Transferring Sponsorship From Employer to Husband in Doha

With a job change just around the corner, the man and I decided that we would do it – we would be moving my sponsorship as well as my son’s would move from to be under dad – my husband. So we looked into the process of transferring sponsorship from employer to husband in Doha, and it was fairly straightforward (once I was able to gather the info).

I had explained in my earlier post that – if both, mom and dad, are sponsored by different employers, then baby will come under mom’s sponsorship. The fact that he was under my sponsorship and not the man’s made it a more arduous process. If you’ve been following my blog, you know I have had to go to the immigration office more than five times to sort out my bubba’s residence permit. So I definitely was not looking forward to going back there, but am really happy to report that it was a fairly easy process.

To be fair, most of the immigration processes are quite straight forward in Qatar if you have all the necessary documents. But getting the documents sometimes can be such an uphill battle.

LIST OF DOCUMENTS

1. Application forms – 

The form to change sponsorship includes 3 parts – applicant details, current sponsor details and new sponsor details. The baby’s form is so much easier to do, because that just needs signs and info of mom (current sponsor) and dad (new sponsor).

For mom’s form – Current sponsor should include details such as – company name, computer card number, and contact number. For new sponsor, you need full name as per passport and QID number among other info. The main task with the application form is that it needs to be signed and stamped by the company and by the husband and this sign needs to be verified by the immigration.

To get the forms filled, go to any of the typing centers that are located just next to the petrol pump near the main Immigration Office in Madinat Khalifa. Carry ID and passport copies for you, your husband and your baby as well the copy of your company’s card, and they will fill it in Arabic for you.

Once the form is filled – take mom’s form to her company for the seal and signature. And make sure they get it verified by the immigration as well. What they need to do is – take the form along with the original computer card to the immigration office. It really is as simple as that. (Or if they are open to giving you the original computer card that is fine too).

My former company missed that step and it caused us so much stress. Because we found out during our first visit to the immigration! I had to go back and forth with my company for this and some other documents for more than a month!

Once you get the application form – filled, signed, sealed and verified, make sure you and the husband sign it too. Husband’s signature needs immigration verification as well. But this can be done on the day of submission.

2. Passport copies

Both front and back of all three – husband, wife and baby.

3. ID Copies

Both front and back of all three – husband, wife and baby.

4. NOC from wife’s employer

The letter in Arabic must clearly state that they have no objection in you transferring your sponsorship from them to your husband. It should include your and your husband’s name as per the QID as well as passport and QID numbers. Make sure it includes the date as well, and company seal. It goes without saying that this should be done on the company letterhead.

5. NOC from husband’s employer

This letter should clearly state his designation, salary, from when he has been with the company and details of who all will come under his sponsorship along with their passport details. It should have date, sign and stamp and must be company letterhead. The letter should explicitly state that the company has no objection to the husband sponsoring his wife and child(ren), along with their names and passport numbers. It should be ideally written in Arabic.

6. Bank Statements

The husband will need to get bank statements for the past six months. In addition, please ensure he also gets a document from the bank which highlights his salary received in the six month period on one page.

7. Copy of Computer card from wife’s current employer

8. Copy of Commercial registration (CR) of the wife’s current employer

9. Copy of the husband’s employment contract

This needs to be attested by the Ministry; it usually is attested before being given to the employee at most companies, so this should be easy enough.

10. Copy of Marriage Certificate

This needs to be attested at your home country as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ours was attested before our son was born and we used Sheen Services to get it attested – it will cost about 400QR. For Western countries, I have heard Vital Certificates or Argentum is great.

11. Copy of Tenancy Contract

This needs to be attested by Baladiya. As far as I understand the local rules, the onus is on the landlord to give you the attested copy. So please make sure you ask your landlord for an attested copy.

12. Copy of Degree Certificate

We were not sure whose certificates were required. So we submitted both of ours, and yes it needs to be attested as well. For this too, we used Sheen Services.

Process of transferring sponsorship from employer to husband in Doha

Pretty simple.

1. Check and cross check if you have all the documents listed above.
2. Pray.
3. Go to the immigration offices. We went to the main branch in Madinat Khalifa but you can go to Onaiza or any of the other big service centers.
4. Pray
5. At the main branch, go to gate number 4. When we went to submit the documents, it just took us 10 minutes there. The lady at the counter will check all the documents and let you know if anything is missing. And direct you to gate number 2 for submission
6. Keep praying.
7. At gate number two, you need to submit all the documents. The person at the counter will look and cross check every document and some of them will be returned to you, after she makes a note of it. This is also where they will cross-verify if the husband’s signature is accurate on both forms. And if you have the original computer card, they can verify the employer sign too.
8. Pray while she is checking the documents that there are no issues
9. Collect the receipts from her – there will be two – one for the mom, one for the baby.
10. Pray as hard as you can now
11. You can log in to the Hukoomi site and check the status of the application. You will need to use the number at the top of the receipt and the date of application
12. Pray pray, pray some more.
13. After about three to five days, it will show approved while you check online. Then you can take the receipts and go back to the same immigration office.
14. Don’t stop praying.
15. Go back to gate 4 of the main immigration branch. They will just check if it has been approved. I waited two hours and they told me it was approved in less than five minutes when I finally got to the counter. I am not convinced this step is really required,
16. Pray for a little longer. We are almost there.
17. Go back to gate 2. It might actually help if you take a token at both gates together (maybe). They will take a quick look at the receipts before giving you the token.
18. Submit your receipts. They will cross check if everything is okay and then you make the payments. Ensure you are carrying a bank card. At the immigration, you can only pay using the credit card or debit card. It really is expensive. I paid 1300 for myself, and 1100 for my son. And no they don’t extend the duration of the RP.
19. If all is okay, they will print the new RPs and give you the new QIDS and you are done.
20. Now you can breathe a sigh of relief.

Every time I have to do some immigration work, I feel like I am about to climb Mount Everest. But don’t let me scare you. It really is a straight forward process as long as all the papers are in order.

All the best!