I just got here about three weeks ago...also from Louisiana in fact.
My wife arrived here about 10 days after I did and was able to get a tourist visa at the airport. Her tourist visa is good for one month initially, and can be extended for one month after that. After that two months I will probably have just gotten my residency and will be working on hers, but she will not be able to extend her visa again. What she will have to do is fly to Bahrain (or Dubai, she just has to leave Qatar) and come back, at which point she can get another one month tourist visa. By the time the second round of visas are expired I should have her under my sponsorship.
The flights back and forth to Bahrain for visa "reset" purposes are rather common, and I think they will run about $300US.
Feel free to reply with any other questions about this process that you may have...hope this helps.
I just got here about three weeks ago...also from Louisiana in fact.
My wife arrived here about 10 days after I did and was able to get a tourist visa at the airport. Her tourist visa is good for one month initially, and can be extended for one month after that. After that two months I will probably have just gotten my residency and will be working on hers, but she will not be able to extend her visa again. What she will have to do is fly to Bahrain (or Dubai, she just has to leave Qatar) and come back, at which point she can get another one month tourist visa. By the time the second round of visas are expired I should have her under my sponsorship.
The flights back and forth to Bahrain for visa "reset" purposes are rather common, and I think they will run about $300US.
Feel free to reply with any other questions about this process that you may have...hope this helps.