Qatar (Somali diaspora)

How many Somalis live in Qatar?

UNHCR counted 8 refugees from Somalia in Qatar at the end of 2025 (UNHCR Refugee Data Finder API, Qatar). The number has stayed at 5 to 15 since 2000, with up to 12 asylum seekers a year from 2003 to 2007 (same source).

A 2017 consultancy estimate of foreign residents by citizenship, collected by the Gulf Labour Markets and Migration programme, lists selected nationalities and does not include Somalis (GLMM, foreign residents by citizenship, c. 2015-2016).

Somali officials describe a large, settled community. In a 2023 Doha News interview reported by Somalia's state news agency, Deputy Prime Minister Salah Jama said: "We have a very strong Somali community in Qatar" (SONNA, 27 May 2023). The same report says many Somali families have lived in Qatar for generations.

How did Somalis come to Qatar?

Most came to work. Somalia and Qatar signed a labour agreement on 30 March 1983 to "regulate the recruitment of Somali workers in Qatar", according to the International Labour Organization's record of it (ILO, Somalia–Qatar Agreement). The ILO lists a joint committee as its follow-up mechanism (same source).

Somali officials trace the links back further. Jama said in May 2023 that official relations between Qatar and Somalia span more than 100 years (The Peninsula, 20 May 2023).

UNHCR's records show few Somalis sought refuge in Qatar after the central state collapsed in 1991 (UNHCR API, Qatar). For where most people went, see Why and how Somalis left and Migration routes.

What do the labour agreements say?

• 1983: Qatari employers' job offers go through the two labour ministries, and each worker signs an individual contract on a model attached to the agreement, under Qatari labour law (Agreement text, Arabic, via ILO). The employer pays the worker's travel to Qatar and home again. Article 10 lets workers transfer their savings to Somalia under Qatar's financial rules. A joint committee of up to three members from each side meets at least every two years, and the agreement renews itself every four years (same source).
• 2019: the 1983 agreement was "re-enacted" in late September 2019, Goobjoog News reported (Goobjoog, 13 November 2019). Each labour ministry named a six-member committee to carry it out, and the two sides agreed to build a database of Somali workers (same source).
• 2025: in May 2025 a Somali delegation led by Labour Minister Yusuf Mohamed Aden met Qatar's labour ministry in Doha (SONNA, 9 May 2025). The talks produced a project to employ more than 10,000 young Somalis in Qatar, skilled and unskilled, SONNA reported.

Somaliland Standard, reporting the same 2025 deal, said officials described it as a way to ease wide unemployment in Somalia while Qatar lacks foreign workers (Somaliland Standard, 9 May 2025).

How is the Somali community in Qatar organised?

In April 2017 Weyak, a Doha-based mental health organisation, held "Shida", the Fourth Annual Forum of the Somali Community in Qatar, with the Hersare Foundation (The Peninsula, 13 May 2017). The paper reported that a large number of Qatar's Somali residents and their families attended, along with Somalia's deputy health minister. The 2017 event was the fourth in a yearly series.

From 22 to 24 July 2024 Doha hosted the Somali Diaspora Conference, opened by Somalia's Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre and Qatar's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 22 July 2024). Qatar's ministry said it was the first such conference held in an Arab country.

Somalia's foreign ministry said about 250 representatives of Somali communities attended, from Europe, the Americas and the Gulf (Somali MFA; Somali MFA, opening). The final statement called for regular diaspora meetings and one umbrella body for Somalis abroad (The Peninsula, 26 July 2024).

How did the 2017 Gulf crisis affect Somalis?

On 5 June 2017 Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties with Qatar. Somalia declared itself neutral. "Somalia has taken a neutral position," a Somali embassy spokesman told Anadolu Agency, adding it would not end ties with Saudi Arabia or Qatar (Anadolu Agency, 12 June 2017).

In July 2018 the European Parliament said Saudi Arabia and the UAE had stopped regular budget support to Somalia in retaliation for that neutrality (Al Jazeera, 5 July 2018).

How are Somalis in Qatar tied to home?

The 1983 agreement itself protects workers' right to send savings home (Agreement text, via ILO). Ties also run through the state. Qatar's foreign ministry lists road projects it funded in Somalia, including Mogadishu–Afgooye and Mogadishu–Jowhar, and the rebuilding of the Mogadishu municipality building (Qatar MOFA, 22 July 2024). Qatar News Agency says Qatari projects also helped educate about 300,000 students in Somalia (QNA, 22 January 2024).

Families send money home. Individuals abroad sent Somalia US$3.13 billion in 2025, about 24% of the economy, by the central bank's count (Central Bank of Somalia, Annual Report 2025). The bank does not break this down by sending country.

Related pages

• Somali diaspora hub
• Saudi Arabia (Somali diaspora)
• UAE (Dubai)
• Yemen (Somali diaspora)
• Life after leaving
• Somali refugees by the numbers

Sources

1. UNHCR. Refugee Data Finder API, Somalia to Qatar, 1985 to 2025. api.unhcr.org. Checked 12 November 2026.
2. Gulf Labour Markets and Migration (GLMM). "Qatar: Some estimates of foreign residents in Qatar by country of citizenship (selected countries, c. 2015-2016)." gulfmigration.grc.net. Checked 12 November 2026.
3. Somali National News Agency (SONNA). "'Qatar can play significant role in our pursuit of peace and stability': Somali Deputy PM." 27 May 2023. sonna.so. Checked 12 November 2026.
4. International Labour Organization. "Somalia–Qatar Agreement," signed 30 March 1983. ilo.org. Checked 12 November 2026.
5. Governments of Qatar and the Somali Democratic Republic. Agreement on regulating the recruitment of Somali workers to work in Qatar (Arabic text, from Qatar's Al Meezan legal portal), via ILO. ilo.org. Checked 12 November 2026.
6. The Peninsula (QNA). "President's visit to Qatar was successful: Somali Deputy PM." 20 May 2023. thepeninsulaqatar.com. Checked 12 November 2026.
7. Goobjoog News. "Ministry of labour sign agreement with Qatar." 13 November 2019. en.goobjoog.com. Checked 12 November 2026.
8. SONNA. "Somalia and Qatar Agree on Plan to Create Over 10,000 Jobs for Somali Youth." 9 May 2025. sonna.so. Checked 12 November 2026.
9. Somaliland Standard. "Somalia, Qatar sign labor pact which will send 10,000 Somali youths to the Gulf State." 9 May 2025. somalilandstandard.com. Checked 12 November 2026.
10. The Peninsula. "Focus on mental health of Somali diaspora." 13 May 2017. thepeninsulaqatar.com. Checked 12 November 2026.
11. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, State of Qatar. "Minister of State for Foreign Affairs: Somali Diaspora Conference is Opportunity to Discuss Ways to Build Somalia, Strengthen Its Economy." 22 July 2024. mofa.gov.qa. Checked 12 November 2026.
12. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Somalia. "Somali FM Concludes Diaspora Conference, Urges Enhanced Economic Ties with Qatar." July 2024. web.mfa.gov.so. Checked 12 November 2026.
13. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Somalia. "Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre Inaugurates Somali Diaspora Conference in Doha." July 2024. web.mfa.gov.so. Checked 12 November 2026.
14. The Peninsula (QNA). "Somali Diaspora Conference calls for strengthening Qatar-Somalia ties." 26 July 2024. thepeninsulaqatar.com. Checked 12 November 2026.
15. Anadolu Agency. "Senior diplomat: Somalia will not sever ties with Qatar." 12 June 2017. aa.com.tr. Checked 12 November 2026.
16. Al Jazeera. "EU slams UAE retaliatory acts against Somalia over Gulf crisis." 5 July 2018. aljazeera.com. Checked 12 November 2026.
17. Qatar News Agency. "Report: Qatar, Somalia... Strategic Partnerships for a Prosperous Future." 22 January 2024. qna.org.qa. Checked 12 November 2026.
18. Central Bank of Somalia. "Annual Report 2025." 2026. centralbank.gov.so. Checked 12 November 2026.