Calling all Ex-Pats, Can you tell a UK person the pros and cons of life in Qatar?

If this will be your first experience in the gulf if it is at all possible try and get the company to get you out here for a look see. I was flown out here for a face to face interview and it was good to have a quick look around and get a feel for the place. It helped me make my mind up!

Qatar is better place than u think.. u don't have to worry much... Good Luck.

I recently moved here with my husband, and there certainly are pros and cons.

Food - there are quite a lot of things that you can't easily get here, you only realise it when you need something specifically and cannot find it.

On the whole you can get most things, there is just not the variety. No Bacon is a major thing, and eating out can be exceedingly cheap or very expensive.

If you want to have a drink with your meal that is when it gets exensive, we recently went for a curry in a hotel so we could have a beer with our meal, the alcohol bill was 5x the cost of the food, and we really did not have that much to drink!

But the salaries are much better, but there are still some drawbacks to working, dependent on the company you work for. I work for a Qatari run organisation, and the level of behaviour to non-Qataris leaves a lot to be desired. If I had experienced something like this in the UK I would have been in my rights to put in a grievance against my employer, but here there are very few labour laws. Basically you just have to have a thick skin.

If you plan to work, I would suggest doing so under your husbands sponsorship. Cannot go into too much detail but it is much better for you.

Another thing, I thought I would have met more people since being here, I have made the effort to get to know people and acquire friends, but it just has not happened the way I thought it would. I think a lot of expats work such long hours they don't have the energy for much of a social life.

I don't want to appear too negative, but these are the realities, I think that if you move here with a positive attitude you will be fine.

If you want to ask me a question I can be more specific.

jjj75

Which part of the UK are you from?

Pros:

1)cheap fuel

2)you wont' have to think about the price of a loaf of bread

3)No tax

4)Crime rate is low.

5)You won't have to drive through dreadful snow or strong winds. I used to live in Scotland myself so I know what I'm talking about.

Cons

1)Can't have natural intimacy on the beach (Read the news about the two lover birds in Dubai!!!)

2)It's hot

3)it's full of indians and filipinos. They are all very nice though, but if you are racist then don't bother. From your question, you are not so you'll be ok.

Hey, you environment reacts to your actions......remember Newton's Third Law of Motion? Action and Reaction are equal and opposite in magnitude and direction.

Be nice to people and others will reciprocate

Hi Jo,

We have just moved to qatar ourselves after living in Kuwait for almost 3 years. What is miss mostly is nature!! You can get most groceries here (with the exception of some really specific nigella lawson cooking book items!! trust me, I have looked everywhere!).

megamart has a big stock of waitrose and iceland stuff and my british husband seems quite content with it all.

What is good about living here is the quality of life. We like having help in the house and that is easy to have here. i generally like the pace of life here. And putting petrol in my tank without having to check my bank balance first!

Send me an email for more specific questions and maybe I can help you out.

Love,

Linda

Pros - you wont be living in the UK

Cons - you wont be living in the UK

But seriously, you can get all your creature comforts here. Browse/search around this site for a bit and you'll find answers to all your queries.