Qatar cancels leave for expat state workers as crisis looms

BRITONS and other expatriates working for state-owned companies in Qatar have had their holidays cancelled and been barred from leaving, as a growing diplomatic crisis in the Gulf sparks panic within the country.

Doha’s gilded economy has been plunged into uncertainty after Saudi Arabia and its allies cut diplomatic and economic ties over its alleged links to Iran and Islamist groups in the region.

A Qatari official said some leave was cancelled in “essential government sectors” while plans are made to cope with the fallout from sanctions. “I was told not to travel. My exit permit and holiday was cancelled,” said one Briton working for a subsidiary of state-owned Qatar Petroleum, the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas.

The travel restriction could affect a large proportion of around 20,000 Britons estimated to be living and working in Qatar. However, The Daily Telegraph understands there has been no spike in requests for consular help.

A work-sponsorship system widely enforced in the Gulf, and known in Qatar as “kafala”, requires foreign workers to get an employer’s consent to change jobs or leave but Europeans and Americans usually acquire multiple-exit permits allowing them to travel more freely than workers from India and Nepal who make up the bulk of the 2.7 million-strong population.

“Certain government bodies cancelled leave so staff were present to help with vital planning such as chartering new shipping routes and getting food into the country,” said the Qatari official who declined to be named.

The chief executive of Qatar Petroleum has said Qatar can stay under a blockade “forever” and its oil and gas industries will not be affected.

Turkey has broken ranks with its Sunni Muslim allies in the region, however, and yesterday sent its first ship carrying food aid to Qatar and dispatched a small contingent of soldiers with armoured vehicles.

Ankara, which has long tried to play the role of regional mediator, is also wary of upsetting Saudi Arabia.

On June 7, Turkey fast-tracked a law to allow more troops to be deployed to a base in Qatar that houses Turkish soldiers under a deal signed in 2014.