advice for families on the move
Be aware of the hiccups involved in moving to Qatar with your family!!! 4 days before we were due to leave as a family to begin our new life in Doha, the company my husband was to start work for, informed us that only he could come as they had discovered only he could be sponsored a visa by them! HR is a real nightmare here, uninformed, untrained and basically disinterested once you have signed a contract. It took 7 weeks for all the paperwork to be processed and for myself, my 3yr old and newborn, who by then was quite a big baby, to get here! after crashing with family for that time,we finally arrived! We are sharing a villa due to the housing allowance being too low to rent our own place and silly me thinking i could put my just turned 3 boy into a playgroup, nope, u need a letter from the dept. of education once they are 3, how long would that take i wonder? All the "good " english speaking schools, which only have english names, word of warning, have waiting lists longer than all our arms put together, unless u have a british passport, and cost a bomb. So my advice would be: don't accept an offer with less than 15 000Qr per month housing allowance, just enuf for a small villa if u r lucky like we were, schooling about 1500/month for toddlers, and don't bother phoning the schools or posting an application, get dressed up, go there and do a serious sales job on your kid or u will be compromising their education in a big way! other than the lengthy wait to get here, we are really enjoying Doha, people have been really friendly and we are looking forward to a great new life. Good luck and do lots of homework if u plan on moving!
I am about 1 month from accepting a position n Qatar. I have a new born daughter and 3 yr old son.
Thanks again
Max
you are looking at about QR 6000-8000 for the 2 bedroom flat alone, a new car will set u back QR1000/1500 then u still have to eat, pay petrol, car maintenance, utilities, insurance, any investments u have ie. pension/savings etc.- do yourself a monthly budget, include an entertainment allowance, and make sure you have some money to play with as rents are not controlled, your landlord can put it up anytime, and as much as he likes. Best option with your package, if you are single is to share! there are budgets that have been posted on this website so do a search. I can't really advise u much more than that as i have only been here 2 weeks myself! Good luck!!
well i recieved an offer that is 15K QR all inclusive. should i not accept it? but then again i am not looking to stay in a villa a two bedroom flat will do just fine for me...
One of the first times that I see someone put it out there exactly like it is - and by that I mean - the things that you REALLY need to take care of and be aware of before arriving.
River-Rat, Thank You.
(Some people like to see others suffer through what they've been through instead of warning others, just because in their minds, they think it's "fair")
Thanks again for putting it out there.
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" God allows life to be rocky. His challenge is not to let the rocks grind you into dust, but to polish you to become a brilliant gem. "
Well said.