Most Qatari families only think about residence permit paperwork twice: when their domestic worker first arrives, and when something changes. Three procedures sit behind that paperwork — cancelling a sponsorship, transferring the worker to a new employer, and renewing the annual residence permit — and as of March 2025 the order in which two ministries handle them has changed. The Ministry of Labour now sees most cases before the Ministry of Interior does. This guide walks through what that means in practice, with the current fees, documents and timing.
Which ministry handles what
Two government bodies sit on either side of every domestic worker file in Qatar. The Ministry of Labour (MoL, often still referred to by its older acronym ADLSA) owns the employment relationship itself: the contract, end-of-service entitlements, labour complaints, and — since 2020 — change-of-employer transfers. The Ministry of Interior (MOI) owns the residence permit attached to that relationship: issuing, renewing and cancelling the RP on the Metrash2 app and the MOI portal.
Before March 2025 you could open Metrash2, request a cancellation, pay the fee and the RP would terminate. MoL was only involved if something went wrong — a complaint, an unpaid wage, an unsettled ticket. That sequence has now been reversed. MoL approval is the gate. MOI is the execution.
In short: cancellations go MoL first then MOI, transfers are an MoL-only e-platform process, and annual renewals stay on Metrash2 with MOI. Knowing which queue you are in saves the trip to the wrong service centre.
How to cancel a sponsorship
The March 2025 change is the single most important update for sponsors. A residence permit cancellation request must now be filed with the Ministry of Labour first. MoL reviews the employment file — open complaints, unpaid wages, missing end-of-service settlement, return ticket — and only once MoL clears the file can MOI process the RP termination in Metrash2. Fragomen flagged this change in its March 2025 immigration alert and confirmed that the new sequence applies across worker categories, including domestic workers under Law 15 of 2017.
Practically, the steps look like this:
First, settle everything Law 15/2017 says you owe. Final wages up to the last working day, end-of-service gratuity (three weeks per year worked under the current reading of the law), accrued annual leave, and the return air ticket to the worker's home country. The Law 15/2017 employer guide covers the calculation in detail. Skipping any of these is the most common reason MoL refuses a cancellation.
Second, log in to the MoL e-platform (mol.gov.qa) with your QID and Nafath credentials and open the cancellation request. Upload the signed employment contract, a copy of the worker's passport and QID, your QID, and proof that the final settlement and ticket have been paid. A simple bank transfer receipt and an e-ticket PDF are usually enough.
Third, wait for MoL clearance. In straightforward files the review takes a few business days. If there is a pending labour complaint against you — opened by the worker, by a recruitment agency, or even flagged automatically by the system because of a wage delay — the case is paused until it is closed.
Fourth, once MoL clears the file, open Metrash2 on your phone, go to the Residence Permit Services menu and submit the RP cancellation. The MOI fee is QAR 20 for a personal sponsor, which is the rate that applies to domestic workers in almost every case. Company sponsors pay QAR 50, but that bracket is rare for domestic workers. The payment is debited instantly and the RP status changes to cancelled within a few hours.
Fifth, the worker has a grace period to either leave the country or — if they are using the cancellation to move to a new sponsor — transfer. The departure window is usually communicated in the cancellation confirmation. Booking the ticket in the worker's name, not just a generic receipt, helps if MOI later asks for proof of departure.
How to transfer a domestic worker to a new sponsor
Transfers — formally called Change of Employer, or CoE — are the cleanest of the three procedures because they no longer pass through MOI at all. The 2020 labour reforms abolished the requirement for a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the current sponsor. That position is unchanged in 2026: there is no statutory NOC requirement for a domestic worker to move to a new employer in Qatar. MoL confirms on mol.gov.qa that domestic workers are explicitly included in the Change of Employer service.
The transfer runs entirely on the MoL e-platform — not Metrash2. The new sponsor opens a CoE application, enters the worker's QID, and uploads a freshly signed employment contract. The system notifies the current sponsor and gives them a window to respond. If the worker is still within probation, the current sponsor's consent is technically required; after probation the worker can move with notice only, even if the current employer disagrees.
The contract upload is the part that most new sponsors get wrong. MoL expects a bilingual Arabic-English contract that names both parties, the monthly salary in QAR, weekly rest day, accommodation arrangement and end-of-service terms. A bilingual contract generator that already follows the Law 15/2017 template removes most of the rejection risk.
For employers weighing transfer-in versus a fresh hire from abroad: transferring a worker already in Qatar avoids recruitment fees, visa stamping, medical and biometrics on entry, and the four-to-eight week wait for a new arrival. It does come with the risk of inheriting an unresolved end-of-service obligation if the previous file was never properly closed, so always read the prior contract before signing. If a fresh hire is the better fit, the list of licensed recruitment agencies in Qatar is the place to start.
Once MoL approves the CoE, the worker's RP is automatically re-linked to the new sponsor in the MOI system. No separate Metrash2 step is needed and no new RP card is issued — the existing one continues to be valid until its next annual renewal.
How to renew the residence permit annually
Domestic worker residence permits in Qatar are issued for one year and must be renewed annually. The renewal stays on the MOI side: Metrash2 or the MOI portal, no MoL step in between. The fee is approximately QAR 200 per year for domestic worker RPs. The renewal cannot be filed until two preconditions are met — a valid medical fitness certificate from a Ministry of Public Health (MOH) approved centre, and updated biometrics.
Start the renewal cycle around 30 days before the RP expiry date. Sooner is fine; later risks the QAR 10 per day overstay fine and, if it drags on for weeks, complications with re-entry permits if the worker travels. The Medical Commission centres in Doha and Al Wakra handle the fitness test — blood work and a chest X-ray for tuberculosis and infectious disease screening. Results are pushed to the MOI system electronically; the worker does not need to carry a paper certificate.
Biometrics — fingerprints and a photograph — are taken at an MOI service centre or one of the approved kiosks if the worker's records are due for refresh. Many domestic workers only need this once every few renewals; Metrash2 will flag when it is required.
Once both items are in the system, open Metrash2, select Renew Residence Permit, confirm the worker's details and pay the QAR 200 fee with the linked debit card or wallet. The renewed RP is reflected in the worker's QID record immediately; a physical card replacement is not normally needed unless the card itself is damaged or expired.
Two practical points are worth knowing. The fitness certificate has its own validity window — usually three months from issuance — so do not run the medical until you are reasonably close to the renewal slot. Running it too early can mean a second test if the certificate expires before the RP renewal is filed. And the medical centre will not test a worker whose passport details and current QID do not match exactly; if the worker recently renewed their passport in their home embassy, update the passport number on Metrash2 before booking the appointment.
If the renewal lapses by mistake, do not panic. The QAR 10 daily fine is payable on top of the QAR 200 renewal fee and can be settled at the same Metrash2 step. The RP is reinstated once the combined amount clears. What does not work is repeated short overstays — habitual late renewals can flag the sponsor file for closer review and slow down future visa applications by the same household.
When the worker initiates the cancel or transfer
Sponsors sometimes assume only they can start the process. Under Law 15/2017 and the 2020 reforms, the worker has the right to file the request themselves in several situations.
A domestic worker can lodge a labour complaint with MoL if wages are unpaid, if the agreed weekly rest day is not given, if accommodation is unsuitable, or if the contract is otherwise breached. Once a complaint is filed, MoL can authorise the worker to transfer to a new sponsor without the current sponsor's consent — even within probation in serious cases. The worker can also unilaterally terminate the contract with written notice and ask MoL to action the cancellation if the employer refuses.
When this happens the employer is notified through MoL and given a chance to respond. Ignoring the notification does not stop the case; it tends to result in a default decision against the sponsor, an MoL fine, and the worker being released from sponsorship anyway. Engaging early — paying any outstanding amount, agreeing on a hand-over date — is almost always cheaper.
Worker-initiated cases also leave a trace on the sponsor's MoL record. A single dispute closed amicably is rarely a problem; a pattern of unresolved complaints can make future recruitment slower because licensed agencies see flagged sponsors in the system before signing a new contract. This is the quiet reason long-time employers in Doha tend to resolve disagreements through a direct settlement rather than wait for a formal hearing.
Common mistakes that cost employers fines
Five recurring errors show up in MoL and MOI files for domestic worker sponsorships.
Filing the MOI cancellation before MoL clears the file. Since March 2025 this simply will not process. The Metrash2 request bounces and the file sits in limbo while the RP keeps ticking — and with it, the employer's exposure to overstay accumulations once it expires.
Assuming an NOC is still needed for a transfer. It is not, and demanding one from a departing worker can itself be the basis of a labour complaint.
Forgetting the return ticket. Law 15/2017 obliges the employer to provide a ticket back to the worker's home country on contract end, except where the worker is moving to a new sponsor. MoL frequently refuses cancellations until this is documented.
Letting the RP expire without renewing. The fine is QAR 10 per day and compounds quickly. After a few months the worker is technically irregular, banks may freeze accounts and exit permits become harder.
Paying end-of-service in cash without a signed receipt. If the worker later files a complaint, MoL treats undocumented payments as if they did not happen. A bank transfer or a witnessed receipt in Arabic and English settles the question.
A sixth recurring error deserves a mention because it costs the most time even when it costs no fine: starting the MoL filing without the contract on hand. The signed bilingual contract is the anchor document the platform uploads against, and households that misplaced the original — or never had a properly drafted one — end up reconstructing it under deadline pressure. Keeping a digital copy in cloud storage from day one of employment removes that friction completely.
None of these procedures is inherently complicated. They become expensive when the order is wrong, the paperwork is thin, or the underlying Law 15/2017 obligations were never met. Approached in sequence — settle, file with MoL, finalise with MOI — a cancellation closes in under two weeks and a transfer in well under a month. The March 2025 change added a step, not a hurdle: it simply pushed the labour file review to the front of the queue, which is where it always probably belonged.