NO DUFF - QFI jobs in Qatar. Interviews 28th Jan in UK
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NO DUFF - QFI jobs in Qatar. Interviews 28th Jan in UK
Evening All,
A good Qatari friend of mine is looking for up to 3 recently retired, ex-RAF QFIs to work with his Mirage 2000 / Alpha Jet Squadron. Type currency is not the issue. He is looking for ex-QFIs with 1000 type hours and 300 instructional hours as a minimum, to advise / mentor / coach / advise... more to follow. He / they will interview in London on 28 Jan.
Package would be *extremely* competitive (and tax free) and would include paid for accommodation, medical insurance and return flights to the UK.
Please PM me with your details and CV should you be interested. Not forgetting 1000+ and 300+ hrs.
You will gather I am not a recruiting agent given my handle! I actually work for the Qatari MoD in a very different role. So, I'm doing this for a very talented, visionary, ACSC qualified, colleague.
R2k7
A good Qatari friend of mine is looking for up to 3 recently retired, ex-RAF QFIs to work with his Mirage 2000 / Alpha Jet Squadron. Type currency is not the issue. He is looking for ex-QFIs with 1000 type hours and 300 instructional hours as a minimum, to advise / mentor / coach / advise... more to follow. He / they will interview in London on 28 Jan.
Package would be *extremely* competitive (and tax free) and would include paid for accommodation, medical insurance and return flights to the UK.
Please PM me with your details and CV should you be interested. Not forgetting 1000+ and 300+ hrs.
You will gather I am not a recruiting agent given my handle! I actually work for the Qatari MoD in a very different role. So, I'm doing this for a very talented, visionary, ACSC qualified, colleague.
R2k7
Last edited by rockape2k7; 16th Jan 2018 at 17:37.
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Be careful what you wish for!
Qatar isn't the best place to work. They will promise you the earth and it's very easy to be swayed by the promise of high salaries and good living.
The ex-pat lifestyle can be brilliant, however beware: They can turn contracts off quicker than they award them, same day in some cases.
To leave Qatar, on termination, for holidays or whatever reason, you require to have an exit visa. To get this, your sponsor (company) must grant permission. It used to be that your company had to request the exit visa, this has changed now so that you may request one, but your company still has to grant permission. If they dont give it, then you're stuck.
I was working out in Qatar and my contract was terminated early (They dont need a reason, even then, they will make one up) and they held me for nearly 4 months before finally granting my exit visa. The embassy are powerless to help and wont get involved for the fear of upsetting the Qatari's.
They will stop your pay, take away your allowances, and rob you blind. Life is worthless to them and you're basically just hired help. They have access to monitoring equipment and will spy on you (they say that Qatar has the most sophisticated surveillance system going with more equipment per square mile than London). I took the step of taking the battery out of my phone so that it couldnt be traced as I was sure they were watching my every move. Within 30 minutes, the company were driving slowly past my villa to see if I was still there.
Some of the other guys that were on the same contract as me, decided that they weren't going to get burned like me, and "went on holiday" to Bahrain, clearing their bank accounts of as much as they could whilst in the departure lounge and emailing their resignation letters when in Bahrain waiting for their flights back to the UK / US, they still lost a lot of money.
You have been warned, it may be the land of milk and honey and the pop star salaries are very attractive, they will treat you like kings initially (for the first month or so), then the facade will drop and you will quickly realize what it's really like. You will quickly realize that the trappings of wealth are just that, you will become trapped, "suckered in" and before long you will tire of it.
The weather is awesome. The ex-pat lifestyle can also be awesome, but when the Friday brunches become a habit then the novelty wears off. The oppressive heat in the summer ceases to be enjoyable. The problems being remotely located away from your friends and relatives becomes a problem. If you like a drop of booze then you can only buy alcohol and pork products from 1 outlet (Qatar distribution company) and need a permit via a letter of authority from your sponsor. You can buy booze for consumption at hotels, normally where they have ex-pat brunches.
The banks will trip over themselves to loan you money, giving you multiple credit cards and encourage you to use them to gain air miles or other such benefits and each month clear the balance, take out loans for cars, luxury cars and 4x4's, they make it so easy, you go to the showroom and tell the sales man what car you want and they will contact your bank and hey presto in a few days you are driving around in an new bit of bling. This (like the UK) depreciates fast and if your contract is terminated, you have to sell it at a loss. You cannot leave the country owing any money. They encourage you to spend your money in country so the money stays in country, they dont like you sending large sums back. Shopping is one of their pastimes along with eating!
Please treat this as a cautionary tale and make sure you do you research. Scour the expat websites. There are many stories about people who have been held against their will for much longer than I was. Check out their human rights records. The police are corrupt, you will get traffic violation fines frequently. I was 80Km away from Doha on a beach one day and I got a text from the authorities telling me I had been fined and given points for a traffic violation in Doha. When I went to the department to clarify and fight the violation, they told me I had to prove that I wasn't there yet they had no evidence that I had committed a violation (no camera etc), that it had been manually entered by a traffic officer. If you have an RTA involving a local national, then you will always be in the wrong, a friend of mine was told simply that it was his fault as he shouldn't have been there at the time, if he hadn't then the accident wouldn't have occurred.
All I will say is: If you have any doubts at all, they there should be no doubt! If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.
UAE and Bahrain are different, you do not need and exit visa. Look at the stories of 100's even 1000's of cars abandoned at the UAE airports when people have fled the country.
The ex-pat lifestyle can be brilliant, however beware: They can turn contracts off quicker than they award them, same day in some cases.
To leave Qatar, on termination, for holidays or whatever reason, you require to have an exit visa. To get this, your sponsor (company) must grant permission. It used to be that your company had to request the exit visa, this has changed now so that you may request one, but your company still has to grant permission. If they dont give it, then you're stuck.
I was working out in Qatar and my contract was terminated early (They dont need a reason, even then, they will make one up) and they held me for nearly 4 months before finally granting my exit visa. The embassy are powerless to help and wont get involved for the fear of upsetting the Qatari's.
They will stop your pay, take away your allowances, and rob you blind. Life is worthless to them and you're basically just hired help. They have access to monitoring equipment and will spy on you (they say that Qatar has the most sophisticated surveillance system going with more equipment per square mile than London). I took the step of taking the battery out of my phone so that it couldnt be traced as I was sure they were watching my every move. Within 30 minutes, the company were driving slowly past my villa to see if I was still there.
Some of the other guys that were on the same contract as me, decided that they weren't going to get burned like me, and "went on holiday" to Bahrain, clearing their bank accounts of as much as they could whilst in the departure lounge and emailing their resignation letters when in Bahrain waiting for their flights back to the UK / US, they still lost a lot of money.
You have been warned, it may be the land of milk and honey and the pop star salaries are very attractive, they will treat you like kings initially (for the first month or so), then the facade will drop and you will quickly realize what it's really like. You will quickly realize that the trappings of wealth are just that, you will become trapped, "suckered in" and before long you will tire of it.
The weather is awesome. The ex-pat lifestyle can also be awesome, but when the Friday brunches become a habit then the novelty wears off. The oppressive heat in the summer ceases to be enjoyable. The problems being remotely located away from your friends and relatives becomes a problem. If you like a drop of booze then you can only buy alcohol and pork products from 1 outlet (Qatar distribution company) and need a permit via a letter of authority from your sponsor. You can buy booze for consumption at hotels, normally where they have ex-pat brunches.
The banks will trip over themselves to loan you money, giving you multiple credit cards and encourage you to use them to gain air miles or other such benefits and each month clear the balance, take out loans for cars, luxury cars and 4x4's, they make it so easy, you go to the showroom and tell the sales man what car you want and they will contact your bank and hey presto in a few days you are driving around in an new bit of bling. This (like the UK) depreciates fast and if your contract is terminated, you have to sell it at a loss. You cannot leave the country owing any money. They encourage you to spend your money in country so the money stays in country, they dont like you sending large sums back. Shopping is one of their pastimes along with eating!
Please treat this as a cautionary tale and make sure you do you research. Scour the expat websites. There are many stories about people who have been held against their will for much longer than I was. Check out their human rights records. The police are corrupt, you will get traffic violation fines frequently. I was 80Km away from Doha on a beach one day and I got a text from the authorities telling me I had been fined and given points for a traffic violation in Doha. When I went to the department to clarify and fight the violation, they told me I had to prove that I wasn't there yet they had no evidence that I had committed a violation (no camera etc), that it had been manually entered by a traffic officer. If you have an RTA involving a local national, then you will always be in the wrong, a friend of mine was told simply that it was his fault as he shouldn't have been there at the time, if he hadn't then the accident wouldn't have occurred.
All I will say is: If you have any doubts at all, they there should be no doubt! If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.
UAE and Bahrain are different, you do not need and exit visa. Look at the stories of 100's even 1000's of cars abandoned at the UAE airports when people have fled the country.
Last edited by WASALOADIE; 17th Jan 2018 at 02:57. Reason: spelling
Not just in aviation, either.
My son is in IT and was lured there on a good contract with promise of renewal. Come renewal time, they said there was no option for renewal.
He shows them his contract (in English) and they say that it is a mis-translation, his arabic contract holds no such provision. He tells them that THEY had provided the english version, their response was "Oh, no, we wouldn't make a mistake like that. Bye bye!"
My son is in IT and was lured there on a good contract with promise of renewal. Come renewal time, they said there was no option for renewal.
He shows them his contract (in English) and they say that it is a mis-translation, his arabic contract holds no such provision. He tells them that THEY had provided the english version, their response was "Oh, no, we wouldn't make a mistake like that. Bye bye!"
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To leave Qatar, on termination, for holidays or whatever reason, you require to have an exit visa. To get this, your sponsor (company) must grant permission. It used to be that your company had to request the exit visa, this has changed now so that you may request one, but your company still has to grant permission. If they dont give it, then you're stuck.
They will stop your pay, take away your allowances, and rob you blind. Life is worthless to them and you're basically just hired help. They have access to monitoring equipment and will spy on you (they say that Qatar has the most sophisticated surveillance system going with more equipment per square mile than London). I took the step of taking the battery out of my phone so that it couldnt be traced as I was sure they were watching my every move. Within 30 minutes, the company were driving slowly past my villa to see if I was still there.
You have used 'they' a lot and I'm going to assume you refer to your employer. As the Qatari's rarely directly interface with ex-pat employees. What they did was illegal and the WPS is now strictly enforced. Non-payment of wages is a very big no-no... World Cup reputation and all that.
Some of the other guys that were on the same contract as me, decided that they weren't going to get burned like me, and "went on holiday" to Bahrain, clearing their bank accounts of as much as they could whilst in the departure lounge and emailing their resignation letters when in Bahrain waiting for their flights back to the UK / US, they still lost a lot of money.
The weather is awesome. The ex-pat lifestyle can also be awesome, but when the Friday brunches become a habit then the novelty wears off. The oppressive heat in the summer ceases to be enjoyable. The problems being remotely located away from your friends and relatives becomes a problem. If you like a drop of booze then you can only buy alcohol and pork products from 1 outlet (Qatar distribution company) and need a permit via a letter of authority from your sponsor. You can buy booze for consumption at hotels, normally where they have ex-pat brunches.
Your point about RTAs is correct. Been there done that!
And I'm not sure that the UAE or Bahrain are that different...
Horses for courses, eh!
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'UAE and Bahrain are different, you do not need and exit visa. Look at the stories of 100's even 1000's of cars abandoned at the UAE airports when people have fled the country.'
Disagree - the UAE is very similar to all that has been described.
A residency/work visa has to be cancelled before you can leave UAE...and that means handing over your passport, the property of the UK govt, to the slimeballs but get the bit about cars with HP being abandoned etc. Those people will never get back in. Bouncing a cheque in UAE gets you some prison time.
Moral - try and convince UKPO that you need a second passport.
Disagree - the UAE is very similar to all that has been described.
A residency/work visa has to be cancelled before you can leave UAE...and that means handing over your passport, the property of the UK govt, to the slimeballs but get the bit about cars with HP being abandoned etc. Those people will never get back in. Bouncing a cheque in UAE gets you some prison time.
Moral - try and convince UKPO that you need a second passport.
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Qatar isn't the best place to work. They will promise you the earth and it's very easy to be swayed by the promise of high salaries and good living.
The ex-pat lifestyle can be brilliant, however beware: They can turn contracts off quicker than they award them, same day in some cases.
To leave Qatar, on termination, for holidays or whatever reason, you require to have an exit visa. To get this, your sponsor (company) must grant permission. It used to be that your company had to request the exit visa, this has changed now so that you may request one, but your company still has to grant permission. If they dont give it, then you're stuck.
I was working out in Qatar and my contract was terminated early (They dont need a reason, even then, they will make one up) and they held me for nearly 4 months before finally granting my exit visa. The embassy are powerless to help and wont get involved for the fear of upsetting the Qatari's.
They will stop your pay, take away your allowances, and rob you blind. Life is worthless to them and you're basically just hired help. They have access to monitoring equipment and will spy on you (they say that Qatar has the most sophisticated surveillance system going with more equipment per square mile than London). I took the step of taking the battery out of my phone so that it couldnt be traced as I was sure they were watching my every move. Within 30 minutes, the company were driving slowly past my villa to see if I was still there.
Some of the other guys that were on the same contract as me, decided that they weren't going to get burned like me, and "went on holiday" to Bahrain, clearing their bank accounts of as much as they could whilst in the departure lounge and emailing their resignation letters when in Bahrain waiting for their flights back to the UK / US, they still lost a lot of money.
You have been warned, it may be the land of milk and honey and the pop star salaries are very attractive, they will treat you like kings initially (for the first month or so), then the facade will drop and you will quickly realize what it's really like. You will quickly realize that the trappings of wealth are just that, you will become trapped, "suckered in" and before long you will tire of it.
The weather is awesome. The ex-pat lifestyle can also be awesome, but when the Friday brunches become a habit then the novelty wears off. The oppressive heat in the summer ceases to be enjoyable. The problems being remotely located away from your friends and relatives becomes a problem. If you like a drop of booze then you can only buy alcohol and pork products from 1 outlet (Qatar distribution company) and need a permit via a letter of authority from your sponsor. You can buy booze for consumption at hotels, normally where they have ex-pat brunches.
The banks will trip over themselves to loan you money, giving you multiple credit cards and encourage you to use them to gain air miles or other such benefits and each month clear the balance, take out loans for cars, luxury cars and 4x4's, they make it so easy, you go to the showroom and tell the sales man what car you want and they will contact your bank and hey presto in a few days you are driving around in an new bit of bling. This (like the UK) depreciates fast and if your contract is terminated, you have to sell it at a loss. You cannot leave the country owing any money. They encourage you to spend your money in country so the money stays in country, they dont like you sending large sums back. Shopping is one of their pastimes along with eating!
Please treat this as a cautionary tale and make sure you do you research. Scour the expat websites. There are many stories about people who have been held against their will for much longer than I was. Check out their human rights records. The police are corrupt, you will get traffic violation fines frequently. I was 80Km away from Doha on a beach one day and I got a text from the authorities telling me I had been fined and given points for a traffic violation in Doha. When I went to the department to clarify and fight the violation, they told me I had to prove that I wasn't there yet they had no evidence that I had committed a violation (no camera etc), that it had been manually entered by a traffic officer. If you have an RTA involving a local national, then you will always be in the wrong, a friend of mine was told simply that it was his fault as he shouldn't have been there at the time, if he hadn't then the accident wouldn't have occurred.
All I will say is: If you have any doubts at all, they there should be no doubt! If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.
UAE and Bahrain are different, you do not need and exit visa. Look at the stories of 100's even 1000's of cars abandoned at the UAE airports when people have fled the country.
The ex-pat lifestyle can be brilliant, however beware: They can turn contracts off quicker than they award them, same day in some cases.
To leave Qatar, on termination, for holidays or whatever reason, you require to have an exit visa. To get this, your sponsor (company) must grant permission. It used to be that your company had to request the exit visa, this has changed now so that you may request one, but your company still has to grant permission. If they dont give it, then you're stuck.
I was working out in Qatar and my contract was terminated early (They dont need a reason, even then, they will make one up) and they held me for nearly 4 months before finally granting my exit visa. The embassy are powerless to help and wont get involved for the fear of upsetting the Qatari's.
They will stop your pay, take away your allowances, and rob you blind. Life is worthless to them and you're basically just hired help. They have access to monitoring equipment and will spy on you (they say that Qatar has the most sophisticated surveillance system going with more equipment per square mile than London). I took the step of taking the battery out of my phone so that it couldnt be traced as I was sure they were watching my every move. Within 30 minutes, the company were driving slowly past my villa to see if I was still there.
Some of the other guys that were on the same contract as me, decided that they weren't going to get burned like me, and "went on holiday" to Bahrain, clearing their bank accounts of as much as they could whilst in the departure lounge and emailing their resignation letters when in Bahrain waiting for their flights back to the UK / US, they still lost a lot of money.
You have been warned, it may be the land of milk and honey and the pop star salaries are very attractive, they will treat you like kings initially (for the first month or so), then the facade will drop and you will quickly realize what it's really like. You will quickly realize that the trappings of wealth are just that, you will become trapped, "suckered in" and before long you will tire of it.
The weather is awesome. The ex-pat lifestyle can also be awesome, but when the Friday brunches become a habit then the novelty wears off. The oppressive heat in the summer ceases to be enjoyable. The problems being remotely located away from your friends and relatives becomes a problem. If you like a drop of booze then you can only buy alcohol and pork products from 1 outlet (Qatar distribution company) and need a permit via a letter of authority from your sponsor. You can buy booze for consumption at hotels, normally where they have ex-pat brunches.
The banks will trip over themselves to loan you money, giving you multiple credit cards and encourage you to use them to gain air miles or other such benefits and each month clear the balance, take out loans for cars, luxury cars and 4x4's, they make it so easy, you go to the showroom and tell the sales man what car you want and they will contact your bank and hey presto in a few days you are driving around in an new bit of bling. This (like the UK) depreciates fast and if your contract is terminated, you have to sell it at a loss. You cannot leave the country owing any money. They encourage you to spend your money in country so the money stays in country, they dont like you sending large sums back. Shopping is one of their pastimes along with eating!
Please treat this as a cautionary tale and make sure you do you research. Scour the expat websites. There are many stories about people who have been held against their will for much longer than I was. Check out their human rights records. The police are corrupt, you will get traffic violation fines frequently. I was 80Km away from Doha on a beach one day and I got a text from the authorities telling me I had been fined and given points for a traffic violation in Doha. When I went to the department to clarify and fight the violation, they told me I had to prove that I wasn't there yet they had no evidence that I had committed a violation (no camera etc), that it had been manually entered by a traffic officer. If you have an RTA involving a local national, then you will always be in the wrong, a friend of mine was told simply that it was his fault as he shouldn't have been there at the time, if he hadn't then the accident wouldn't have occurred.
All I will say is: If you have any doubts at all, they there should be no doubt! If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.
UAE and Bahrain are different, you do not need and exit visa. Look at the stories of 100's even 1000's of cars abandoned at the UAE airports when people have fled the country.
I speak from experience of a 'contract' in Qatar and it's not worth the paper that it's written on. I can concur with all of the above... and more!
Interestingly opposing views, but are we talking different time periods here or are these negative responses based on experience of, say, the last 3 years?
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Qatar Life
Life isn't perfect in Qatar but as long as you are willing to adjust to the cultural differences and accept that you are 'hired help' then it is a very easy place to live. Personally I prefer Qatar over the UK overall.
Life in Qatar is much less stressful overall than compared to the UK. Initially it is a pain trying to get all of your residency permits, driving licence, alcohol permit, etc but once you are over those steps life becomes very nice indeed. I say this from the standpoint as a husband and father. The British Schools in Qatar are excellent and the medical provisions far exceed what the NHS offers. My whole family is very happy to have made the move from the UK and I am certainly enjoying the work/life balance.
I know of Wasaloadie's story and the background behind it (We've previously worked together). I think it's fair to say that if you are a Typhoon or Hawk QFI, there will be many, many years of work for you in Qatar, the job will not disappear overnight, this is enduring Government work, not a commercial contract. I appreciate that they are initially looking for a QFI for Alphajet/Mirage but these will be getting phased out by Rafale, F-15 and Typhoon. There are some Hawks being thrown into the mix too.
Life in Qatar is much less stressful overall than compared to the UK. Initially it is a pain trying to get all of your residency permits, driving licence, alcohol permit, etc but once you are over those steps life becomes very nice indeed. I say this from the standpoint as a husband and father. The British Schools in Qatar are excellent and the medical provisions far exceed what the NHS offers. My whole family is very happy to have made the move from the UK and I am certainly enjoying the work/life balance.
I know of Wasaloadie's story and the background behind it (We've previously worked together). I think it's fair to say that if you are a Typhoon or Hawk QFI, there will be many, many years of work for you in Qatar, the job will not disappear overnight, this is enduring Government work, not a commercial contract. I appreciate that they are initially looking for a QFI for Alphajet/Mirage but these will be getting phased out by Rafale, F-15 and Typhoon. There are some Hawks being thrown into the mix too.
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Last call!
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This is a very long but uptodate view from the New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/22/w...r-boycott.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/22/w...r-boycott.html
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Gents, if everyone is desperate to work in the ME why not apply to the major UK defence contractor that has several very large contracts across the region including Qatar. This job, if it was to last, will be absorbed by the latest contract anyway. Probably just a stop gap. I will wager the pay will be better with the UK contractor than direct with the Qatar MoD. Those of you with the right Fast Jet instructional backgrounds will already know what I’m talking about. PM if you want more info.
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I'm sure anyone considering going to the ME has had a look at the options. I've worked for a major UK defence contractor in the ME on probably the biggest UK defence contract in the ME. They pay well, but there is a reason, the country and the lifestyle are the least compatible with a western outook and most likely to jar with the family; particularly wives. I've also worked in Qatar, for another major defence company, the difference in quality of life is vast, the ability to live increases the cost of living. Different cost benefit analysis. If you couldn't stand the ME in your previous/current employment then it may not be for you, but as ex-mil personnel most could give it a crack and make a success of it in either location. Available through PM for a more frank discussion.
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