Qatar

The Second Class property residency under Law No. 16 of 2018 sets the lowest nominal threshold for self-sponsored residency anywhere in the Gulf. QAR 730,000 (roughly USD 200,000) in property buys residency tied to that property. There is no employer involved, and it renews for as long as you hold the asset. Both thresholds are confirmed verbatim on the Real Estate Regulatory Authority's own site. The upper First Class tier, at QAR 3,650,000 (roughly USD 1,000,000), adds permanent-residency-style benefits, including state health and education. Qatar ranks first globally for ease of property registration, and title can issue in under 24 hours.

The QAR 3.65m route reportedly carries a 90-days-a-year presence requirement. That would make it the only Gulf programme here with a meaningful presence test. The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman all require nothing. The figure appears in Fragomen and IMI Daily reporting, but it could not be located in the primary legal text, so verify it before relying on it. If you cannot spend three months a year in Doha, this is the wrong programme. A genuinely mobile family should compare it against the presence-free Gulf alternatives. The lower QAR 730,000 tier gives you the property residency without those upper-tier benefits.

Not quite. The QAR 3.65m status confers permanent-residency-style benefits, but it is ownership-contingent residency under Law No. 16 of 2018. It is not the true permanent residency granted under Law No. 10 of 2018, and it does not lead to it. Both statuses evaporate if you sell the property, with no acquired-rights protection at all. Marketing materials routinely conflate the two laws. Be precise about the distinction, because these are different statuses under different statutes.

True permanent residency exists under Law No. 10 of 2018. In practice, it is effectively closed to newcomers. It is capped at 100 permits a year across a population of nearly three million, and it requires 20 years' lawful residence (10 if born in Qatar), plus Arabic language proficiency. This is a long-service reward for existing residents, not an immigration product. Qatar has never published how many it has actually granted since 2018. For essentially every relocating family, the property route is the only realistic way in. Do not confuse the QAR 3.65m property status with this genuine PR.

No. A separate 10-year Entrepreneur Residency was announced by the Prime Minister at Web Summit Qatar on 2 February 2026, but it is not open. Officials have said further circulars will precede launch, and no implementation date exists. Do not let anyone sell you access to it. The entrepreneur route that is actually available runs through Invest Qatar, at QAR 250,000 committed capital plus a QAR 5,000 government fee, for five years renewable. It requires endorsement from a recognised incubator such as QSTP or Qatar FinTech Hub.

No income tax is imposed on employed individuals' salaries, wages and allowances. There is no personal capital gains tax on assets held outside a business, and Qatar levies no inheritance, estate or gift taxes. Qatar taxes on a territorial basis. Corporate income tax of 10% applies to locally-sourced profits attributable to foreign ownership, with separate QFC and QFZ regimes. One future cost to note: VAT has been approved in draft and is anticipated, but it is not yet implemented.

The Qatari passport is not obtainable through any investment route. Naturalisation realistically requires around 25 consecutive years' residence, plus Arabic, and is granted entirely at the Emir's discretion. Qatar also does not permit dual citizenship, so naturalisation is neither available nor, for most families, desirable anyway. The Qatari passport ranks 49th on the Henley index, with 112 visa-free destinations, the strongest GCC passport after the UAE. But that is beside the point for an investor, since it cannot be bought. Treat Qatar as a residency play, not a citizenship one.

Liquidity and exit pricing are the real risk here, not the visa. Freehold supply is concentrated in a narrow, developer-dominated market, principally The Pearl-Qatar (Zone 66), West Bay Lagoon/Legtaifiya, Lusail City (Zone 69) and Al Khor Resort. There are nine freehold zones and sixteen usufruct zones, up to 99 years, making 25 designated zones in total. Usufruct is not ownership, so check carefully which one you are actually buying. Qatar's sovereign balance sheet is the strongest in the region, but that will not protect you from a thin resale market when you want to exit.