Like many GCC countries, Qatar has been a haven for expats for some time now. You can even find them on TikTok and Instagram, memeing their long days or gushing over landmarks Aspire Park and Souq Waqif.

Things have been gradually changing, though

While Qatar is still a growing country that has a lot to offer, it has been leaning more and more towards Qatarization since 2000. Meaning, that the nation is seeking to increase national presence in the work force.

For a country heavily made up of migrant workers, all efforts for Qatarization have not always been well received. A lot of expats have worried that Qatarizartion was simply a key-word for ‘send them back home’.

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Even if those fears are valid, that is just not factual. In a recent interview, Sheikha Athba Bint Thamer Althani, CEO of QDVC (and the face behind the creation of the Qatarization Award), said that people have misunderstood what Qatarization was for years.

“It’s not a matter of replacing non-Qataris with Qataris”, she said. “But a matter of enabling citizens to handle certain positions.”

See, the goal of Qatarization is to help realize Qatar’s National Vision for 2030, which hopes to see 50% of Qataris working in the private sector. While we cannot predict the future, we know that the first efforts for Qatarizing the Energy Sector have worked, with 50% of the workforce being Qataris in permanent positions.

2030 might not be that far away, but we can only hope that we can all work together to make sure its vision is one to behold!