Moving to Qatar from Italy: documents, tax, social security and driving

Current travel advice

Viaggiare Sicuri, the Italian Foreign Ministry’s travel advice, was last updated on 28 September 2026. It says rising tensions in the Middle East mean hostile action against infrastructure and other sensitive targets in Qatar cannot be ruled out. It recommends the normal precautions for any trip abroad and names no areas of particular caution. It asks you to stay informed and follow the local authorities.

• Register your trip on Dove Siamo Nel Mondo, or use the Viaggiare Sicuri app with notifications on.
• The Italian Embassy in Doha is on +974 4483 1828 or +974 4483 1802, and doha.ambasciata@esteri.it.
• Outside office hours, the embassy’s emergency mobile is +974 5551 3365. Call it too if you are stopped or arrested.
• For emergency services in Qatar, dial 999.
• Your passport must be valid for at least 6 months when you arrive.

Register with AIRE

If you move your residence abroad for more than 12 months, you must register with AIRE, the register of Italians living abroad. Apply to the consular office for where you live within 90 days of arriving. In Qatar, that is the Italian Embassy in Doha.

• You apply online through the Fast It portal. It needs at least 3 PDF documents and works on a computer, ideally with Google Chrome.
• Adult children must apply on their own, even if they live with you.
• Tell your comune about any change of civil status, citizenship or address abroad. You do this through the consulate.
• AIRE registration ends your Italian public healthcare. The health section below explains what that means.

Legalise your documents before you fly

Qatar is not in the Apostille Convention, so Italian documents for Qatar need legalisation. The Prefettura legalises signatures on Italian public documents for use abroad. The Qatar Embassy in Rome then legalises the document.

• Each Prefettura sets its own process. Avellino, for example, works by post and returns documents within 30 days. It may ask for €16 revenue stamps.
• Tell the Prefettura that the document is for Qatar.
• The Qatar Embassy in Rome is on +39 06 4424 9450.
• In Qatar, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs finishes attestation. It charges QAR 100 for an academic certificate and QAR 100 for a marriage contract.

Italian tax when you move abroad

Since 2024, you are tax resident in Italy if, for most of the tax year, you have your residence, your domicile or your physical presence in Italy. Most of the year means 183 days, or 184 in a leap year, counting part days. Domicile now means the place where your personal and family life is mainly based.

Being on the resident population register is a presumption of residence that you can rebut. When you register with AIRE, your comune takes you off that register.

A separate presumption applies to Italian citizens who move to a country on Italy’s 1999 list of privileged tax states. Qatar is not on that list.

Italy and Qatar have a tax convention. It was signed in Rome in 2002 and ratified by Italy in 2010.

• Working remotely from Italy for most of the year makes you tax resident, even with no other link.

Health and pension cover

When you register with AIRE, you lose Italian public healthcare automatically. That includes your family doctor, hospital care and medicines for the prescription charge alone.

Back in Italy, AIRE registrants who emigrated can get urgent care, the care given by emergency departments, for up to 90 days a year.

Italy’s social security agreements outside the EU cover a short list of countries. Qatar is not on it. Generally only Qatari citizens can claim a state pension in Qatar. Your employer may owe you an end of service gratuity instead.

• If an Italian employer posts you to Qatar, Law 398 of 1987 keeps you in Italian social insurance, including pension, accident, sickness and unemployment cover.
• Some groups registered with AIRE, mainly Italian workers and students abroad, can claim back health costs paid abroad. Ask the embassy.
• In Qatar your cover also comes from your employer’s insurance and from public healthcare, which you register for once you have your Qatar ID. Our healthcare guide explains how.
• Carry a prescription and a medical report from the last 6 months. Controlled medicines need a Ministry of Public Health permit.

Family residence

Your employer sponsors you. You can then sponsor your family once your own residence permit is issued.

• Under Qatar’s 2023 rules, private sector staff need a technical or specialised job and a salary of at least QAR 10,000 a month, or QAR 6,000 when family housing is in the contract.
• Government and semi government staff need family housing from their employer, or a salary of at least QAR 10,000.
• You can sponsor a husband or wife, unmarried daughters of any age and sons aged 24 or younger.
• Unmarried couples may not live together in Qatar. To sponsor a partner you must be married.
• Children aged 6 to 18 must be enrolled in a licensed school in Qatar, or show they are enrolled elsewhere, before their residence permits are issued or renewed.

Driving

• You can drive with an Italian licence for up to 7 days after you arrive, and with an international licence for up to 6 months. Both only let you drive hire cars.
• Once you have a residence permit, you can drive only with a 5 year Qatari licence. To get one you take theory and practical driving tests.
• Traffic in Doha is very heavy and accidents are frequent.
• Drink driving is severely punished.

Debts, contracts and travel bans

• Unpaid loans and debts with a Qatari institution can stop you leaving Qatar, and a pending legal case can bring a travel ban. Cases can take years.
• Fraud, bounced cheques and unpaid bills can lead to prison or a fine.
• In a contract or employment dispute, Qatari authorities go by the Arabic text of the contract. Have the Arabic version translated before you sign.

Voting from Qatar

• If you are registered with AIRE, you vote by post in national elections and referendums. The consulate sends your ballot to your address abroad.
• To vote in Italy instead, tell the consulate in writing. For an election at the end of a full parliament, the deadline is 31 December of the year before. For an early election or a referendum, it is the 10th day after the vote is called.
• Keep your address up to date with the consulate so your ballot reaches you.