This can be extended for an additional 30 days without cost.

Qatari passport holders can now enter Pakistan with a visa on arrival, an official source from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.

Passport holders from Qatar with diplomatic, special, or normal status may enter for a period of 30 days with a tourist visa that can be stamped at the airport.

Another 30 days can be added free or charge.

Currently, Pakistani arrivals to Doha are still required to make hotel reservations through the Discover Qatar website, joining citizens of Iran, India, Thailand, and Ukraine.

Visa exemptions for Qataris

Recently, the Embassy of Japan confirmed a noticeable rise in visa requests from Qatar since the start of the year following a visa exemption agreement between Qatar and Japan.

“This year, we are already receiving significantly more visa applications to our embassy. In this respect, the agreement would further positively impact the inbound of Qatari nationals to Japan, together with the easing of COVID-19 prevention measures,” Japanese envoy to Qatar, Satoshi Maeda told local media.

The move allows holders of ordinary Qatari passports who intend to remain in Japan for a period not exceeding thirty consecutive days to visit Japan without acquiring a visa.

Qatari nationals will receive free registration certificates that are good for three years in order to avoid the need for a visa.

Travel between Japan and the Middle East region has grown popular in recent years, prompting the Japan National Tourism Organisation to establish a Middle East office in Dubai in 2021 designed to educate potential tourists about halal offerings and other religious-related requests.

In May, the British envoy to Doha also said a smart application is currently being developed by authorities in the UK to provide Qatari citizens with an online travel authorisation to enter the United Kingdom.

That came after authorities in the UK announced the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme, which is set to allow Qataris to be among the first to use it later this year.

By uploading the necessary documents and information, Qatari citizens can receive a UK entry permit valid for two years within minutes from the palm of their hands, Jon Wilks noted.

Last year, the UK’s Home Secretary Priti Patel said the “move means that Gulf states will be among the first countries in the world to benefit from ETAs and visa-free travel to the UK.

“Our number one priority is the security of the UK border and by launching ETAs we can ensure that everyone wishing to travel to the UK has permission to do so in advance of travel and refuse those who pose a threat,” she added.

Those who obtain their ETA can use it several times over an extended period, authorities highlighted. This makes travelling more affordable and efficient from the GCC countries to the UK.

More recently, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said his country “strongly supports” the exemption of Qataris from the Schengen visa.

In April last year, the European Commission proposed an entry visa exemption for Qatari and Kuwaiti citizens travelling to its member states for up to 90 days. The move would see the two Gulf states would join the UAE, which was added to the visa-free regime in 2014.

The decision would be applicable to all EU member states except for Ireland. Other Schengen associated countries that are not subject to the visa waiver include Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

Qatar had welcomed the proposal, describing it as “an evidence of improving bilateral ties in all fields” between the Gulf state and the EU.