Can I leave my job without notice in Qatar?
Ask the Ministry of Labour about your permit before you stop work. In the five Article 51 cases you can leave at once and keep your full gratuity. Otherwise you owe your basic wage for the notice you skip. Leave Qatar without serving it, and you face a 1-year bar on a new work permit (Art. 49).
Checked 22 October 2026
Get your datesEvery deadline as a date, from your last working day.
What to do now
- Check whether one of the five Article 51 cases fits, and gather the evidence.
- If none fits, ask for an earlier last day in writing before you stop work.
- Build your leaving plan for the claim deadline.
See an example plan
What to ask HR
- Will you agree in writing to waive my notice?
- If not, what will you deduct, and how is it worked out?
The five Article 51 cases
You may end the contract without notice, or before a fixed term ends, and keep your full gratuity, if:
- Your employer breaks its duties under the contract or the law.
- Your employer assaults you or commits an immoral act against you.
- You were hired through fraud.
- Your work puts you in serious danger.
- A Labour Dispute Settlement Committee makes a final decision in your favour.
Keep evidence: messages, payslips, medical notes and any committee decision.
Without one of those cases
Whoever ends the contract without the notice pays the other side compensation. It is your basic wage for the notice period, or what is left of it (Art. 49).
That is 1 month's basic wage in your first 2 years of work, and 2 months' after that.
Leave the country without serving the notice, and as an expat you face a 1-year bar on a new work permit (Art. 49).
Your gratuity
Article 54 has no cut for resigning.
Your employer may deduct money you owe it from the gratuity (Art. 54).
Only a summary dismissal on the grounds in Article 61 takes the gratuity away.
One ground is absence without a lawful reason for over 7 days running, or 15 days in a year (Art. 61).
When final pay is due
Skipped the Article 49 notice? Your employer has up to 7 days from the day you left (Art. 67).
Your permit and residence
Walking out can put your work permit and residence at risk. Ask the Ministry of Labour what it means for yours before you stop work.
Once your residence permit is cancelled, you must leave within 90 days (Law 21/2015, Art. 24).
A better route
Ask your employer to agree an earlier last day in writing, before you stop work.
If you are not paid
Ask the Ministry of Labour to settle the dispute. If it cannot, it goes to the Labour Dispute Settlement Committee (Art. 115 bis).
Claims lapse 1 year after the contract ends, and filing with the Ministry pauses that clock (Arts. 10 and 115 bis).