# Travelling between Qatar and UAE after the embargo



## Timeport (Apr 2, 2016)

Hi

Can anyone kindly - travelling between Doha Qatar and Dubai UAE - share their experience?

Is there an issue in doing that via a third country? Will a Qatari stamp on the passport cause any issue on the way back in to Dubai?

Thanks


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## Reddiva (Feb 24, 2016)

Timeport said:


> Hi
> 
> Can anyone kindly - travelling between Doha Qatar and Dubai UAE - share their experience?
> 
> ...


None whatsoever. Most people i know go via Muscat or Kuwait ( Friends go for work at least once a month) I am going this weekend for work via Muscat.


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## Timeport (Apr 2, 2016)

This is great. Thank you very much.


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## Sunder (Mar 11, 2014)

Reddiva said:


> None whatsoever. Most people i know go via Muscat or Kuwait ( Friends go for work at least once a month) I am going this weekend for work via Muscat.


I travel with the country which gives me more miles on flights  . No issues whatsoever.


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

the only thing you have to watch is that when you transit, your luggage may need to be manually transferred so check in at the transit desk in Oman as a lot of folks have made it without their luggage.

Also, in choosing your airline, Omanair will give you a through ticket, but Etihad and Emirates will not - you'd need to collect your new boarding card at Muscat and make sure they get the luggage tag details to transfer the luggage.

Coming back, Qatar Airways and Omanair will do through tickets.


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## Timeport (Apr 2, 2016)

I am just curious about the reasons which lead people to get jobs in Qatar and shuttle back and forth to here, as they leave their families here.

Do they do it as temporary measure on the basis they will come back here with a new job in future, or they do it because Dubai offers their family style they want?

I am going through this dilemma as I am looking for a job beyond here, so want to hear about this from people who have done it. Although Qatar can offer the same lifestyle, no?


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

Timeport said:


> I am just curious about the reasons which lead people to get jobs in Qatar and shuttle back and forth to here, as they leave their families here.


Because it was a 40 minutes flight and Qatar is a bit of a desolate hole with nothing much to do out of hours.

When I was there, the most popular thing to do in Doha was to catch a flight to Dubai for the weekend.

Qatar cannot offer the same lifestyle as Dubai as its much more conservative, the people are a lot less friendly and the place is a single mass building site for the next 5 years.


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## Stevesolar (Dec 21, 2012)

Hi,
Put simply - it’s a dump!
Before the embargo - I used to visit there twice a week for the projects that I was working on.
I now use the embargo as an excuse not to go there any more! - even though it’s actually easy (but much more expensive) to get there via Oman or Kuwait.
Cheers
Steve


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## Reddiva (Feb 24, 2016)

twowheelsgood said:


> the only thing you have to watch is that when you transit, your luggage may need to be manually transferred so check in at the transit desk in Oman as a lot of folks have made it without their luggage.
> 
> Also, in choosing your airline, Omanair will give you a through ticket, but Etihad and Emirates will not - you'd need to collect your new boarding card at Muscat and make sure they get the luggage tag details to transfer the luggage.
> 
> Coming back, Qatar Airways and Omanair will do through tickets.


I am travelling with hand luggage only as i have friends who flew to Zanzibar via Oman and their luggage did not arrive with them!


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

Reddiva said:


> I am travelling with hand luggage only as i have friends who flew to Zanzibar via Oman and their luggage did not arrive with them!


Most likely their luggage wasn't checked through, or the Oman luggage handing staff didn't bother to transfer it. At the old terminal they didn't seem to be able to filter baggage out which was to be transferred so at the transit desk, you had to show them the luggage tag receipts so that someone could go and find that specific bag.

No idea what the new terminal is like though.


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## XDoodlebugger (Jan 24, 2012)

Interesting to see all of the posts saying there are no complications. We have a fairly large company (2500 employees) with a presence in 5 countries including Qatar and was sending quite a few people via Oman from Qatar to our main training center in Sharjah until recently.

After several of them were recently told to no longer do this and make a choice between the UAE and Qatar my company put a travel ban stopping the transiting of people.


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## Reddiva (Feb 24, 2016)

XDoodle****** said:


> Interesting to see all of the posts saying there are no complications. We have a fairly large company (2500 employees) with a presence in 5 countries including Qatar and was sending quite a few people via Oman from Qatar to our main training center in Sharjah until recently.
> 
> After several of them were recently told to no longer do this and make a choice between the UAE and Qatar my company put a travel ban stopping the transiting of people.


Were the people residents of Qatar travelling via Oman to Sharjah?
I have friends who are Dubai residents who travel there at least once a month ( via Kuwait and Oman) and have never had any problems. Another close friend who works in oil and gas went a month ago with no issues. I would also say all of them are nationals from companies that get VOA ( UK nationals)


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## XDoodlebugger (Jan 24, 2012)

Reddiva said:


> Were the people residents of Qatar travelling via Oman to Sharjah?
> I have friends who are Dubai residents who travel there at least once a month ( via Kuwait and Oman) and have never had any problems. Another close friend who works in oil and gas went a month ago with no issues. I would also say all of them are nationals from companies that get VOA ( UK nationals)


They were coming via Oman to Dubai. It might be a passport issue as most of these guys are technicians, my company had stopped allowing managers to travel after reports of people not being allowed back in the UAE.

I think it's like everything here, it's OK until it isn't.


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## Reddiva (Feb 24, 2016)

XDoodle****** said:


> They were coming via Oman to Dubai. It might be a passport issue as most of these guys are technicians, my company had stopped allowing managers to travel after reports of people not being allowed back in the UAE.
> 
> I think it's like everything here, it's OK until it isn't.


My friends had heard of people being stopped for a while re-entering Dubai ( They were then allowed on their merry way) however what they heard came 10th hand  I can use my EID/Egate to come back in as they all did


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

Anything like that should be reported to your local ambassador. 

It usually gets stopped as it’s often a local officer ‘interpreting’ the rules beyond their level of authority. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Reddiva (Feb 24, 2016)

Timeport said:


> Hi
> 
> Can anyone kindly - travelling between Doha Qatar and Dubai UAE - share their experience?
> 
> ...


Hello

I did the trip this weekend with no bother. Used my EID at the smart gates on the way back into Dubai. It is a long journey with the stop overs and at Doha i was asked where i was staying and how long i was staying for. At Doha immigration you have to stand and look into their cameras for aged and it is hard not to blink! Nice to see the place but i will not be in a hurry to go back


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

I am in Qatar for work at the moment.

If you have the western VOA passports (UK, USA etc) you should not have any issues going back and forth. Qatar won't block you from coming in, it's the UAE that's playing political games. But they can't do that with UK or US passports because the various agreements the UAE signed with US or UK includes agreements that you cannot treat passports differently, so a USA passport with a Qatari residency cannot be treated differently from a regular USA passport. This is standard.

The worst that happens is you'll be pulled aside for a hour or so while immigration "reviews" your passport but eventually they let you into the country. Countries that don't get VOA in the UAE are trickier as the UAE has more control over who they can let into the country or not. 

Qatar itself is a dull and dreary place. Living there, if you have to, is not that bad if you don't mind a quiet existence. It is cheaper than Dubai but the trade-off is that the quality of just about everything from housing to food to amenities is inferior. It is also hotter.


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

.............. and dustier by far.

If you are pulled aside by the UAE border folks 'for review' , then let your ambassador know. They do take it very seriously indeed.


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

twowheelsgood said:


> .............. and dustier by far.
> 
> If you are pulled aside by the UAE border folks 'for review' , then let your ambassador know. They do take it very seriously indeed.


Exactly. The embargo isn't with the US or UK. Playing games with US/UK nationals because of the embargo is interfering with neutral parties.

And Qatar is dusty, yes. Air quality is shockingly poor here. Much worse than Dubai. 

It really is a sh*ithole when compared to Dubai or Abu Dhabi. The only people in the office here who enjoy Qatar are those who have never lived in the UAE. Those who were forced to transfer here are resentful and count the days till they leave. As one said, Dubai was a party, if you weren't having a good time there was something wrong with you, not the country. Qatar is purgatory, no matter what you do. It's the place to count the days and watch the bank balance increase and then leave and never remember a single thing.


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## Timeport (Apr 2, 2016)

UPDATE:

I am pleased to confirm to all that I have done my trip this weekend with no issues at all. It is longer via Oman which is annoying. On the way back in, I use the e-gates without further human interaction on the borders. However, I was hiding my Qatar duty free bag at all times!!

On the downside, Doha is not impressive when compared to Dubai. It is like going back in time.

On the upside, I was made a verbal offer in my visit hence I could be going there for a new job soon (I am unemployed at the moment). 

Now the question again, what to do in this case? My initial thought is to take the job on my own without moving my family to see how it goes first; practically, for a new full school year. The reason is that I have been burned before in this region by new employers who think they can change employees like replacing your shirt. No thanks.

So we go back to the original question: commuting between these two countries is likely to be my life story for a while now. Thanks all for the contributions.


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

Timeport said:


> UPDATE:
> 
> I am pleased to confirm to all that I have done my trip this weekend with no issues at all. It is longer via Oman which is annoying. On the way back in, I use the e-gates without further human interaction on the borders. However, I was hiding my Qatar duty free bag at all times!!
> 
> ...


Who is the employer? No need to mention the name but what kind of company is it? Western multinational? Local firm? If it's a western firm with a local office, it's a bit more reliable than a local firm. 

Life in Qatar is dull. But not bad. It's safe. There's the restaurants and bars and fancy hotels. It's just a lot more limited in amenities compared to the UAE but it's cheaper than the UAE too. Sometimes you have to do what you need to do for a year or two before moving on. 

There are quite a few western men who kept wives/children at home and they share apartments in West Bay and get on with life for their time in Qatar. This is more common than in the UAE. If you are able to keep the family in Dubai while staying in Qatar, you can find a flatshare for around 5-6,000 a month, add another 4k a month for food and transportation. It's not a bad idea to try it for a year and use that time to decide whether Qatar is liveable for a few more years or to look for work in the UAE.


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## Timeport (Apr 2, 2016)

Thanks. Sharing didn't cross my mind!


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

Timeport said:


> Thanks. Sharing didn't cross my mind!


Doha has a number of full service hotel apartments that are quite nice and reasonable for what you get, including in West Bay. Rent includes everything, linen change twice a week, daily housekeeping, discounts to hotel restaurants. For a three bedroom apartment you're likely looking at 5-6k per person. Plus you have the advantage of being able to move on when you need instead of being tied to a lease.

You can get cheap apartments on your own but for that rent level it can be a bit grim.


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## Timeport (Apr 2, 2016)

Can you pm me some names or addresses where I could look for options? I am looking for a good quality clean serviced 1 bedroom appartments. Flexible with locations.


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

Try Fraser Suites - thats where y last employers Gm stayed all the time.

There's also apartments in the Marriott downtown, theres an Adagio off the top of my head as well.


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

Intercontinental

Marriott Marquis West Bay (I stay here, good hotel, excellent staff)

Kempinski has an entire tower of serviced apartments.

Curve 

Ezdan (cheaper and a bit rundown but still ok)

Al Ghassar

All the above are in West Bay.

There are plenty more serviced hotel apartments scattered around Doha but they fall into the generic Arabic/Indian managed category. Fine and cheaper if not exciting.


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