Working in the Gulf

Working in Qatar — sponsorship and work-permit basics

Most Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, including Qatar, use an employer-sponsorship system (often called "kafala"): a licensed employer, not the worker, applies for and holds the work permit, and that permit is what lets you live and work in the country. What actually differs from one GCC country to the next — and what has genuinely changed in recent years — is below, sourced from each government's own portal.

What actually applies

• Work visas in Qatar are still employer-sponsored, applied for by the employer through the Ministry's e-services or the Hayya platform.
• Since labour reforms confirmed by the International Labour Organization in 2020, most migrant workers no longer need their current employer's permission (a "No-Objection Certificate") to change jobs before their contract ends, and exit permits to leave the country were removed for the large majority of workers — a significant, well-documented change from the older kafala system.
• A non-discriminatory minimum wage, set independent of nationality or job type, applies across the private sector following the same 2020 reforms.
• These are structural, sector-wide rules; the exact paperwork and processing steps for a specific job offer are confirmed by the sponsoring employer and Qatar's own e-services portal.

Hukoomi — Qatar's official e-government portal · ILO — Qatar's 2020 labour reforms: Check the current, official version →

This page describes how the system is structured, not a specific fee schedule or step-by-step timeline — those change on each government's own portal, which is why every fact above links straight to it.

Ask the concierge how this applies to your own situation →