The Process of Registering a Company in Qatar

Starting your business in Qatar can often be seen as a long, confusing, expensive and difficult process. The information available there can sometimes be confusing and confusing, and to make matters worse, often get conflicting advice from different people. I recently registered my company in Qatar and, as someone who has gone through this whole process, I realize that sharing my experiences can explain to you all about how to do the same for your own business venture.

This section focuses on registering LLC or WLL limited liability companies in Qatar. This is the most common and de-facto form of Qatar. The majority of companies in the LLC are owned by Qatari residents, whose shares are around 5%. 51% or more of Qatar don't care if it is a Qatar shareholder. Most of them need to own Qatar. However, before we proceed further, the claim is rejected: This article should not be considered as legal advice, but as a direct experience for anyone who starts a business in Qatar. So, if you plan to incorporate your own business, this will be a good guide. If not, there are a number of companies that offer recruitment services and they will take care of everything for you.

To get started, you must be perfect to manage and grow your business in Qatar, and collect the following three documents in the following order:

1. Commercial residences, better known as CR.

2. Trade licenses, which refer to the location of any law office under your CR.

3. Computer card (also known as a signature card or Khaid Munshiah), which will provide a residence permit (RP) for your employees.

# Commercial Residence (CR)

CR is the first part of the document that you can get. This has been issued by the Ministry of Economy and Trade (MEC) and usually takes the fastest step. There is nothing more than a CR document fragment that says "There is a legal entity named x owned by this shareholder" "To get CR you need to take the following steps:

Step 1- Name the business

First of all, you need to get a business name for your company. Hopefully what you want hasn't been taken. Remember that if your chosen name does not make money in Arabic, you will need to pay an additional QAR 1,000.

Step 2- Articles to Incorporation

Once you have a business name, you need to register all shareholders and ownership partners by typing your article. Here are some suggestions for articles that list all stakeholders, their ownership, rights, etc. Standard documents: Use standard articles in the Attachment Template and fill in with your name and ownership details. This template is very basic and ideally, you want to add/change a lot. However, if you take an article from a company created by your lawyer, MEC may take longer to approve it and thus slow down your process. Instead, use their templates to sort your CR and items, and then go to the Ministry of Justice to fix them when you need them.

 Step 3- Take out the CR

After your business name and article exist, you can send it to your company for CR. At this point, you will be asked about your business activities, because each business activity has its own specific costs. Prices can range from QAR1500 / year to QAR 7,000 / year. Basically, you need to tell them what your business wants to do - for example, it can be website development, business offers, clothing retailers, etc. Now you probably won't find business activities that accurately describe what you do - if so. Then choose the one that is closest to you, given that you are in several businesses that are related to your company, you can continue to do more activities. However, keep in mind that some business activities may require prior approval. For example, if you open a pharmacy or medical clinic, your health ministry needs approval if you open a school, you need approval from the Supreme Board of Education and more. However, if you are open to standard e-commerce businesses, trading companies, or marketing companies, you don't need approval for such initiatives. However, keep in mind that these requirements can change, so you should check directly with MEC.

So, you add your business activities, pay each fee for each, pay processing fees, and have all your shareholders directly to verify their identity. And behold, you will then be issued your CR. Congratulations if you've come this far! Note that CR is usually only valid for one year, so you have to renew it every year - because of that, the update process is easy to do because it's online. With your CR, here's what you can and can't do:

• You can open a company bank account.
• You can collect and receive payments from your customers (this means you are pretty much in business, at this stage).
• You can buy and own assets under your company name.
• You can't get office space for your business yet.
• You cannot hire someone yet, and issue a Residence Permit (RP) under your newly printed company.

# Trade License

After receiving your CR, you need to obtain a Trade License, in order to have office space approved by MEC to carry out your business activities. Getting a Trade License is usually the hardest part of this process - it might take time to complete, so plan your time appropriately. The first step here is to fill in the required application form from the MEC website, and send it to MEC, along with the following documents:

• Copy of ID of each authorized person in your business.
• A copy of your CR.
• Copy of Your Establishment Article.
• A photo of your office building from the outside, showing a blue plate with address information.
• A photo of your office in the building above, showing a sign with your business name on your office door. (Note that MEC will send someone to check your place, so make sure you have the right signage.)
• Building completion certificate and copy of the building owner ID.
• Recognition of leases, instruments of ownership, and approval of Civil Defense.
• Letter of authorization in real estate leases (in the case of subcontracts).

After successfully sending the document, you should get an SMS confirming that your application has been received and that a representative from MEC will come and inspect your office. Now, this inspector can take between 1-4 weeks to visit your office; they will call you before they come.

After the inspection has been carried out and deemed successful, you must get another SMS from MEC within 24 hours, saying that the trade license is ready to be collected. You then go to MEC, pay a fee for a trade license (which is usually QAR510 with an additional QAR10 as an inspection fee), and they will then print your Trade License and give it to you. At this point, you have to celebrate, because this is usually the hardest thing to get!

# Computer Card

Now, you must commit murder in your business and relax in your badass office with a sea view - or more than that we hope. But your office must be empty because you cannot yet employ anyone in full under your company, because you cannot issue them a Residence Permit. For that, you need to get a Computer Card. Note here that while the CR and Trading License are issued by MEC, the Computer Card is issued by Immigration.

Computer cards are basically documents that say who signs the authority on behalf of your company. Although Qatari partners in your company need to be registered on a Computer Card, non-Qatari members are not required to do so, but can be entered all the same. Before you submit a Computer Card, you must obtain an official company stamp that will be used on all your official documents. For this, you can go to a large printing press and order an official company stamp. They will ask for a copy of the CR, Trade License, and a copy of your shareholder ID. This usually takes a day to complete, and costs less than QAR200.

Next, you must go to the Immigration and Passport control office to apply for a Computer Card. You need the following:

• Required application form correctly filled in. This will ask for the names of individuals who wish to be on the Computer Card as the signing authority. Also, there will be a place on the form for you to print your company stamp.
• A copy of your CR.
• Copy of Trade License.
• Copy of ID of all shareholders in the company

·         A copy of the individual ID that needs to be on the computer card.

Note here that at this point, you don't have employees, so only shareholders can use a Computer Card. But once you have employees under your company RP, you can have them registered on the Computer Card too. They don't need to be shareholders

Note here that you have no employees at this time, so only shareholders can use a computer card. However, once your company becomes an employee under RP, you can put it on your computer card. They do not have to be partners to be on a computer card. After all of the above, you will still be able to pay the fee and you will be given your computer card. Here are some things you can do with your computer card:

• Recruit employees and issue their RP.
• Allow departure for your staff 
• Tips for a smooth setup process

Costs for the management process can often change, so be flexible about your budget.

When you go to submit your various applications, always save your shared folder with a few copies of all the shareholder IDs. You never know when you'll need it. Also, keep a copy of their passports for non-Qatar shareholders. And yes, save a copy of your CR too.

After credit cards are accepted almost everywhere, you may need to use cash in certain places while typing in the forms when you go out and bring in cash and cash for this activity.

Usually, it takes some time to get a trade license, as it involves a lot of documents. Most of the documents needed for this will be accepted by your office building owner, so ask them in advance to have it ready for you.

The setup process can take anywhere from a month to four months, depending on how fast you are able to collect paper and how busy the MEC is. So be aware that it will take time and be patient.