My Qatari driving license

Finally after a long process i got my Qatari driving license :)

As I have a valid Jordanian driving license I was eligible for two direct try to get the Qatari driving license. In Qatar all tests and application are conducted at the driving schools and administered by Qatar traffic department, for me United driving school was the best choice due to the location which is near to my house and in the way to my work area.

First I had to collect the required documents to apply for the driving test which includes:

• The company approval ( no objection letter) to get a driving license a long with a copy of the company registration card.
• A copy of my Jordanian driving license
• Two colored passport size photos
• A copy of my Qatari ID and residency permit (RP)
• Eyes test – which was done at the driving school

First day I went to the driving school around 5:00 am to register my papers and get an appointment for the theory test (Signal test) which was scheduled two days later, the registration started at 7:00 am and took me around an hour to finish.

At the signal test day I had to come also around 5:00 am but I was there may be around 4:30 am, test registration started at 6:00 am, and I got the test around 9:30 am, the test is straightforward test consist of a computerized test of a 20 multiple choice questions ( and if you study the student book you will pass it for sure) after that there was a couple of oral questions about the car engine asked by the police man who administer the test, I passed the exam and told to wait for the signed papers to be received in order to book for the next tests. I was done with the registration about 11:30 am with an appointment of 3 weeks later for my L and parallel parking tests.

During this waiting times I took two private lessons to practice the parking techniques as required by the test, each lesson was for 45 minutes with a cost of 200 QAR.

At the test day as you know by now, I had to be at the school at 5:00 am to secure a place in today’s test, which was started at 8:30 am, my turn was at 9:30 am, I cleared my L parking test and directly got the parallel parking test which was also passed easily thanks to the trainer instructions, again I had to wait for the signed paper and get an appointment for the road test (the final one) which was scheduled 3 weeks later to be on 3/5/2015.

During the waiting time a got one private lesson to check my driving against the exam objectives, got the instructor notes and get ready for the exam.

Well for the big day as usual the arrival at 5:00 am to the driving school waited till I got my turn at 9:00, i got into the testing car with a police man and two other candidates, I admit it; it is a hard and comprehensive test that test your driving capabilities in multiple scenarios, I had a funny story about this test may be I write about it in a different post ;)

At around 11:00 am I got my driving license and fold this page of my journey in Qatar J yes this process is a time consuming as you had a very long waiting times for your test, along with the very long waiting days between each test, if you are applying for the driving license you had to be prepared to give a physically and mentally stressing three days.

The brake down for the cost to get my license:

30 QAR student book fees – took me only one day to study and another day to review

30 QAR eyes test fees

50 QAR theory test fees

200 QAR driving test fees

250 QAR License issuance fees

600 QAR private lessons

Total of : 1160 QAR and a three days almost dedicated to the tests at the driving school.