Qatar Weekly News Update

Freedom of movement is the subject of our In Focus article this week as Qatar continues to relax residency, entry and exit restrictions with a new permanent residency law, abolished exit visa requirements and easier tourist visas In other news, Qatar’s Emir was in Germany leading to pledges for large investments there in coming years, the QIA completed the acquisition of Rosneft, Qatargas signed a long-term LNG supply agreement with China, interest in new LNG investment has risen and investors remained concerned about the exposure of Qatari banks to Turkey The latest data pointed a seasonal soft patch through the summer; the equity market is up over the last week MENA Advisors – Economic News Update 13.09.18 (PDF) In Focus Qatar continues to enhance freedom of movement Qatar enacted the Gulf’s first permanent residency law. Eligibility is limited to 100 expatriates per year, residents born in Qatar must have lived in the country for 10 years, while those born abroad would need to have lived there 20 years. Other requirements include some Arabic, sufficient income and sound legal standing. Automatic permanent residence will apply to children of Qatari women married to foreigners, spouses of Qataris and children of naturalised Qataris. Permanent residents will be permitted to establish companies without a local partner and participated in national economic projects. Qatar also has plans in motion to abolish the exit permit system. The number of workers a company can bar from the leaving the country cannot amount to more than 5% of that……...