it's a common practice here. You will buy your Visitor’s Visa in the airport upon arrival, of course later you will claim it as your expense and you will be reimbursed. Sometimes company is able to issue your working visa before you come to Qatar. So when you arrive, just check on the passport control, either you have a working visa issued or not. If not – buy the visitor’s visa. Next day after arriving you will start working and the Company will start your Residence procedure. First they transfer you from visitor’s visa under Working visa, and later will issue the Residence Permit (RP). That’s how it usually works. And all this process might take between 1 to 2 months depends on your company’s PRO. It a bit inconvenient to live without Residence here, as you cannot open a back account, to exchange your driver license to the local one, purchase a car, etc. But everybody go through it, and that is it.
BTW, don’t forget to bring the International Driver license, which you can use here for 3 months, otherwise you won’t be able to drive till you get your RP.
Police Clearance. It is better if you bring it with you. And, yes, it should be stamped by Canadian Ministry of Interior and by the Qatari embassy in Washington. But once in a while Consular Officer from the Canadian Embassy in Kuwait is coming here and issues CERTIFIED CRIMINAL RECORD CHECK by signing a "Statutory Declaration of No Criminal Record" in front of a Canadian Embassy official. Then you only have to stamp it in the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Doha. But this Consular Officer from the Canadian Embassy in Kuwait just has been here recently, so I am not sure when she is coming next time.
it's a common practice here. You will buy your Visitor’s Visa in the airport upon arrival, of course later you will claim it as your expense and you will be reimbursed. Sometimes company is able to issue your working visa before you come to Qatar. So when you arrive, just check on the passport control, either you have a working visa issued or not. If not – buy the visitor’s visa. Next day after arriving you will start working and the Company will start your Residence procedure. First they transfer you from visitor’s visa under Working visa, and later will issue the Residence Permit (RP). That’s how it usually works. And all this process might take between 1 to 2 months depends on your company’s PRO. It a bit inconvenient to live without Residence here, as you cannot open a back account, to exchange your driver license to the local one, purchase a car, etc. But everybody go through it, and that is it.
BTW, don’t forget to bring the International Driver license, which you can use here for 3 months, otherwise you won’t be able to drive till you get your RP.
Police Clearance. It is better if you bring it with you. And, yes, it should be stamped by Canadian Ministry of Interior and by the Qatari embassy in Washington. But once in a while Consular Officer from the Canadian Embassy in Kuwait is coming here and issues CERTIFIED CRIMINAL RECORD CHECK by signing a "Statutory Declaration of No Criminal Record" in front of a Canadian Embassy official. Then you only have to stamp it in the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Doha. But this Consular Officer from the Canadian Embassy in Kuwait just has been here recently, so I am not sure when she is coming next time.