How to leave Qatar (without an exit permit)
The official rules are pretty clear-cut. You’re supposed to provide two months notice and clear up any outstanding debts before you’re allowed to leave the country. If you do all that you’re issued with an exit permit and (usually) a ticket home by your sponsor / employer.
But like many things in Qatar, the official process and the reality are quite different. A significant percentage of the expat population end up driving to the airport, catching the next flight home, and only notify their employer once they’re safely outside Qatar.
That’s not some weird coincidence. Leaving Qatar can be incredibly stressful and convoluted if you try and do it via official channels. Especially if you work for a government organisation.
The following advice can help you get out in one piece.
1. If you have an annual flight home courtesy of your employer make sure you claim it before you resign. That way you get both your annual flight home AND your end-of-contract flight back.
2. If your organisation offers annual bonuses they’re unlikely to pay them out if you’ve resigned.
3. When you first start a job you’ll probably be on three months probation. Any subsequent bonuses and perks are usually calculated from when you finish your probation, rather than your start date. Keep that in mind when planning your resignation and exit dates.
4. In many government organisations you won’t get paid your salary during your notice period. You’ll be paid this money in your final settlement (which takes into account any outstanding debts you may have, e.g. car or furniture loan). While timeframes vary, don’t expect to see any money until about two months after you catch a flight home.
5. In most cases you won’t be granted any more exit permits during your notice period. In other words, you’ll be stuck in Qatar for about two months.
6. It’s recommended that you pay off your credit card and close the associated account at least 45 days before your departure (otherwise your bank may freeze your funds to ensure any outstanding transactions are covered).
7. On that note, you should move as much of your money as you can into an offshore account. Qatar banks have been known to freeze accounts for fired or departing expats and it can take months of calls and emails to sort things out.
8. Your final settlement will be paid into whatever Qatar bank account you’ve been using to receive your salary. You can ask your employer to transfer it to your international bank account, but they’ll most likely ignore those instructions.
9. If you own a car you’ll need to provide your HR department with a letter from the bank saying any loan amount has been repaid. Also, selling a car requires several kinds of forms to be processed. That’s beyond the scope of this book, but a ‘fixer’ at the Traffic Department can help you with the insurance and transfer documents.
When All Else Fails (Catch the Next Flight Home)
I’d heard all the stories. About the expats who drove their luxury cars to Dubai airport, abandoned them in the car park and bought a one-way ticket home during the Global Financial Crisis.
I’d seen it firsthand too. Staff members who went on annual leave and emailed to say they weren’t coming back.
So when it came time to leave Qatar for good I wanted to do it by the book. This was both a professional courtesy and because I planned to return for the 2022 World Cup to see how the country had progressed. In other words, I went into all of this with the best of intentions. It didn’t quite work out like that.
Having spoken to colleagues who had previously left, and having in my possession the written instructions for navigating the inner working of this particular government organisation, I felt ready to tackle the HR bureaucracy. Three months later I was on a ‘weekend trip’ to Bahrain with no plans to ever return.
What follows is a timeline of those unfortunate events.
10 weeks out
Tell my director I am resigning. Hand in official notice. Transfer all money to offshore bank accounts.
9 weeks out
Hand in official paperwork to the CEO’s office. The CEO needs to approve any resignation before the process can begin in earnest. Once this happens I’ll be barred from leaving the country, stop receiving my income (it will be paid out in bulk at the end), and obliged to clear all debts before I can officially leave.
7 weeks out
Check with the CEO’s office about approval. Nothing has been signed. Am told to come back a month before departure.
5 weeks out
Organise shipment of various bits and pieces back home with a freight company. I find a small Indian firm that can do it for a fraction of the price charged by international companies. Am pleasantly surprised when everything arrives on time and in one piece a few weeks later.
4 weeks out
Check back with the CEO’s office. Am told to come back next week. Speak to our in-house travel agency. Ask them to cash-in my flight home. I can book cheaper flights and pocket the difference.
3 weeks out
Check back with the CEO’s office. Am told to come back next week.
2 weeks out
Sell all my ‘big ticket’ household items I can’t take home, e.g. sofa, bed, etc. Check back with the CEO’s office. Am told there is a huge stack of resignations waiting on his desk but he’ll “get to them.” Panic is starting to set in. I only have two weeks to get internal sign-off from five departments (housing, finance, etc.), and have been waiting two months for just the CEO’s signature.
12 days out
Check back with the CEO’s office. Am told all is under control and to come back tomorrow.
11 days out
Check back with the CEO’s office. Am told everything is still under control and to check back tomorrow. Veins in my head are starting to bulge. Once the CEO approves my resignation I’m barred from leaving the country until the process is over. If everyone drags their feet like this I may be stuck in Qatar for weeks.
10 days out
Check back with the CEO’s office. Am told everything is still under control and to check back tomorrow. Drive out to the alcohol shop to get my deposit back on the liquor license.
9 days to go
Sell the remainder of my possessions over the weekend. Get desperate and call up some local thrift shops to come through and pillage the place. They offer me pennies on the dollar for whatever is left, but it’s not like I have much choice. The apartment is now empty, aside from a duvet to sleep on, and some scattered books.
8 days to go
Check back with the CEO’s office. Am told everything is still under control and to check back tomorrow. Lose. My. Mind. Realise that I’m dangerously close to being stranded in the country and at the whims of a HR department that simply doesn’t care. Decide it’s time to take matters into my own hands.
7 days to go
Spend the morning being driven around to various national agencies to cancel my power, water, telco accounts and claim back deposits. Head to the airport that same afternoon and buy a one-way ticket to neighbouring Bahrain. Tell the driver to help himself to anything left in the apartment. Make it through Qatari customs with my multi-exit travel permit*, breathe a sigh of relief as the plane takes off.
6 days to go
Catch a flight from Bahrain back to Australia. I’ve taken the week off from work to ‘sort out my affairs’. Nobody aside from a few close friends knows I’ve left.
5 days to go
Receive an email from the CEO’s office to let me know that my resignation has been accepted and that my ability to leave the country is now suspended until all the paperwork is in order, all debts repaid and the bureaucracy has lumbered through the motions. Thankfully, I’m already back in Australia.
3 days to go
I email my director to let her know that I’ve flown back to Australia for a family emergency and that I won’t be returning. Let her know that I’m happy to finalise my exit process remotely.
1 day to go
My email account for work has been suspended. Have to send all correspondence via my private email account.
Official final day
If I had hung around like a sucker I’d still be trying to get forms signed, organising official ‘apartment inspections’ for my work-provided accommodation and stuck in Qatar. Instead, I’m back in Australia for a week of R&R before flying to Hong Kong to start a new job.
3 months later
My settlement package from the government organisation is paid into my Qatari bank account. I immediately transfer the funds to a local account.
*Senior western expats are often granted ‘multi-exit permits’ from their employers. These allow unlimited overseas travel and mean you don’t have to get official ‘okay’ every time you want to duck over to Dubai or take a work trip. They are highly prized, as they allow you to get out of the country quickly should you run over a bunch of people while drunk driving. Or whatever.
You can find more tips on living and working in Qatar in my book — God Willing: How to survive expat life in Qatar.