar Airways five star claims. I was especially annoyed during a recent flight with them. While flying we had to watch their advertisement, which included their interactive entertainment system. We didn't have any choice over to whether to watch it or not, because this was one of the flights where they didn't have an interactive entertainment system.

Normally I wouldn't complain - I am lucky to be able to travel by plane. But it's not five star.

Worse, however, was the fact there was no soap in the toilets. I particularly felt this because my one year old had diarrhoea. This wasn't due to the baby meal, because they had forgotten it. The time before they had forgotten the child meal.

Although they remembered the child meal, the container was so hot we burnt our fingers on it. There was a bag of crisps - our child had one and burst into tears because they were spicy.

Qatar Airways is not a terrible airline, but they seem to struggle with anything out of the ordinary. It certainly doesn't compare to the best airlines I've flown with. I'd personally rate it as three star rather than five star.

Qatar Travel Guide

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Inflation falls in Qatar

Inflation has fallen slightly in Qatar according to Qatar’s central bank, although at 12.5% it is still well above Qatar’s interest rates. The fall in inflation seems to be mainly due to a slowing in the price of renting and buying property, which rose at a mere 27% in the three months to the end of June (compared to 35% to the end of March).

Qatar claims that inflation is due to the booming economy. While this is undoubtedly a factor, Qatar’s crazy policy of low interest rates and pegging the riyal to the dollar is also a major factor. Meanwhile, people are seeing the value of the wages stripped away. Some long term Doha residents are starting to leave – sometimes very reluctantly. Some Qataris are also suffering, with young people putting off their inordinately expensive weddings to later in life, and spending longer in the family home.

If you are considering to Qatar, remember to factor inflation into your calculations. Try also to find a contract where accommodation is included!

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Qatar To Host Asian Cup 2011

Qatar will be the host nation for the 2011 Asian Cup, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced today.

Qatar was the only country from West Asia to submit a bid to host the competition and was duly awarded the event by the AFC ahead of today's Asian Cup final between Iraq and Saudi Arabia in Jakarta.

AFC President Mohamed Bin Hammam, himself a Qatari, said of the decision:

"I think it will be a great tournament. The Asian Cup from now on will be different from what we've seen in the past, in terms of organisation, in terms of popularity and in terms of standard. This is my promise to you."

Qatar previously hosted the Asian Cup in 1988 and along with Iran (1968 and 1976) is now the only country to host the event more than once.

The tournament will most likely be staged in January, as the weather in a July tournament would be too hot for the players in the Gulf state.

Qatar successfully hosted the Asian Games in 2006.

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Qatar Sheik holds up British Airways plane

According to this MSNBC article, an Al Thani Sheik (the Al Thani family are the royal family in Qatar) held up a British Airways plane for several hours when he realised several female members of his family were seated next to men.

When other business class passengers in the plane refused to change places, he stormed into the pilot's cabin to complain.

Eventually, he, his family and his servants had to leave the plane. However, by this time three hours had passed and fifty furious passengers missed their connecting flights in London.

This story must sound strange to someone who has never lived in Qatar. However, many Qataris believe very strongly that women should not be exposed to strange men. This belief is so strong that many women cover their faces with black veils.

A common misconception is that is covering their face is part of their religion. In fact, when women undertake the pilgrimage to Mecca they are obliged to uncover both their hands and their face.

Families are also very concerned about honour. An insult to a women is an insult to their families honour.

Qataris are also not accustomed to people saying no to them. Most Qataris have servants, and expect instant service in shops and restaurants. A Qatari will not normally get out of his car at a corner shop or cafe - instead he will beep his horn until an assistant runs up to take his order.

In this holiday season Qataris, many of whom are now fleeing the desert heat, may have some difficulty in adjusting to different standards abroad - especially in countries where a more egalitarian culture exists.

Read more about Qatar Culture.

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Qatar Hotel Rating System

The Qatar Tourism Authority has completed the first stage of its hotel rating procedure, Ame Info reported today. All the hotels in Qatar have been rated on factors such as service, room size and hygiene, and will receive their rating by the end of the summer.

The second stage of the hotel rating will see hotels rewarded with points for additional services rendered. The hotel rating procedure will be repeated on annual basis – and with 7000 hotel rooms currently under development, they are going to be kept busy.

Qatar Tourism Authority has stated that it wishes to avoid following Dubai’s route of over-hyping its hotel with six and seven star ratings, sticking instead to the standard five star rating.

Hopefully this will improve the standards of Qatar’s hotels, which can vary considerably – see our Hotel Guide for more information.


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Another Uruguayan Football Player?

Qatar has, it seems, become rather fond of Uruguayan football players.

Sebastian Quintana has not only played in the Q-league for several years, he also now competes at a national level with the Qatar National Football Team.

He’s also one of their top scorers, playing a large role in Qatar’s victory over Iran in the finals of the Asian Olympics, in which he scored a total of four goals. He also saved Qatar from disgrace in the Asian Cup this month after Qatar’s star player Khalfan Ibrahim was injured: scoring a goal against each of the three countries that they played: Vietnam, Japan and the UAE.

Now it seems Qatar’s love affair with Uruguayan players may be extended According to Goal.com Al Sadd are hoping to snag Alvaro Recoba . Al Sadd, the richest club in Qatar (not surprising as they are sponsored by the members of the Emir’s family) and the recent winner of the Emir’s cup have offered a reported 3.1 million Euro a season pay check for the 31 year old “El Chino”, as the Uruguayan player is known.

Alvaro, who was once (briefly) the highest played player in the world, gained world cup experience with the Uruguayan National Team in 2002, and has gained over 50 caps playing for his country.

Also see:

Qatar Football
Our football blog: soccerphile.com

Summer heat

When you walk out of the door on a hot summer day in Qatar the heat doesn’t just hit you, it slams into you like a Nissan pick up truck on a Doha roundabout.

It sucks the moisture out of you, and drains your energy – and melted the rubber off my car windows. You can hide in your air-conditioned house, but the air-conditioner can’t defeat the heat, just hold it off.

Not that we who can hide in air-conditioned houses can complain. You still see workers on the road, moving as slowly as they can, but any exertion in this sun and heat is hell. Some of the better companies train their employees how to deal with heat stress, but there is only so much you can do.

At least we have air-conditioners now. My former boss related how, in his village school, the children would move their chairs across the classroom as the day progressed to stay in the shade. At night they would sleep on the roofs of their houses – something that many immigrant workers still do.

It’s not surprising, then, that in the summer Doha becomes a dead town. Clubs also shut down, trips are delayed till the autumn, and roads become passable. Anybody whose anybody will do anything to get out of the oven in these hot summer months.

And that includes us. We will be taking our vacation, and the blog, though not dead, will be different. Even if we were going to stay here, it’s too hot to go and explore and take photos. Posts for the time being will be more focussed on interesting news and will be less regular.

We’ll back in September – with the cool we hope – and more posts.


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Qatar Visitor Website

Ten months after we have started this project, our website is finally up. It’s a bit of a relief, as keeping the blog going at the same time as developing the website has been a bit of a strain!

In terms of the quantity and quality of the information provided on a travel guide website we hope to break new ground. Our aim has always been to provide all the information that people need to:

- visit Qatar
- decide whether to move to Qatar
- to settle in to Qatar

We have also provided information about the history and culture of Qatar, as well as images, sounds and movies.

We’ll be adding more to the website in the future, including a flash map (when it’s finished!)

Just like the blog, the website is totally free, and advertising will (hopefully) pay for all hosting and other costs.

So have a browse around – we’ll welcome any comments!


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