Passengers at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar.

:: The Qatari Cabinet adopted a bill to grant a “permanent residence card” to some foreigners In an attempt to ease the concerns of many residents and encourage them to stay and not leave, particularly those in the basic professions and specialties and in light of the continuation of the diplomatic crisis in the medium term.

Although the official news agency did not provide the details of the law or the terms in which permanent residency will be granted, all the information available on the subject is that the holder of a “permanent residency card” will be able to receive the same treatment as Qataris in education and health care, and priority in recruitment after Qataris in military and civilian posts.

This move comes after news reports have emerges confirming that residents in Qatar are suffering from a shortage in liquidity, and that they have been affected by the crisis.

Worries

Furthermore, the Qatari residents are worried about the inability to exchange or transfer their savings.

However, other analysts saw the Qatari move as an attempt by Doha to rally global support for it, in light of its crisis with the Gulf and Arab countries supporting the fight against terrorism.

According to the Bloomberg agency, “The Qatari decision is aimed at mobilizing international support against the diplomatic boycott by portraying Doha differently from its neighbors, tolerant with foreign employees and open to others, especially after human rights reports which criticized Qatar for the poor condition of Asian workers involved in the construction of facilities for the 2022 World Cup,” said Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, a researcher at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.

Anthony Cordesman, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said that this Qatari law is not going to be effective overnight. “We have to wait and see the actual implementation of this new law,” he said.