Nationals of the following countries can apply for an entry visa upon arrival to Qatar or at the Embassy:
Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Britain, Brunei, Canada, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, USA, Vatican.
Nationals of other countries, and who are green card holders, can apply for a visa by contacting the Ministry of Interior in Doha, through a relative or a friend. You have to send them copies of your passport and green card. This process takes from three to five business days.
Basic Requirements
- You can’t get an express or expedited service from The Embassy of Qatar when issuing a visa. You won’t need to pay any additional fees for any application other than the initial fee.
- You must submit or pick up passports between 9:30 AM and 12:30 PM, Monday to Friday.
- Completely filled Qatar visa application forms can be submitted at your embassy.
- A non-refundable application processing fee by money order or company check should be submitted along with your application. It should be payable to "Embassy of the State of Qatar". No cash or personal check will be accepted. One company check or money order is required per application. Fee is charged per passport and must be paid in US currency.
- A valid passport must be submitted with the visa application. The passport must be valid for at least six months longer than your intended stay in Qatar and must have available pages to stamp a new visa.
- 2 color passport-sized photographs (2” x 2”) must be submitted with each application.
- Along with the original passport 2 photocopies of the first two pages of the passport (with name and photo) should be submitted.
- A company letter should be included if the application is for business visa or if it’s for tourist visa, an invitation letter explaining the reason for your visit. One letter per applicant.
- A prepaid return envelope should be included if you are sending the application by mail. Write/print your name and address on both the sender and recipient fields. Avoid regular mail since there is a risk of application loss.
- A letter from the company (i.e. the subcontractors for the US government projects) along with 2 copies of request from the US department of state or the concerned government authorities is required for any military personnel, diplomatic or official passport holders.
- A visa is not required if Qatar is connecting your flights by transit.
Additional Requirements
- Business Visa: Credentials to prove status.
- Tourist Visa: 3 months’ bank statement and a copy of the resident permit.
- Joint tourist visa: Bank statement for 3 months.
- Residents of GCC countries: The GCC stay permit’s copy which should be valid for at least 6 months.
- Accompanying GCC nationals: The GCC stay permit’s copy which should be valid for at least 6 months. Visa is limited to persons under the personal sponsorship of the respective GCC national.
- Transit visa: This visa is for travellers who are stopping in Qatar for 2 days in special situations. Transit travellers do not require a pre-arranged visa. Under the sponsorship of the concerned airline company they can enter to Qatar.
Except the Transit visa, all the above visas will let the visitors to enter the country for a month.
Qatar Visas
SHOW_GAD
1.Qatar Tourist Visa
Tourist visa can be obtained on arrival for the nationals of 34 countries including British nationals.
Citizens of the following countries including British nationals are eligible for Qatar tourist visa on arrival from the state of Qatar. Countries by alphabetic order are: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Malaysia, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, The Netherlands, USA, UK, and Vatican City. You can get the joint visa for Qatar-Oman if you like to but you have to go to Qatar port first.
The validity of the Qatar Tourist visa is 2 weeks. It can be extended to one more week. The joint visa is valid for 3 weeks. It also can be extended to one more week.
Payment can be made at the immigration desk with Visa, Visa-Electron, Mastercard, Maestro or E-Cash. It can be extended for two weeks. Either a hotel booking or the presence of relatives in the country is required. For making the payment you can use Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, E-cash and Visa-electron. You can make the payment at the immigration desk. You should have a relative in Qatar or a booking in hotel to get the visa issued. You have to submit your details i.e. name and address. Your bank account balance should be not less than 5000QR or you should possess a credit card.
Two weeks’ tourist visa which can be extended for two more weeks is also available. You can get it via Qatar airways, a hotel or a tourist operator.
Having a return ticket booked on Qatar airways would be another condition. Still you can book return ticket on any other company’s flight, but the acceptance is more assured with Qatar airways. For an easy and painless visa processing, you can opt the Al-Maha services via Qatar airways. They will assist you with the process.
2. Longer Tourist Qatar Visa
Longer tourist visas are available for the citizens of countries in the list above. You cannot get this visa on arrival. It must be obtained in advance. You can apply online or send the completely filled application to the Qatar embassy in your country. Multiple entry visas are available for six months and one year, and two year and five year multiple-entry visas are available for holders of British passports.
3. Qatar Business Visa
Qatar Business visas can be obtained on arrival for the nationals of 34 countries including British nationals. All other nationals can obtain business visas through a sponsor in Qatar (the company or organization which you are visiting) who can arrange the required visa through the Qatari Ministry of Interior. They will be sending you a reference number and the visa details once your application has been approved. You have to produce it at the immigration upon arrival. The validity of business visa is two weeks. They can be extended for two weeks at airport immigration although it may be possible to extend them for longer. An exit visa is only needed if the individual on the business visa has stayed longer than four weeks.
4. Qatar Work Visa
Qatar work visas are normally valid for one to three months. Your employer will arrange this. You may require certificate of good conduct (Police clearance) prior to entry. Once you have reached Qatar you will need a work visa and a resident permit, which will be arranged by your employer. You can work or live in Qatar only after obtaining these. In order to get this, you will need a normal health check, blood test and blood type test, chest X-ray and fingerprinting. All these can be done at Doha Clinic situated at Al Miquab Al Jadeed Street. You might also need to do a medical check-up.
You have to work with your sponsor for minimum of 2 years before getting a sponsor transfer. Your sponsor can block you from returning to Qatar for further 2 years.
5. Qatar Family Visa
Workers can sponsor their own families to come and live with them. The sponsors need to arrange the resident permit for their families before applying for family visa. Completely filled application has to be submitted at the Department of Labour on C Ring Road, along with the relevant documents: approval letter from work, last six months’ bank statement of salary (for non-government employees), marriage certificate, children’s birth certificates and education certificates, and passport photos of yourself, your spouse and your children. Alternatively, you can bring your family on tourist visas and then you can convert their visa to a residence permit. It is now easier for working women to sponsor husbands and children after a change in law.
6. Qatar Visit Visa
You can sponsor your family and relatives if you are working in Qatar. The initial validity of this type of visa is one month, and this can be renewed up to a total of six months. Wives and children can come for up to a year.
For applying the visit visa, the applicant will need a copy of their id or passport and a copy of the visitor's passport, a letter from the applicant's own sponsor (i.e. their employer), birth or marriage certificates to prove their relationship and photographs of the visitor. Residents in the country should apply at the Gharaffa immigration department.
7. Qatar GCC Resident Visa
If you have a GCC’s resident visa, then you may get the Qatar GCC resident visa on arrival. It depends on your designation in your visa. If you’re designated as CEOs, engineers, business owners and so on, you can get the visa on arrival. However, if your designation is as labourers or students, you have to apply for the visa before your arrival. The visa must be valid for six months after the date of arrival in Qatar, and is usually valid for thirty days.
Family Visit Visa
News about family visit visa from MOI
This visa is granted for one month and can be extended for another five months for first and second degree relatives and in-laws (Father, Mother, Sister & Children) and can be extended for only two months in case of other relatives.
