The exodus of expats: A Qatari perspective
A few days ago, I met up with an old friend in West Bay who I haven’t seen in eons. Although not ‘from’ here, he was born and raised in Qatar, and he can speak the Qatari dialect as fluently as I do. He is from Iran, and his family business is in real estate. His family has many close ties to various prominent businessmen, and they consider Qatar to be their home, more so than their own native country.
At one point during our conversation, I asked my friend if he would ever pursue career opportunities abroad, and he quipped that he would prefer to stay here, because this is home. But even he contends that he might have to leave the country at the drop of a hat because, after all, his residence permit is contingent upon the the ability of a Qatari sponsor to keep him here.
Another good friend of mine recently got the axe from her workplace after working there for almost two years, because the organisation was downsizing due to budget cuts. However, her outcome was more favourable as she had anticipated her impending termination, and thus was able to secure another job within the private sector.
Although she only came to the country for employment purposes, it didn’t take much time for her to fall in love with Qatar, but her situation is not that different from my aforementioned friend, as she could also leave at any given moment.
I could keep going on citing other examples, but you can discern the common theme here: Countless foreigners uproot their entire lives, come to Qatar, sometimes with their respective families, and build a life here that they cherish for many reasons, but feel that they are not guaranteed any sense of long-term security or stability.
Therefore, they opt to forego making significant financial investments that would invariably benefit the economy, or when they do, the risks are usually very high and precarious.
Although what I’m stating might seem obvious, the reason I bring this up now is because it is ever more relevant, as demonstrated by the recent massive lay offs of expatriates that are still taking place throughout different sectors in the country. I myself have seen first-hand how people who lived here since I was born depart Qatar with a heavy heart; not because they wanted to, but because they had to.
As a passionate Qatari, I believe we as a nation need to re-evaluate our system so that we can create one that retains people with intellectual capital and competitive skill sets who can invest in Qatar and contribute towards making it a sustainable post-oil economy. In due course, we can have a natural filtration process that weeds out the people that come to Qatar with the express objective of making money without commitment to its growth and development.
Not only will this benefit the economy, but it will allow also expatriates a sense of belonging that will inevitably create a happier, satisfied and more stable society.
Author Bio:
An unorthodox Qatari millennial with an entrepreneurial spirit and incurable case of wanderlust.
Devoted 21 years of my life to Qatar and got nothing in return. That's how it is, folks. Sad, but true.
Yeah i agree with Naseer, there is no criteria any one, anytime can be said goodbye. I know to balance the economy is critical but these expats spend the golden time of their lives to build Qatar should be appreciated in some way.
We ve a validity of ONLY ONE BREATH so no need to worry about deep roots here or anywhere. Where is our grand father & where is our grand mom ? ....................
Dear Mr. Nasser, actually I was sharing the same idea with many of my friends here in Qatar. For any economy it is not good to rely on only one resource. The real strength of any economy is to have an active market where the people are well educated ,culturally matured and well paid too. Also the role of SMEs are important to offer more employment in private sector. The development of private sector will increase the opportunities in public sector too because the government has to bring more systems and controls to monitor the private sector. There are many very rich foreigners here who are ready to invest and settle down here in Qatar if permanent residency is given even without voting right. They need only all other rights of citizen the except voting right. They can be considered for voting may be after certain period of stay and their contribution to the country. If you look at the countries like Australia, Canada, Singapore and some other countries in Europe and America have been developed and become very strong economy in the world just because they invite any people from any part of the world considering only their education, experience and professional qualities and their potential for the contribution to the country. No doubt; Qatar also is a good economy. Nevertheless, when we look to the future if Qatar can take highly talented and good business people as their permanent residents, it will for sure help the economy to grow and prosper. Now the foreigners are not doing much investments in Qatar as there is no guarantee of ownership of property and investments they do. Qatar can follow the same migration rules which the above countries follow. I strongly believe that Qatar can become the best real economy in the world if they allow such good people to settle down here. As foreigner I am here since 2012 running a small successful business, but now I am thinking of moving to Australia or Canada. Most of the business people and professionals are ready to move to Australia or Canad etc..if there is any chance. This is because they can settle there as in their own countries. These countries growing faster because they are attracted by such highly talented people around the world. My personal opinion is that Qatar also follow the same model to build an economy which is much stronger and growing faster .
This is not easy for a small nation like Qatar. They have to balance the need of the economy with the need of their peoples.
The essential criteria may include:
1. Have lived in the country for more than 10 years along with the family.
2. Have no criminal record.
3. Knows Arabic and local culture
4. Is ready to serve, at least one family member in the local security service for at least 2 years.
5. Have a sustainable job or business, here.
6. If lived for 10 years, then entitled for permanent residency of another 5 years (renewable).
If lived for 20 years then 10 years residency (renewable) and so on.
The blogger is right in taking up this issue for proactive consideration by the decision makers, because wasting away such huge number of experienced hands and talent is no good to the country's future.