Anyone living at Barwa city yet and know what it is like?

Thanks Rossette. My husband had to get a form filled out before they sent him an offer. They have not asked for anything after he signed the offer letter except for a form "authorizing" them to collect information which was half in Arabic. I do know he told them that Canadian employers will not provide references directly to anyone else and they will only confirm if an employee worked there or not. Have not heard anything for almost 2 months now. We have been told Visa was applied early May, based on your update I guess we should cross off moving in August. This works for us as we get to move when the weather is better. Thank you again and keep us posted. All the best.

Sanap- The credentialing happens first thing after signing the offer letter. Then, it i smandatory to provide the reference letter and yes they do check in a formal communication(form-email) sent to each employer to verify. Based on my exp, visa process is taking me 2.5 months and still in process! I dnt understand at all why issuing such single entry visa takes this long! Ramdan will surely slow down the whole matter, yet fingers crossed for u and family to get things no time!

Hello Ladies, How goes the Visa process? 58834mv - My husband was told credentialing happens before they send in your offer letter; it seems the answer they provide is based on the department and not one policy across the board. They had even asked him for a letter of reference from each employer he ever worked for, which he refused to provide as employers do not provide that in Canada. Even the reference check was via a formal form his old manager had to fill out... so yes it does feel like an investigation. Most recently he was told to sign some forms granting authorization to check background etc.. at which point we gave up trying to understand the process. We were told the Visa process takes about 8-10 weeks which certainly is not accurate considering the time it is taking you as. We are already at the 1 year mark as to when he was initially contacted and interviewed in September, seems will be a 1 whole year recruiting cycle. With Ramadan coming up and things coming to a standstill, I doubt we will be moving any time before October/November. Keep us posted, I am excited for the move but a little scared as well. Hoping I do not have to live through this winter in Canada again... last winter was brutal.

Lol, the "knives and forks" must be a standard reply then as our recruiter was from the Southern hemisphere. The temporary accomodation which my husband stayed in was fully furnished as well but as it was a small 2 bedroom flat in an unattractive (though convenient) area of town we chose to stay at home until the RP was finished (mind you in those days it only took about 2 months). Don't panic and pack too much to bring as there is now an Ikea in Doha so you can get some decent furniture and household items here. If you are coming from the US then remember that the power is different here so you may need to purchase a converter if you're bringing electrical items from home. Most things are available here (at a price) though invariably there will be a long list of little things that you will be stocking up on when you next go home for holidays because you can't find them or the brand you love in Doha. The checkout chick at the supermarket actually asked me why I was buying 12 bottles of deodorant one time I was back in my home country. Good luck with the visas, hope the schooling is sorted for those who need it, chins up and see you on the dark side as we say (though you can insert dusty/beige/flip for the word dark).

I have a feeling we are all dealing with the same recruiter! We are moving from Canada and would love to keep in touch to understand how the visa process is going. We have also been told that the company will only provide my OH's plane ticket and we will get reimbursed for the others once we get there, is that what you have been told as well? My concern is, since we will be flying in and getting a visa on entry, will the airline let us travel with a one way ticket or will we need to get a return ticket? Also, are you all moving with all your stuff? With a 8 month baby in tow, this should be an interesting move! All the best ladies.

In the same boat. Will be moving from the US. DH signed a contract with the same employer for a senior clinical position. Will be moving with 2 children. We have been waiting for a visa for more than 5 weeks. We are totally overwhelmed with the move, schools, and the lack of specific information. We hope that we will not land in Barwa. My husband's recruiter is based in London but they were really honest although they didn't seem to know much beyond the interview stages. Wishing you all best of luck

In the same situation as you and with the same employer. OH signed the offer end of February and sent in the attested documents mid April. We are now waiting on visa which we have been told takes 2-3 months, but it seems will be much longer. His start date is September 1, but it all depends on visa and everything else on the go. We were told the same around housing, that it will probably be Barwa city but were also told that we will be put up in a furnished guest house/temporary accomodation until it is sorted out. OH did not trust the recruiter so has been exchanging emails directly with HR and has even talked to someone in hosuing at HMC to confirm. It was confirmed housing cannot be guaranteed and depends on your grade (we are 113). Once you are there it will depend on what is available at the time. The gentleman in housing confirmed that the guesthouse is furnished down to forks and knives :). Around the place being furnished or unfurnished when we move into a permanent place, he confirmed that it all depends on what is available at the time. If unfurnished, they will provide an allowance amortized over 3-4 years. We have been dealing with the same frustrations as Ali68 mentioned around schooling and other allowances. The allowance is nowhere near the real cost of schooling. Our daughter is only 8 months so we were more concerned around nursery costs etc which are not covered. The furnished down to knives and forks is what he was told as well but did not believe the recruiter and reached out to HR directly. We were at a point where HR stopped replying and he had to escalate to get their attention. To be fair, it is a big move with some major decisions and lots of risk but we're taking it as an adventure! Please do keep in touch and let me know if you have any specific questions I might be able to help with. My OH has been doing a LOT of research (he is THAT kind of a person) so I might already have answers to some of your questions. All the best! <em>edited by Sanap on 16/05/2014</em>

If your partner is a 114 then he may get a work car at this level which means you can buy another car for you to have and will make life much easier and more attractive. Don't be too scared off by the horror road stories that you hear, it's a bit crazy driving here (and can be very frustrating) but somehow most people seem to muddle along with only minor bumps and bingles. Our recruiter told us things like "school fees paid" which ended up translating to after your child turns 5 (they start school here at 3.5) they will pay a set amount per year (which is not much when compared to some of the school fees). We were assured that our accommodation would be fully furnished "down to knives and forks" when in fact there was absolutely nothing. They gave us a depreciating "loan" which we don't have to pay back unless we leave in less than 4 years. This was actually quite good because then we could choose our own home furnishings and while it didn't cover what we spent at least we got what we wanted and not what someone else had chosen for us. We also shipped some of our stuff from home - kids toys, special items and good quality bedding which we were told would be paid for but in fact we only received a small fraction of the costs back. HMC is a good employer here but I think because they are such a large entity they can't provide much flexibility in areas such as housing. They have obviously chosen Barwa city as it provides a variety of housing options, good transport links and has a school on the site. It's not their fault that the facilities have not been provided on time as they were probably promised themselves, many things in Doha run years behind schedule (just look at the new airport). You are right to come out and try it first and do give it a year to settle in, especially if you arrive when it's hot and miserable. Qatar in the winter is a glorious place to be and living here grows on you. If you're hunting for work then be aware that as a local hire you can usually expect to be paid at significantly less than you would get for the same work at home or if you are hired from overseas (though there are exceptions to that of course). We came out with the view that we would give it a year to see what it was like and are still here and mooching along quite happily. Some of our compound mates left within that year, sometimes the wives went home but lots of us are still here. It's not for everyone but you sound open minded and prepared to see what it's like so I'm sure there will be lots of stay at home wives in the same boat in Barwa and you will soon find things to occupy yourself. Hope that you get some word soon on the visas and if you do arrive during summer then remember that it will be very quiet in Doha (as most of the expat families have fled the heat) so get out and about to learn the layout of the city while the roads are empty and then wait for everyone to come back in September to make lots of new friends.

55834mv if your husband is going to work for HMC then there is very little chance that they will offer alternative housing and if you choose to take the housing allowance it is so small that you would only be able to afford a run down studio in Doha. I know people from there who were assured that Barwa would have all the bells and whistles - pool, sports club, store etc and nearly a year later still nothing. The apartments are nice but it's hard going with small children, nothing to do, nowhere to go and stuck out at Barwa. My advice to everyone is the same - do not believe what you are told by recruitment people as what they promise is often not what materialises. <em>edited by Ali68 on 15/05/2014</em>

Tamieg1- obviously compared to what I'm used to!!! I'm not missing the 17year olds being out or every one drunk on the floor so yeah it's better than that!! You don't have the same 6 pubs to chose from, yeah it's not London but make the most of it.... 55834mv maybe if your insecure about it you could do some online courses or something while your here. I've done a few to keep my mind ticking over and it's something to add on ur cv Yeah don't worry about that yet you can look at it in time

the night life here is great Compared to where?!?!

Hi Luton, my husband (to be) signed his contract mid January but we do not have a visa yet, things seem to take ages. So after waiting for so long I decided to take things one step at the time. I have no idea what I will be doing in Doha. I want to do sómething that is for sure. A job is an option but I feel a bit insecure about my English writing skills to be a secretary or PA, I am not a native English speaker. So I will see how that works out once I get there. But that probably may take some time while waiting for the visa. edited by 58834mv on 14/05/2014 edited by 58834mv on 14/05/2014 Hi, You will need to be married before your hubby can sponsor you. Ignore me if you know this already! :) <em>edited by kimmc3 on 14/05/2014</em>

No problem 58834 yeah it seems a lot easier to meet people if you do have children out here, but the night life here is great expensive though thank god for our alcohol licence!! Lol We saw some places in Abu hamour and the old airport which were closer and still really cheap. I'm not working at the moment do you plan to work? Let me know how it goes I don't meet many other people that don't have children so keep in touch!!

Hay ladies I've just moved to Doha over a month ago and just moved out of Barwa me and my husband don't have any children but even if we did I think we still would have moved out. It was costing about 70QR to get in to the city by taxi, which we we're doing a lot as there is nothing to do in Barwa! Getting back was hard as some taxi drivers didn't even know where Barwa was! Don't get me wrong it's a lovely place and there making it look real nice, our apartment was massive but with no pool or gym, me not working I had nothing to do. I can't remember even seeing anyone else in our apartment block. Obviously I can only speak for where we were I have no idea how big Barwa is but everything looks the same and I didn't see any shops or anywhere to have coffee but I may have been a bit further out. Having said all that not to put you off we've now moved to West Bay Lagoon and I love it!!! There's shops here we have a swimming pool and a gym and a club house and I get to see people and it's great! It's only 17QR to the city centre so you don't have to drive, I just pick up a taxi outside. But we now have to pay rent where as before my husbands company paid for the apartment. Even though it's a bigger expense it really does depend on your reasons for coming out, if you just want to save, save, save then maybe you don't won't the added expense. But if your like me and my husband and want to enjoy life and save some I'd look at other places to live as well. The city offers so much so it's best to be near it especially if you don't have children. The best way to meet people is being out and about. Do some more research, have a look at other options. My husband came out before me so straight away he thought I wouldn't like it in Barwa so we got the ball rolling and I was booking him appointment to view other places, he was there by himself for just under a month and he didn't like it so it's not like between us we didn't give it a chance! Having said the we didn't. Have a car so couldn't explore very well. Maybe that's the key. Don't hesitate to throw any more questions out this is a great sight in finding out more info xx

In the same boat, will probably move in September. We have a 9 month old daughter but I still have the same concerns around how it is and how much time is takes to get into Doha. Any other insights will be much appreciated.