Qatar: Update to the Digital Employment Contracts Service

Qatar’s ‘E-Contract System’ now allows employment contracts generated by employers through the Ministry of Labor’s (MOL) portal to be forwarded electronically to an employee or a prospective employee for their review. Once approved on the MOL portal, the contract must still be separately registered with the MOL. Previously, after generating the contract electronically, employers were required to give a printed copy of the contract to the employee or prospective employee for their review. Generally, e-contracts must be completed and registered as a precondition for receiving a Qatar Resident permit. As an exception, nationals who must obtain a visa from a Qatar Visa Center, such as nationals of Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, and Sri Lanka, can generate and register a new MOL contract after they have received a residence permit (when filing for residence permit, they need only provide general contract details). By removing a significant amount of paperwork, this new approach – which further digitalizes Qatari employment processes – may expedite the onboarding process for employers of foreign nationals.