Moving to Qatar...Preschool, nursery, housing, part-time jobs... Yes, all newby questions :-)

Unfortunately there is no way you can personally speed up the process other than whinging (which isn't that successful re RP's anyway...I tried it! :) ). It really depends on the company and how efficient or not they are. These days there shouldn't actually be an issue regarding getting the RP as they should have already applied for an RP visa for your husband and be bringing him in on that - so therefore he should already be approved for an RP and its just a formality going through the medical etc etc. (RP's have to be approved on nationality, gender etc so if they don't bring him in on an RP visa there is a chance that they could be rejected for his nationality, gender etc etc and that would slow things down as they would have to keep applying in the hope that it will go through at some stage - however if he comes in on an RP visa then he has already been "pre-approved" so to speak). Maybe ask what visa he will be entering the country on - that will give you some idea.

I have a feeling that when a spouse is allowed to come out depends on the employer. My husband and I came out at the same time. Within two days of arriving they had taken my husband to get his fingerprints, medical tests, etc. Then the following week they took me. My husband had his RP within three weeks of arriving -- and that was during the month of Ramadan. I received mine the week after my husband.

Oi Floco de Neve, Vejo que esta a fazer muitas perguntas estranhas, não tenha medo, aqui no Qatar têm-se uma boa vida e aparte de porco, não falta nada. Uma ou outra coisa será mais cara, mas o dia a dia não é caro. Quando estiver por estas terras veja o Facebook Doha Tuga. Boa sorte.

snowflake, once your husband has his Residency Permit he can ask for a letter from his employer and get an alcohol permit. It doesn't take long to go through the application and then he can go through the bottle shop downstairs. He does have to pay 1000 QAR for the permit but that's refunded when you go and cancel when you leave. (Better than UAE!!) For the restaurant supply place coming from the Corniche on B- ring road (heading in a general Airport direction) go straight through Jaidah over pass and the next set of lights. It is on your right hand side (we call it the platter store because so many are displayed in the windows) but the real name is New House Complex. It is usually easier to pull into the first street after the store and park somewhere along that street. Hope that helps <em>edited by marycatherine on 07/04/2011</em>

Hi Marycatherine, I am looking for crockery etc and would love to know which restaurant supplier you use. Please can you tell me the name and address or contact number if you have it so I can go and check it out. Thank you very much. I would say only bring the stuff you mention if you're getting a shipping allowance. Check what it would cost to ship and decide accordingly. I buy my kitchen stuff from a restaurant supply store where you can buy 1 plate or 32 if that's the number you want. However, it's 99% all white dinnerware - but a wide variety of shapes and sizes. They carry serving ware, cutlery, kitchen utensils etc. at fairly reasonable prices and I always get a 10% discount on my purchases (is it a bad sign when the sales staff all recognize and greet you at the kitchen supply store????) There are lots of cheap and cheerful sets at hypermarkets and Carrefour has a cutlery section where you can buy the exact number of forks, knives, spoons you need or want. Can't advise on the schooling issue. Good luck.

You can get nice seafood here reasonably priced. Regarding wine - it starts at about QR30 a bottle and goes up from there. You can get a nice very drinkable bottle (say a Frascati or Pinot Grigio) from about QR50 - 60 so not to bad!

lol...'allotment' in the UK means a patch of ground where you grow your own veggies! Snowflake, if it's any consolation, my son has always been quite an introvert & has not had any problems with us moving around here in the Middle East for the past 7 years. I know Compass School has a lot of non-native English speaking children there and it has a decent reputation (also not far from West Bay either!), maybe that might be a school to consider.

"Allotment", from an American perspective, would mean "what you are given/granted". So you might be allotted a 20ft container or you might have a larger/smaller allotment (or no allotment). :) Agree with GinaM - your son will be fine. . .in my opinion it's usually the adults who chose not to adapt and be happy :) <em>edited by Expat Mum on 04/04/2011</em>

Nesquick is really easy to find here and cheap! :) What ever you want - get it in writing before you come over. Renegotiating once you get here can be difficult. Kids are really adaptable - both my husband and I are expat brats...I moved every couple of years up to 13 years of age - and I like to think that I'm fairly balanced! ;) You'll be amazed at how quickly he adapts.

I came over approximately 2 months after my husband, but only because we were tied to a house tenancy back in the UK and I also wanted to stay working until they paid me my bonus. I'm not sure I could have coped with 6 months! 2 months was good though - it gave me time to sort everything out such as selling our cars, so DH went off without having to worry about things too much. DH had no luck whatsoever in negotiating with his employers, but you could try and ask for more housing allowance - I would want 15k ideally if I had a child. Those 7k apartments you have seen, I would hazard a guess, might be in the old part of town (e.g. airport area) and quite a trek from West Bay, but I am sure I will be corrected on that if I am wrong! I think apartments in some of the nicer compounds nearer to West Bay are about 11k or more for a 2-bed. You can get a 2-bed in the zig zag towers for about 12k I think. If you have a furniture allowance, could you not spend that on shipping instead? It would easily cover the costs of shipping a 20ft container from England, and I imagine it would be cheaper from Portugal. I'm not sure what the word 'allotment' means in this context, so I can't comment on that specifically (is it an American word?). IF (a big IF I know) you have savings, it doesn't really matter when they pay the furniture allowance etc - we have had to dip into our savings quite considerably in order to move out here, but we intend to pay it all back once we are settled. With regards to the beds etc, they are just rock hard (so is the sofa) and it actually gave me back problems after a week of being here. We bought a mattress topper for about £150 and it's much better now. I don't know what beds in Portugal are like, but I know some European countries have hard beds too, we are just big softies in Britain! By the way, there is some hope on the horizon that an IKEA is opening here next year, but don't hold your breath :D

Some of the larger companies will pay for nursery - ours started when our kids turned three years old, but we were required to foot the bill before that. I'm pretty sure you can find Nesquick over here but hopefully someone will know for sure. The logo may be so ingrained in my head that I remember seeing it back in the US rather than here!

I agree with GinaM and amy77 - I would recommend that you negotiate an allotment, and bring as much as your allotment will allow. I stocked up BIG TIME before I came over and I'm so glad I did. If you don't have a huge allotment then think about the things that are important to you - perhaps on a room-by-room basis - to help you decide what to bring and what to leave behind. Don't assume that something will be available, readily available, semi-reasonably priced or affordable here because it may not be (ask on EW). If high-quality kitchen knives are your thing then don't leave them behind because they're pricey here. If a specific brand of tampon (or tampons other than OB) are important, then stock up because they're not always available and are $$. Certain things may be available here but it will take one heck of a search to find that overpriced item. Both of our pepper-grinders finally failed, for example, and we still can't find one to replace them. Lakeland doesn't have them (or didn't last week) and I'm scared to check the prices in Tavola or Table Arts for what would be a US$10 (or less) purchase at Target. You'll find lots of good info here - don't be afraid to ask! Roxanne

Bring as much personal stuff as you can (we actually brought everything over that we owned other than bottles of grog! LOL! :) ) - its so much easier to make it feel like home when you move to a foreign country if you are surrounded by familar things. It will probably be quite good for your son at his age too - bit of continuity. In terms of part time work - I'm not sure but I dont think its all that easy to get part time jobs and they are fairly low paid. If you were to work as a helper in one of the schools for example you would be working more than part time hours (say 7 to 1pm) and be earning less than 800 euros a month. Why is the company saying the family can't come over for 6 months? That seems a bit extreme to me. Surely thats up to you and your husband to decide. My husband came over a three weeks before us which was good in terms of getting organised but personally I would not have made the move if my son had to be separated from him for 6 months. Just my personal opinion there.

Hi Snowflake and welcome! Don't worry, we've all worried about similar things. With regards to pre-school, I don't have any children myself, but my friend has expressed concerns that her daughter isn't talking enough English at her pre-school because there are so many nationalities there, so I don't think it should be a huge concern. With regards to housing, we were given an allowance of 12k. When we first arrived, we took out a short-term let on an apartment in Al Rabban tower http://www.alrabbantower.com/ which is 12.5k per month fully furnished. The furnishings are OK, but the beds and sofa are very uncomfortable and the kitchen equipment is pretty **** - I can't wait for our shipment to arrive next week! I started looking for houses about 3-4 weeks ago and we looked at a few compounds before taking the 4th or 5th house we saw, which we fell in love with. We could have had it straight away, but we took it from April 1st (although they actually gave us the keys earlier than that). We still haven't moved in yet as our shipment isn't due to arrive until Wednesday, so we're paying rent on 2 places at the moment. It is much better to view compounds in person, as estate agents aren't so great at email/internet, and you can avoid agents' fees by going direct. That is why I think our strategy of taking out temporary accomodation when we first arrived was a good one. Our 3-bed in a compound is costing 14.5k, which is more than our housing allowance, but worth the extra as the compound is really well maintained and peaceful, and in a good location. We didn't want to live in an apartment, so I don't know how much they are, but I don't think you could find a nice one for 9k- I think you would probably have to look at 12k minimum, especially if your husband needs to commute to West Bay. I have heard, but I don't know if it's true, that rents are higher for apartments than villas - perhaps because there are lots of shiny and new apartments being built everywhere. I think you would find it easy to get a part time job here - I have already been offered one in a school, but turned it down as I don't want to work yet (and that was without trying!). My friend is a supply teacher, so maybe you could consider doing that? With regards to what you should ship over, well, originally we planned to sell all of our furniture except for our sofas and an old dresser we have (and love). We wanted to bring them to Qatar so that we would have something to make us feel at home. Also, I was told that the furniture out here was awful (and it generally is!). So, we had quotes from various shipping companies, all of whom said we would need a 20ft container for those items plus all of our personal belongings (books, clothes, etc). However, we would only fill the container to just over half-full. So I asked the shipping company how much it would cost to fill it completely - they said it would be just £100 more. That changed everything, and we decided to bring out as much stuff as we could - i.e. all of our personal belongings (including bikes, tools etc). I also spent about £2,000 in IKEA to fill the shipping container! I am SO glad we did that. Qatar is home now and we want it to feel like home, plus the furniture out here really is ****/tasteless or expensive. The ladies on here were SO helpful in helping me decide what to bring, and for that I am eternally grateful - I can't wait for all of our stuff to arrive next week, as I have missed everything from comfortable sofas through to garlic presses and nice big mugs!

I would say only bring the stuff you mention if you're getting a shipping allowance. Check what it would cost to ship and decide accordingly. I buy my kitchen stuff from a restaurant supply store where you can buy 1 plate or 32 if that's the number you want. However, it's 99% all white dinnerware - but a wide variety of shapes and sizes. They carry serving ware, cutlery, kitchen utensils etc. at fairly reasonable prices and I always get a 10% discount on my purchases (is it a bad sign when the sales staff all recognize and greet you at the kitchen supply store????) There are lots of cheap and cheerful sets at hypermarkets and Carrefour has a cutlery section where you can buy the exact number of forks, knives, spoons you need or want. Can't advise on the schooling issue. Good luck.