How to get the WhatsApp Business API in Qatar: +974 number, CR documents and Meta verification

What you need first

This guide is for a company registered in Qatar, on the mainland, in the Qatar Financial Centre or in a free zone, connecting its own number. Gather three things before you open any screen: access to a Meta business portfolio, the number, and a provider whose panel launches Meta's Embedded Signup. Budget about two hours of hands-on work spread over a week or two; most of the elapsed time is Meta's review.

Meta does not charge for setup. Charges start when templates are delivered, at Meta's rates for +974 numbers.

Step 1: pick the +974 number

Any Qatari number that can receive an SMS or a voice call will do, including a landline that can take the verification call. Pick one the business will keep for years. Customers save it, and the display name, quality rating and messaging limit build up around it. The number on your shop sign, your Google Business Profile or your Talabat or Snoonu listing is often the best choice, because customers already message it.

If that number is already on the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app, you have a choice. Meta's coexistence feature lets some numbers stay on the Business app while connected to the API, but only in the countries Meta lists; check Meta's documentation for Qatar before relying on it. Otherwise the number must be removed from the app first, and the chats on the phone do not move to the API. Many Doha businesses keep their current number on the app for walk-in customers and connect a second number for campaigns and the shared inbox.

Step 2: put the business portfolio in the company's hands

The business portfolio, formerly Business Manager, is the container that will own the WhatsApp Business account, next to your Facebook page, Instagram account and ad accounts. Use the existing one if the company already advertises, but check who controls it. A frequent situation in Qatar: the portfolio was created years ago by a freelancer or an agency under a personal Facebook profile, and the owner is only an employee in it. Ask for full control to be handed to the owner or general manager, or create a fresh portfolio in the company's legal name. Only someone with full control can start verification.

Step 3: connect the number through Embedded Signup

Start the connection in your provider's panel. On Broadchat it is under Channels → All Channels, then connect WhatsApp. Meta's window walks you through:

1. Logging in with Facebook and choosing the business portfolio.
2. Creating a WhatsApp Business account, or picking one that exists.
3. Entering the display name. It should match your brand as it appears on your storefront, your website and your Instagram.
4. Entering the number and confirming it with the code Meta sends by SMS or call.

When the window closes, the number shows in the panel with its status, quality rating and messaging limit.

Step 4: verify the company with your CR

Business verification is how Meta checks that the portfolio belongs to a real, registered business. Together with good quality, it is the usual way past 250 people a day to 2,000 and beyond. Begin in Meta Business Suite under Settings → Security Center → Start verification, and type the legal name, address, phone and website exactly as they appear on the documents you will upload.

Meta's general rules: documents must show the legal business name and an official address or phone, must be current, and must come from an official source. Meta does not publish a Qatar-specific list, so the table below is our general guidance on how common Qatari documents map to those rules. Meta's reviewers decide.

Language is not a barrier: Arabic is among the document languages Meta accepts, so an Arabic CR extract can be uploaded as it is.

A worked example

Yousef manages a restaurant in Lusail Marina that trades as Saffron Terrace. The CR is in the name Al Nakheel Hospitality W.L.L. He enters 'Al Nakheel Hospitality W.L.L.' as the legal name, keeping 'W.L.L.' exactly as printed, copies the address from the CR, gives the restaurant's landline, and adds the website, whose footer says 'Saffron Terrace is operated by Al Nakheel Hospitality W.L.L.'. He uploads the CR for the name and the restaurant's Ooredoo landline bill for the phone. 'Saffron Terrace' is what customers will see as the WhatsApp display name; it does not go in the verification form.

Prove you represent the company

Meta then asks you to confirm your connection to the business: a code by email (an address on the company's own domain is best), a code by phone, SMS or WhatsApp, or domain verification with a DNS TXT record or a meta tag on the website. Domain verification is often the fastest route when the phone on file is an old landline nobody answers.

Meta says a decision can take up to 14 business days. Once verified, avoid changing the legal name, address, phone or website on the portfolio, because a change can trigger a new review.

Step 5: submit Arabic and English templates

Outside the 24-hour window, only approved message templates can be sent. Start with a bilingual utility template and one marketing template:

Utility (Arabic)
أهلاً {{1}}، تم تأكيد حجزك في مطعم سافرون تيراس يوم {{2}} الساعة {{3}} لعدد {{4}} أشخاص. للتعديل اضغط على الزر أدناه.

Utility (English)
Hello {{1}}, your table at Saffron Terrace is confirmed for {{2}} at {{3}} for {{4}} guests. Tap the button below to change it.

Marketing (English)
Hi {{1}}, our National Day set menu is served at Saffron Terrace, Lusail Marina, from 15 to 18 December. Reply BOOK to reserve a table, or STOP to stop offers from us.

Submit the Arabic and English versions as separate templates rather than mixing both languages in one. Keep promotional lines out of utility templates, because Meta moves them to marketing. The marketing example names the sender, is plainly an offer and gives a way to stop, which is what Article 22 of Qatar's PDPPL asks of electronic direct marketing. Review can take up to 24 hours, so submit Ramadan, Eid and National Day templates well ahead.

Step 6: import consenting contacts and start sending

Import only people who agreed to WhatsApp messages from your business, with a tag or custom field recording when and where they agreed: the booking form, the checkout, a QR code at the counter. WhatsApp's policy requires opt-in. Qatar's Personal Data Privacy Protection Law (Law No. 13 of 2016) generally requires consent to process personal data, prior consent for direct marketing, and permission before processing special categories such as health data; firms in the Qatar Financial Centre follow the QFC's own data protection regulations. This is general guidance, not legal advice; check with a Qatari lawyer.

A new portfolio can reach 250 unique people outside the 24-hour window in a rolling 24 hours. With verification, good quality and steady sending, Meta raises the messaging limit to 2,000, then 10,000, 100,000 and unlimited. Lead with utility messages, keep early marketing small and targeted, and check the quality rating daily for the first two weeks.

Once you are live

• Add a WhatsApp chat link to your website, Google Business Profile, Instagram bio and delivery-app listings; the WhatsApp link generator builds one.
• Run a Click-to-WhatsApp ad: chats it starts are free for up to 7 days.
• Set office hours in the chatbot, including shorter Ramadan hours and the Friday prayer break.
• If you plan to sell WhatsApp to clients rather than use it yourself, read about the white-label WhatsApp API for Qatar.

Back to the overview: WhatsApp Business API in Qatar. The general version of these steps is the WhatsApp Business API setup guide, and verification in more depth is in Meta business verification for WhatsApp.