Renewing your Residence Permit

We have been reviewing our post on Renewing your Residence Permit, and after finding that the forms were not yet on Hukoomi we have added PDFs of the relevant form along with the accompanying notes to our website:

Qatar Residence Permits Forms:

Form to Renew Residence Permit | Important Notes

You may also find our updated post on Renewing Residence Permits for Families useful.

Also see our Regularly Updated Qatar Visa Information and our Qatar Visa Forum

Family Picnic

Doha can be a hectic place in the week, full of roaring cars with blaring horns and frustrated drivers with blazing tempers. But on Friday mornings peace falls, and families like this one can gather together to enjoy a moment of peace in a city which, despite its location in the desert, is suprisingly green.

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Domestic Workers

Qataris were up in arms yesterday after a proposal by the government to limit household to a maximum of two domestic workers, according to a story in the Peninsula.

As Qataris themselves point out, not every Qatari is rich. But with salaries of domestic workers starting at just QAR600 ($165 or GBP100) almost every Qatari family can and does have domestic workers.

To Westerners, coming from a culture where only the super rich can afford domestic workers, this may seem spoilt. However, many families could just not manage without help. An increasing number of Qatari women work nowadays, and with both parents in work by seven, even the school run becomes unfeasible without help.

Add to this the fact that large families are the norm, with familes often having six children or more, and you can see why Qataris become anxious at the thought of losing domestic help.

An additional proposal is for employment agencies to provide domestic workers on an hourly or daily basis. This might have the additional benefit of reducing abuse of domestic workers, with employment agencies able - and hopefully required - to monitor the workers. It could also reduce the large amount of runaways, many of whom then take on illegal work, but who get trapped in the country, unable to leave without first being taken into detention.

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Christmas in Qatar

Christmas Past

Once upon a time in Qatar Christmas was, if not exactly banned, at least discouraged. Pictures of Christmas in foreign newspapers were blacked out, Christmas songs were discouraged and, according to one old timer on Qatar Living, in 1983 the word Merry Christmas was banned on QBS after the murder of thousands of Muslims in Lebanon by Christians caused an anti-Christian backlash. As a result the term Merry Crimble was used instead!

Christmas Present

Fortunately for Christmas lovers, Qatar now allows Christmas to be celebrated quietly. Some malls go so far as to put up Christmas trees and decorations, and last year one Muslim scholar stated that it was okay for Muslims to celebrate Christmas in a non-religious sense. (Although we should also point out there are lots of Muslims who disagree with him.) Some Qataris go as far as to decorate their houses and give presents.

It is also generally acceptable to give Muslims cards, but look for a card saying Seasons Greetings rather than Merry Christmas. Obviously, any card with a religious symbol on it would be completely unacceptable.

My favourite story regarding Christmas in Qatar is of a couple of Westerners doing business with some Qataris on Christmas Day. At the end of the negotiations, the Western businessmen were lead into a separate room where some mince pies with a glass of brandy awaited them. While I have no idea if this story is true or not, to me it is a wonderful example of the tolerance that we enjoy in Qatar.

Christmas Shopping

Obviously, it may not be as easy to buy the Christmas tree and decorations as it is back home, but it is possible. The AWA’s bazaar, which usually sells Christmas decorations and cards, has sadly already slipped past us this year, but Megamart (which you will find located in The Center) always has a good selection of decorations and the odd plastic tree.

Unfortunately it is also extremely expensive - the mince pies can be three or four times as much as they cost in the UK. (We know because sometimes they leave the original Waitrose price tag on! If you want to try saving money you could make your own - see the recipe below!) Rather more cheap and cheerful is the upstairs floor of the Family Food Center - you'll find branches of this shop on D ring road close to the airport and in Al Nasser street (the opposite end from C ring road.)

For stocking fillers it is worth heading off to the cheaper shops, where you will any number of cheap and cheerful goods for a few riyals. You could start dig around the shops in Souq Waqif will be sure to get you a good range of toys (try the spinning top - it kept our kids entertained for hours!)

We also like the cheap shops located along Ahmed Bin Ali Street: Al Shaheen and Rawnaq. The second, Rawnaq, is an amazing place - sticking its head just above the ground with two glass conservatories, it seems small, but becomes huge when you disappear underneath, and offers no end of cheap junk for you to rummage through. There are several branches, but we use the one on Ahmed Bin Ali Street - see map below:

View Larger Map

A third place where it is easy to get stocking fillers and cheap but interesting gifts is the Japanese Daiso in Hyatt Plaza Shopping Mall. This is located on the second floor (its more of a ledge actually) above a huge Homes R Us.

Ordering Presents from Abroad

All is not lost when the present your child desires is not available in Qatar. While the Qatar post office has been slammed in the past over the later delivery of presents (to be fair, this may have had something to do with the awful postal service in the UK at Christmas time last year) there is are alternative postal services. The one we use is Aramex's Shop and Ship, which allows you to buy online in the US or the UK and then have it shipped to Qatar at a fraction the price of most courier companies.

Celebrating

One pleasant tradition that has developed in Qatar amongst the expatriates is to gather in the desert around a bonfire and have a sing song. At some of these events Father Christmas even turns up, although there are rumours this may not happen this year after he experienced delays trying to get an exit permit. These are generally private events and are not announced publicly.

On the big day those who can arrange a day of work, although this is not always possible. Then expats split into two camps, those who head off to hotels to enjoy Xmas dinner and those who hold/join Christmas parties. If you would prefer the first, make sure you book the dinner as early as possible, as places sell out well in advance. Alternatively, you could follow the example in the movie below, dress up as Santa Claus and go Kite Boarding!

Father Christmas Kite Surfing in Qatar

Qatar Visitor’s Credit Crunch Busting, Megamart Price Crushing Inflation Beating Mince Pie Recipe

Takes 25 minutes to make, about 25 minutes to bake, plus chilling and cooling

3501 quantity short crust pastry.:

Home made:
Sift 170 g plain flour with a pinch of salt into a clean bowl. Rub in 100 g cold butter in cubes until crumble like. Stir in 1 tablespoon of caster sugar and add 1 large egg yolk, mix with knife. Add 1 - 2 tablespoons water to mix a little at a time. Form dough into ball and chill 1/2 hour before use.

Mincemeat as below:

Makes about 1.1kg mincemeat and takes 40 minutes to make, plus cooling

1 large Bramley apple, peeled, cored and coarsely grated
100g sultanas
75g currants
75g dried cranberries
175g raisins
100g mixed chopped peel
25g pecans, finely chopped
100ml dark rum
Finely grated zest of 1 orange, plus the juice of 2
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
175g dark muscovado sugar
100g shredded vegetable suet

1. Combine all the ingredients except the muscovado sugar and suet in a large saucepan. Place over a low heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes or until the fruit has plumped up and most of the liquid has evaporated but it isn’t dry. Set aside to cool, then stir in the muscovado sugar and suet.
2. Meanwhile, sterilise several jars. Preheat the oven to 120°C/fan100°C/gas 1/2. Wash both the jars and lids well in hot, soapy water, rinse and place upside down on a baking tray. Place in the hot oven for 10 minutes or until dry. Remove from the oven and use a clean cloth to handle the jars.
3. Divide the mincemeat between the hot jars, seal, label and set aside to cool. Store in a cool place for up to 6 months.

Alternatively - just buy a jar of mince meat.

1. Make the pastry.
2. Preheat the oven to 190°C/fan170°C/gas 5. Cut the pastry into 2 unequal pieces, about two-thirds to one-third. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the large piece of pastry to about 3mm thick. Using a 10cm round, plain cutter (or ramekin), stamp or cut out 12 circles, re-rolling the trimmings, if necessary. Carefully mould into a deep 12-hole muffin tin – don’t worry if the pastry bunches together slightly, simply smooth out with your fingers. Divide the mincemeat between the pastry cases, filling each one three-quarters full.
3. Roll out the smaller piece of pastry as before and use a 7-8cm round, plain cutter to stamp out 12 lids. Brush the edges of the pastry bases with water, lay a pastry lid on top and press the edges together to seal. Brush each pie with egg. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden and piping hot. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack.
4. Serve the mince pies warm or at room temperature, dusted with icing sugar.

OR

Buy ready made short crust pastry.
Roll out, cut into circles and put into bun tin.
Fill with jar of mincemeat (add drop of brandy if desired).
You could cover with smaller circles. However, my granny used to make a very special topping instead of the pastry lid - here it is:

Cream 65 g soft butter with 65 g caster sugar until fluffy. Fold in 1 egg and a little alcohol. Fold in1 tbs. plain flour and 65 g ground almonds. Spoon onto pies and bake about 25 mins.



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Qatar News Update

In Qatar there always seems to be lots of things happening or none at all. Today seems to be one of the days when there are lots of things happening, both in the news and with what's on.

First there is the suprising statement by the Undersecretary of Business and Trade for Qatar that inflation doesn't matter if growth is high.

... if inflation stands at 12 percent and growth at 25 percent it is better than countries with two percent growth and one percent inflation.

Tell that to the parent trying to bring up a family of four on a salary that hasn't changed for three years! What he means, of course, is that growth is great if you are owning the companies that are experiencing the growth, especially if you have managed to keep down salaries. It is not so great if food prices are doubling and your income is remaining the same!

A particularly shocking story that hit the papers today is that of a marriage certificate rejected by the Qatar authorities. The poor couple in question got legally married in their own country but the courts are refusing to accept their certificate, presumably because it is a mixed marriage - a Chritian man with a Muslim woman. (The opposite is more acceptable.) While the circumstances are proably fairly rare, it has to be worrying for all of us expats when documents such as marriage certificates which have been legally issued in our home countries are not accepted in Qatar.

On a pleasanter note, there will be an exhibition of Orientalist paintings by the Mathaf Gallery from London in Souq Waqif art center. The exhibition will feature paintings by Arabic artists Ahmed Moustaffa as well as a number of Arabic scenes by Western artists.

Qatar: Becoming more environmentally conscious?

The Sun: Qatar's other great asset?

In what may seem strange to the UK, which has been frittering away its North Sea oil and gas reserves without any thought to the future, a country which has enough gas to last for a hundred years at its current rate of usage is thinking of a future without fossil fuels.

Qatar may have the world's third largest supply of gas but until recently it has been flirting with the idea of alternative power sources - namely, solar power and nuclear energy.

In February Qatar was considering building a solar power complex with a capacity of 3,500 megawatts, which compares to a current total grid capacity of 4300. That would make it one of the largest solar complexes in the world.

More recently, TCE energy has announced plans to build a $12 million demonstration solar thermal power station, which will hopefully be scaled up if successful.

The country has also been toying with the idea building a nuclear power station, although according to the Guardian UK this is becoming less attractive due to the current fall in energy prices.

Other measures have also been taken recently, as the resident who paid a $2,700 fine for water leakage may have noticed. Penalties have been introduced for the wastage of water and electricity, a camel farm has been introduced which should help prevent erosion and seawater greenhouses, which utilise the sun and the sea rather than fossil fuels to produce crops, are being considered.

There is still an incredible lack of awareness amongst much of the population - and indeed, even as we choke on the air pollution that is causing a record number of allergies and chest problems, it seems that most people don't care.

Houses and buildings blaze out with light all night, not surpisingly when Qataris get free electricity. The first time I saw recycling bins - each neatly labelled with the type of rubbish that should be thrown in it - they were filled with a complete mixture of garbage and food waste, and each citizen either owns a sports utility or lusts after one. Certainly with fuel at around 20 cents a litre they need not worry about buying more economical cars!

As with democracy in Qatar, it seems that the goverment cares more than the people it governs. Which is better, perhaps, than no one caring about it at all.



Iceberg image by Ludovic Hirlimann.

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Bhalou the Bear Suffering in Doha Zoo?

A story I missed yesterday but which popped up on my alerts today was that of Bhalou the bear.

Those who have been in Qatar a while will remember that the bear was left behind by the Russian Circus performing in the Hyatt Plaza after the circus were denied the papers they needed to take the bear home.

Now the bear is housed in Doha Zoo and, according to the zoo, is doing well. Not so, according to the Gulf Times, which stated that the bear had lost weight, had no food in its enclosure and was denied access to its air-conditioned shelter.

The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) had arranged a place for the bear in a sanctuary in Pakistan, but then been denied access to the bear.

The person who found the bear claimed that Bhalou was depressed and being kept in filthy conditions.

Claims that the animals are not well cared for have been made before. One conservationist I spoke to even thought that the zoo's single elephant probably had brain damage!

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Death and Bereavement in Qatar

I hope our latest article, Death and Bereavement in Qatar, is one that you will not need to use. Death in the family or of friends is horrible at the worst of times, and is only exacerbated by being far from home - and by the nightmarish bureaucracy involved. In fact, as I wrote this piece (or rather typed - virtually all the information was provided by the British Embassy) I couldn't help wondering if one day someone from my family or friends following the instructions for myself. In the event that you do have to deal with the traumatic event of a death, we hope that the detailed information provided by the British Embassy will be of use to you. 

Note for cultural notes and information on how to behave at a wake in Qatar see Qatar Funerals. 



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Board Walk Activities at the Pearl

A reader forwarded this in an email, which I notice is also in Qatar Living. I realise it has been going on for a week - this is the first I have heard of it. The events are located at the Pearl in West Bay, which is usually closed to visitors, so it might be a good time to check it out. (Could it be that the property crash is behind these events...?) Apparently passes can be obtained at the Oyster, although some Qatar Living users say that they have gained entry without a pass (presumably they are not smelly and badly dressed bachelors!)

November 1 - November 10 (4:00 pm - 9:00 pm)
Les Excentriques - As all the rest of the performers, Les Excentriques come from the city of arts and culture Paris. Their colorful costumes and diverse acts will entertain you in many different ways with musical instruments, acrobats, and dancers.

November 11 - November 20 (4:00 pm - 9:00 pm)
Les Cybres - With their luminous appearance Les Cybres inspire the universe of science fiction. Their costumes also feature electronic music and colorful lights.

November 21 - November 22 (11:00 am - 11:00 pm)
Super Car Show - A 30 + luxury automotive brands like Ducati, Ferrari, Grand Turismo, X6, McLaren, Bentley, Lamborghini and others will be showcased on the boardwalk. There will also be a golf simulator for the golf enthusiasts, live music and Lavish VIP lounge.

November 23 - November December 5 (4:0 0 pm - 9:00 pm)
Bazartuka - Iridescent colors and lights are the main features of this fun ensemble. They play samba and urban rhythms with hand held percussions.

December 6 - December 17 (4:00 pm - 9:00 pm)
Les Bataola - They represent the spirit of the real Brazilian carnival by playing Cuban and Caribbean inspired rhythms.

December 18 - December 31 (4:00 pm - 9:00 pm)
Christmas program - Christmas inspired ice fairies, elves and living statues will entertain you amongst nicely decorated Christmas markets selling your favorite treats for the seasons.

January 1 - January 11 (4:00 pm - 9:00 pm)
Les Lutins - With winter inspired costumes and many different instruments these performers appear as magical creatures from the forest playing festive music and alluring celebration m ood amongst young and old.

January 11 - January 21 (4:00 pm - 9:00 pm)
Les Elegants - Venetian inspired body = body & costumes with patterns of a playing deck of cards, this group is one of the most elegant and original. They will simply entertain you by their gracious appearance.

January 21 - January 31 (4:00 pm - 9:00 pm)
La brigade des Jouets - This group includes puppets, little soldiers, and ladies on stilts as well as an orchestra that creates an atmosphere by playing music and impresses audience with unique costumes.

Website Temporarily Unavailable

Update - the website is now up and running again - apologies for any inconvenience!

Our website is temporarily unavailable as a result of an upgrade to PHP5. We had hope to manage it without taking the website down, but it seems this is not to be the case. We are working away on it and hope to have it back up as soon as possible - in the meantime our forum remains online and we will try to provide any answers you would normally find on the website.

The Top Ten Websites in Qatar

We are going to exclude our own website from this list - obviously we believe we are in the top ten:) but it would still be rather presumptuous to include ourselves.

We are going purely on personal taste here, and we are deliberately ignoring factors such as ranking in the Search Engine Results, Alexa or traffic. Although Google is quite simply the best search engine there is, we often disagree with Google on which sites are the best - for example, although we love the BBC, we don't think its sparse 900 words on Qatar deserve to rank in the top ten. Similarly, in our opinion, Qatar Airways, while of use to someone who wants to book a flight with them (assuming they have no desire to compare prices with any other airline), does not deserve to rank number one.

The Web: Visualisation by the OPTE Project

1. Qatar Living: This is our all-time favourite, and despite what we said about not ranking traffic probably does have the highest traffic of any website in Qatar. We like it because it is a place you can (almost) always get a response in seconds, and because of the wealth of local knowledge it offers. We also respect the fact that on the rare occasions users have ripped off our articles, the owners of the site have dealt with the matter in minutes of being contacted. As a good proportion of the people I know use the website on a regular basis this has to get the top spot. Last not least, the website's users have been very active in charity, actively raising money to help other Qatar residents in trouble.

2. I Love Qatar: Amnesia, the half-Qatari half-British owner of this website attempts to share a Qatari perspective with his readers - although obviously he also has a British sense of humour! While critical of Qatar bashing, he is not averse to criticising Qatar himself on occasion. Like Qatar Living, Amesia's site and community has also been very much involved in charity.

3. Doha Map: This is a great little site which is taking advantage of Google Map's open API to create an interactive Doha map. You can search for locations, display different types of landmarks or even add your business.

4 & 5. The Gulf Times and The Peninsula: I read both of these on a regular basis, and I can't really decide which is better - they are both great newspapers!

6. Qatar Embassy: I have often found useful information on this site, and have frankly find it better than any of the government sites in Qatar!

7. Alhannah: This is a Wiki site run by Carnegie Mellon University, and has tonnes of useful information on it, all added by its users - you can add to it too. For the same reason we also rate the Wikipedia page on Qatar, although some of the other "stub" pages on Qatar don't deserve the ranking they get, and sometimes get things wrong: see Al Jaber and Wikipedia.

8. Heritage of Qatar: This superb website lists all the heritage sites in Qatar, complete with information about each site and directions on how to get there. They also have a good history section.

9. Araboh.com - E-commerce has come to Qatar with this little website, which provides Arabic language books for children. I always admire anyone who has the guts to start their own business, and the young and female Iraqi/British founder, who is just 21 years old, set this one straight after leaving university. According to Google, the MENA area (Middle East and North Africa) is not quite ready for e-commerce yet, but with a larger market than Qatar this little site should do well.

10. Al Jazeera: This comes towards the end of the list, not because it is not a great site, but because it is not really about Qatar, just based in Qatar. Still, Al Jazeera is something Qatar can be proud of opinion - any news programme which is despised by all sides (it has come in from criticism from the West, who may have considered bombing it, from other Arabic countries and by Al Qaeda - in fact one of the few countries in the Gulf which has not expelled the site is Israel) has to be good.



Near misses:

I really like Amiri Diwan - the official website of the Amir is both attractive and contains interesting information about Qatar and its ruler. It doesn't work on Firefox, though, or on Safari, meaning I can't access it on my Apple. Doh!

Experience Qatar - I seem to remember this was once a good website, but as it has been blocked I can't tell. I believe this was taken over by hackers at one point - assuming control was never regained, one has to wonder why on earth it ranks so highly for the search term Qatar.

Blogs:

We have not included blogs here: see Best Qatar Blogs and Qatar Blog Update (both now out of date, I'm afraid) for that.

Suggestions:

I still think the web in Qatar is underdeveloped here, but maybe I am missing something. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment here - I am quite happy for this list to become the Top Twenty Websites in Qatar, or even the Top One Hundred Websites in Qatar!

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Qatar Visit Visas on Hold

Many hotels in Qatar have been asked to stop issuing Visit Visas, the Peninsula reported today. The temporary block is due to an upcoming United Nations development conference which is to be held in Doha. The moratarium is said to have started on the 4th November, and will continue until the 5th December. Residents of the UK and America, as well as other countries on Qatar's list of nations who can get visa on arrival, should be unaffected - at least as long as they have not been resident in the country in the last two years (see Qatar Immigration - Turned Away at the Gates).

Qatar Visa Information | Qatar Visa Forum | Visit Visa E Services (Hukoomi)

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