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Qatar creates new residency status for foreigners
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The skyline of the modern and high-rising city of Doha in Qatar. (Shutterstock/File)
Q
atar, currently boycotted by four Arab states, on Wednesday created a new permanent residents status for certain groups of foreigners, including those who have worked for the benefit of the emirate.
In a first for the Gulf, Qatar's cabinet ministers approved the measures, the official QNA press agency reported, in a move that will likely affect tens of thousands of resident foreigners.
Under the new rules, children with a Qatari mother and a foreign father can benefit from the new status along with foreign residents who have "given service to Qatar" or have "skills that can benefit the country," the agency said.
A specially created interior ministry commission will decide individual cases, according to the Qatar News Agency.
Those deemed eligible for the new status will be afforded the same access as Qataris to free public services, such as health and education.
They will also receive preferable treatment for jobs in the administration and armed services as well as being able to own their own properties and exercise some commercial activities without the need for a Qatari partner.
While stopping short of offering Qatari nationality the new measures constitute a first for the Gulf.
Naturalisation is extremely rare in the region and the status of the millions of foreigners working in the Gulf are strictly limited.
Oil-rich Qatar has a population of 2.4 million people, 90 percent of whom are foreigners, including many from Southeast Asia working in construction.
