Visa Q -- Bringing family member to Qatar
Hello all,
I have a question regarding obtaining a visa for a dependent. My husband and I both got hired by a U.S. company to work in Qatar but now there's a snag: the company is leery of including our son, who's 4-months old, in the letter of employment due to liability issues. So...what can we do?
I had read somewhere on this forum that it's possible to bring a family member on a travel visa, which will need to be renewed every 3 months, by going to Bahrain or Dubai.
Your advice will be greatly appreciated!!!
We did not have to have our baby's name on the letter of employment but he was born here so I don't know how that works.
Some of the US companies on the base do not allow children to come along as most of the contracts are single status and the housing includes roommates. For a married couple, it would be different because they could be assigned the same villa therefore they'd have 2 rooms. Which means maybe one roommate. My husband and I have dealt with this issue already. Not fun.
To sponsor a child parents need to provide the regular documents; birth certificate and marriage contract.
It is standard procedure for companies to include children. Tell them if they don't want to include him in the letter of employment then they should at least provide a letter to the Qatari Embassy to facilitate the issuing of a visa for him. All companies do this for dependents.
He's our biological child and he has his own passport. We'd like for all three of us to travel together but it may be me & my son traveling separately from my husband. Our goal is to travel together, though.
We called the Qatari Embassy and spoke with a rep in visa section and he said that our son will need to be added to the letter of employment. He wasn't very helpful beyond that, unfortunately. And we didn't want to raise the flag by asking him how we can circumvent the proper channel of bringing our son.
If we were to do what you suggest, wouldn't the consular official be suspicious of the fact that my husband and I will be travel on business visas but our son on a visitor's visa???
So is it easy to obtain residence permit? What are the requirements?
Is this your biological child?
Is your son travelling on an independent passport or is he listed on your/your husband's passport?
Are you all travelling together?
Answers to the above questions can help giving you a clearer answer.
Contact the Qatari Embassy in Washington, DC and explain your situation.
In practice you can get a visa for your son from the Embassy, once you arrive in Doha and you have your residence permit his entry visa can be transferred to a residence permit under your husband's sponsorhip, ie your husband will handle the formailities not the company.
It's more of a legal issue...can't really go into details. Anyway, so how can my husband sponsor our son? First of all, how can we bring him (our son) into the country without an entry visa?
I'd really appreciate the details as this may resolve the quandary the company/we're in.
Thanks much!
What sort of a cheap a** company absolves itslef of responsibility of a 4-MONTH-old!
God bless him.
Get a visa for your son, when you've arrived Dad can sponsor him!
Best.