jammin1

Hi all,

Just joined this excellent network - some fantastic information available here. I will be moving to Qatar from the UK in Jan-21 and am looking at freight options as I have to organise this myself. We won't have a lot of stuff to move (mostly clothes, bike and a few items for our toddler e.g. cot).

Does anybody have any experience / recommendations they could share on freight from UK > Qatar?

• Costs (freight and any extra e.g. import)
• Company
• air / sea freight
• any additional information / useful tips

Thanks in advance!

slo0079

I'm in the same place as you.

Currently all I gathered is make sure it's door to door service. Apparently extra service fees for delivery, customs, etc. are common in Doha.

We are currently aiming for a 20 ft container as I would like to avoid taking everything. This will force us to leave some stuff behind (to give away or get rid off). When we last moved from our 2 bed house, we had 1600 cu ft. The 20 ft container is 1000 cu ft. I suspect we won't have a huge garden... so lawnmower, etc. can stay!!

I used a moving quotes aggregate website for quotes. They promised 4 but I only got 2. One company I actually used 3 years ago. However, I'm undecided.

Another option is to rent furnished in Doha which is quite common. But then I'd be tempted to take the minimum "priceless" possessions as air freight (family bikes, toys, giant collection of stuffed animals, etc.).

jammin1

Hi Slo0079,

Thanks for your reply, appreciate your comments. Don't suppose you could share the rough cost that you are being quoted?

weasel decentral

Why bring anything, if you company has a relocation allowance ask to use it to buy furniture in Qatar instead of shipping your own stuff around the world. Container prices right now are insanely expensive

slo0079

8k and 12k

slo0079

There's a furniture allowance and a separate relocation allowance (p/ person).

In my last move, 25% of the boxes belonged to the kids. We have a Lego collection worth at least 3k. Ain't buying that again.

I keep trying to come up with a way to the take the minimum over air freight, but since we rent there's nowhere to leave anything. Anything left is going to the bin. Seems just as wasteful.

jammin1

Thanks very much for your help. Sounds like we are in a similar position - not worth selling some items as the cost of shipping is significantly less than the difference between selling and buying again, especially when you have that across multiple high(ish) value items.

That is great you have an allowance per person - that would be nice!

DXBtoDOH

Based on what I saw in Qatar:

Most properties come furnished. You can ask for unfurnished, but most expats I knew lived in furnished accommodation.

The furniture isn't always the nicest but they are durable.

It may be better to place your stuff in storage at home if you're planning on returning in just a few years rather than deal with the hassles of shipping on both ends. You can bring the toys as excess baggage. Few people stay more than a few years. And there's something to be said for living lightly in Qatar and able to leave quickly.

jammin1

Thanks for your comments, you are correct from what I see online that there is the option of furnished and I agree that the furniture isn't great.

We aren't bringing any furniture out there, just clothing / sports items and some electronics which we figured are essential for us and it is definitely too much for excess baggage. I have accommodation provided for the first three months (potentially more) so will make the call on furnished / unfurnished during that time after checking out a few places.

Johnnyboy11

The term "furnished" in Qatar means fitted kitchen units and a matress on the bed, but not much else. From my experience anyway.

slo0079

Currently the following items are giving us the biggest headache:

- The company says not to bring family until after they get their visa
- It will take 2-3 week for me to get the visa
- It will take 3-4 weeks for family to get visa
- That's 2 months (per company provided time tables) away from family; and wife has to do everything on her own...
- I'm not allowed to leave during 3-month probation period.
- So no Christmas with kids...
- Wife is supposed to pack everything in the end on her own...
- Wife has to sell cars...
- Wife has to arrange transport to airport, etc.
- Result: wife will be furious for weeks after, not a good recipe
- By the time kids get visa, it's end January.
- Qatar schools refuse to accept kids from Feb onwards. High risk
- Also none of the schools I contacted committed to a spaces for my 2 kids. They just want to charge for assessments...
- We have a dog
- Dogs are not allowed in the 3-month temporary company provided accommodation
- Only solution is to leave dog with a relative 2k km away - who never had a dog.
- The cost of this - plus getting the dog later - is 3-4k
- The role is on a 3-year contract
- Initially, it was indefinite. But 2nd offer onwards was not
- Feels like a huge amount of work and hassle for a temporary stint (although I doubt we'd stay longer)
* Apostilles
- One hurdle for us is that we didn't study or get married or have kids in our current country of residence
- Using 3rd party services seems the way to go to get all documents apostilled
- Costs are way more than the company T&C allow for, about 1k more
** Costs to move
- Appears to be 9k to move stuff, 2-3k in documents, 3-4k for dog, 5k in losses on selling family cars too early (one is 2 yrs old and other is 6 months), 1k to dispose of stuff we cannot take and return rental in decent condition, <1k for health testing, etc.
- Company only allows one bill within 4 months, so I need to absorb all the above from savings... until all the costs are in and I can submit them together.
- What if the new manager doesn't like me? A colleague moved to Qatar and gave up within 3 months because he hated his boss... He's single and portable. I'm obviously not.
- Since my costs are higher than the allowances, first 3-4 months in Qatar will be essentially to break-even. Not very attractive.
- I expected, from my prior research, everything would be covered. I now think this is only the case if someone moves with their existing company...

I decided to visit Doha for a week on my own account. See if it's worth the expense, risk and hassle. I'm meeting with 2 people I worked with in the past who've been there years. Both have small kids, though not school age like mine.

DXBtoDOH

And a dining set, a ugly brown living room suite with scratchy fabric, a cheap Chinese TV, and wardrobes with ill-fitting doors that never close properly.

But the maid keeps it spotlessly clean.

The only place I saw where furnished apartments weren't standard was on the Pearl.

It was one of the differences between Qatar and the UAE. In the latter, nothing comes furnished except at a significant premium in hotel apartments, whereas in Qatar it seemed like you paid a premium to get an unfurnished apartment.

weasel decentral

Looking at your list, I'd say Doha or in fact the Middle East in general isn't really for you. Dealing with all these kind of things and rolling with it, is par for the course.

DXBtoDOH

Qatar is not an endearing place. The money needs to be very, very good to make it worthwhile, and for the OP it sounds like it may not be.

It's rare to not accept some sunk costs in the first few months as part of getting set up, and hassles are part of the process, but if you're taking home substantially more each month then it becomes worth it. Is it for the OP?

OP - if you take this as a three year stint, what happens at the end? I came to Qatar and left Qatar with the same company, but that is not standard. Quite a few people leave by resigning and then hunting for work back home or elsewhere and it can take quite some time. A year is not unknown and it's best to be safe and budget a year's unemployment into your financial calculations for whether Qatar is worth it or not.

DXBtoDOH

OP, when you visit Qatar, always remember that Doha is a very thin veneer of modernity along the waterfront, taking in West Bay, the Pearl and Souq Waqif. It may look shiny and even impressive in late October. In reality, 95% of Doha is dusty, dreary, and ugly, including where most of the family compounds are. Even in places like West Bay, when you look a bit closer, it's shabby and badly built. Get a rental car and drive around widely to get a real sense of the country and ask yourself if it's what you want for you and your family, shutting between your office to a compound on the city's outskirts and the various far-flung shopping malls. You won't go to the beach as often as you might think, as there's preciously few public beach options. Or it will be too hot. Or dusty. So you'll spend most of your free time in the same malls and at overpriced brunches with other bored families.

The money better be worth it. Qatar isn't an adventure, it's a grind.