DOHA: Married women residents here with valid residency permit (RP) can now avail visa on arrival at the Doha International Airport for their babies born overseas within three months after their birth.
However, women travelling with babies who are more than three months’ old will need to apply for residency visa for the newborn in advance.
The Ministry of Interior announced on its Facebook account yesterday that babies entitled to residency visa on arrival can have a separate passport or their name can be included in their mother’s or father’s passport.
The visa will be issued for free but the original birth certificate will be required to be produced at the airport to avail the facility.
Once the visa of a child expires, no fine will be imposed for two months if it is outside of Qatar and three months within Qatar.
After the grace period, however, a fine of QR10 per day will be charged, the ministry said.
To avail the visa on arrival facility for the newborn at the airport, though, both parents must have valid RP, according to the ministry.
There were a few comments on the ministry’s Facebook account, with people wanting to know if, to avail the facility, a wife should be on her husband’s visa or not.
There was no official response as someone asked if it was mandatory for “a baby’s mother to be under the sponsorship of its father or not”.
Another commentator, however, replied that it was compulsory for the mother to be on the sponsorship of the baby’s father.
“Otherwise, the baby’s birth certificate must be endorsed by the ministries of foreign affairs of both the country of origin of the parents and Qatar,” claimed the commentator.
The Ministry of Interior couldn’t, however, be immediately contacted for clarification.
Earlier, expat parents of babies born abroad were required to apply in advance to acquire residency visa for the newborn.
The Peninsula
