Visa - Uk and Australian original documents needed or are copies acceptable if they are certified

You are lucky in that your employer has actually got a Handbook for new arrivals, unlike one major hospital I could mention.

Catherineanne, my apartment is in a state of chaos as I'm packing my things up in preparation for my move on Sunday. I last had sight of the documents three months ago when they asked for them to process my visa, I've no idea whereabouts in my apartment they are at the moment (except my passport, I have that!).

I am on single status though, not a family visa. Here is the information from my employer's handbook:

"- Family Visa: this is needed to allow your wife (or husband), and children, to join you in Doha. However, you must first obtain your residence permit. This visa is valid for 6 months from the issuing date. Family dependents also receive residence permits, and are deemed to be under the sponsorship of the family member

employed in Qatar.

Documents needed for this visa are:

• Application form (obtainable from External Affairs Dept)

• Copy of your passport.

• Copy of your Government ID

• Copy of your residence permit

• Letter from the Company

• Copy of your Education Certificate

• Copy of your Marriage Certificate (stamped by the appropriate Embassy and Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

• Copy of the Birth Certificate(s) for children (stamped by the Embassy and Ministry of Foreign Affairs)"

It looks as though marriage and birth certificates only require stamping, and not all your documents.

I'm sorry, I really can't be of any further assistance, because I'm not bringing family with me and am not going through the same process.

I was under the impression that the whole process stazrted again for the residency visa - that all documents would have to be presented - and with offical stamps on them from the local embassy. You may want to check with your HR department before you get on the plane - I'd be grateful if you let me know what they say.

Good luck with the settling process!

I didn't realise I was supposed to bring certificates with me to Doha?

The procedure followed by the company I'm going to be working for was that I was sent an offer letter. I was asked to sign the offer letter and return it with copies of my passport and educational certificates.

I just scanned them all and sent them as image files attached to an email.

They used those to process the entry visa/permit.

I haven't been told that I will also need them to get the Resident's Permit. I was assuming that all those formalities were over and done with.

So far as I'm aware, once you arrive in the country, the process of getting your Resident's Permit involves having your fingerprints taken and a medical, no one has mentioned anything to me about having to submit further copies of documentation.

I'm in the middle of packing my clothes for my flight out there at the weekend and wasn't intending to bring all those old personal documents with me (except for my passport, of course), I was intending to store them safely in my apartment back home.

Thanks for that information. The only information I've got is from the HR welcome guide that says they should be certified but I gather things can be a little different in reality. So you jst scanned documents for the residency visa? I need to get a family visa - is that your experience as well. I just worry about getting to Doha without certified copied and then having to go to who knows where there is an Australian Embassy in the Gulf to get them certified!

Oh, I've just thought, maybe if they say they definitely want them to be certified, they may also specify that they want an official stamp on them? In which case, the above won't work.

p.s. [pedantry]As a member of the Commonwealth, Australia doesn't have an embassy in London, it has a High Commission.[/pedantry]

Check whether they actually need to be certified.

I just scanned copies of my certificates and passport and emailed across the .JPGs, I wasn't asked to get them certified.

If you definitely need to get them certified, as an Aus in London, do you not have any friends working for law firms, either as lawyers or secretarial/admin, either temp or perm? They have stamps saying something like 'I hereby certify this is a true copy of the original ...........' with a signature space.

If you do ask your friends to take your documents in to work, run them through the photocopier, ask a secretary for the rubber stamp, put it in front of a nice friendly lawyer (there are some!), say I have a friend who needs some copies certifying, and hey presto.

When I've worked for law firms in the past, I would have done that for a friend.