Hamad certainly has women sponsoring their husbands. They may limit this to only certain professional categories, I don't know why is going on there. They tend to be a little hit-or-miss in terms of HR. I know they can be good but I've heard the opposite as well. You don't want to get caught in the middle or have an HR person who has his/her head up his butt. This IS an important issue, for heaven's sake. If they can't firmly promise you the moon before you come and show evidence of this, think how they will treat you later, for instance when it comes to vacation, children's sickness, etc.
Mandi