The graft must stop!

I am writing this post to tell all of you who may be having issues with your visas and residencies the bottom line. Go to the Ministry of Interior yourselves and find out exactly what rights to which you are entitled and don’t fall into the trap I did.
I recently got married and needed to transfer an existing sponsorship to my husband’s sponsorship. I knew the situation was going to be a challenge without a release from my previous sponsor but I knew there had to be an entitlement for a transfer under the circumstances. The previous sponsor, a Palestinian national, was asking for a great deal of money in order to give me a release and I was not willing to pay extortion. I had no clue of what rights I did have and no way of finding out, or so I thought. We had consulted an attorney who told us this was straight forward and handed our situation over to a local Palestinian national who serves as a mandoob. When we met this man, in the course of 30 minutes we were given four different stories as to how this could work and were told it would be done within the week. This man took my PR card and my US passport. A week came and went. He called us that all was ready and to bring 1300 QR for the visa application and the actual residency. Nothing happened and we waited. This was about a week and a half before the beginning of Ramadan. Every day we called only to be told it was in process and that the next day it would be ready. About two days before the beginning of Ramadan we were told that it needed to be dealt with by the “CID” in order to procure a release and that the mandoob had a very well positioned Qatari man on the inside of the Ministry of Interior dealing with the situation. After a week of calling the mandoob inquiring as to the status we were given this man’s number. The man told us that he would personally take us to CID and help us through the procedure all the while making it seem like it was a very easy procedure. Fees were never discussed at this point and, up to then all that was paid were the 1300QR rounded up to 1500QR. The man told us that on the following Sunday he had arranged for us to go and meet a man he had on the inside of CID to help us expedite the process. Needless to say Sunday came and went and the man was no longer taking phone calls. The few times he did pick up his phone during Ramadan we were told that the “Big Chief”, the one needing to sign the papers, was not in the office. At the end of Ramadan, after six weeks of having done, we were told by the Qatari involved that the following Sunday would be the day. Nothing happened. Finally, after a nearly two months of my passport not being in my possession and no real residency to speak of, the man relented to “take” us to the station. Taking us entailed driving with us, handing the paperwork to us , whilst he admitted to my husband that the delay was actually because he didn’t work during Ramadan and it was all his fault nothing had moved, telling us where to go and waiting in the car because he said he couldn’t be seen with us in CID as the “Big Chief” didn’t like him and wouldn’t help us if he knew we came from “his side”. Going to the CID was easy. We were told they would help us. In fact, about a week and a half later they did call me to the station to let me give my side of the story so that they could approach my former sponsor. They admonished me while I was there that this could have all been dealt with much quicker by simply going to the Ministry of Interior and asking the questions that needed answering and starting the procedure, that we made it far bigger than it needed to be. A week later we were told the situation had been resolved and was on its way to process.
In the meantime, the Qatari man called my husband telling him a sob story about how he had no money in the bank and needed to pay for something having to do with business and if my husband would “loan” him 10,000 QR he would pay him on Thursday. When my husband refused nicely, he asked if he could come up with 5,000QR saying that would help him. My husband, understanding what he was asking , refused this request as well and called the mandoob who had involved him. A fee was negotiated of 4,000 QR. I must back up and say this was before the CID had admonished me that this was far simpler than we needed and until that point, the Qatari was still filling our heads with doom and gloom scenarios of being kicked out from the country.
After nearly 3 months, finally my husband sent his company mandoob to the Ministry of Interior to find out what was happening. He was told that the residence permit would be given within that week but this was still a totally different story to what was being said by the mandoob and the Qatari man. We did give, up to this date, the fees, and 2,000 QR from the date of first going to the CID. The bottom line here is, when this was all said and done, the visa was ready after three long months of being told “tomorrow, tomorrow” however we realized that all the lies these two men had told extorted money from us and asked for more. Go and find out what your rights you have coming! Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Too many times we are made to think that the Qatari government is this mystical, scary place that no one dare tread. They are not. They will help when needed and people like this mandoob and Qatari men prey upon people only to extract and extort money. Don’t waste your money on these people. Find out the facts and let’s stop the graft!