A recently introduced visa-on-arrival procedure for Gulf expats is making it easier for some foreign residents to travel within the GCC, but still falls short of the unified tourist visa that’s been under discussion for years.
Earlier this year, GCC states brought in new measures allowing some expats who meet set criteria – including having a valid residence permit from a GCC country that shows they are one of 201 approved professions – can apply for an entry visa upon arriving at the airport or land border, as opposed to applying in advance of travel.
The aim is part of a wider initiative to make travel between the states easier for certain groups of people.
According to Brigadier Sheikh Nasser bin Abdullah al Thani, director of Qatar’s Abu Samra border post with Saudi Arabia, there have been “a number” of designated expat professionals taking advantage of the new rules to drive to Qatar, The Peninsula reports from an article for in-house police magazine Al Shurta.
The GCC-wide initiative covers not only visitors to Qatar, but also Qatar residents wishing to travel to other states in the region.
However, Saudi Arabia – which shares Qatar’s only land border – does not appear to have made any announcement regarding the loosening of visa-on-arrival formalities.
Requirements
According to Qatar government’s Hukoomi portal, the criteria for applying for an on-the-spot GCC Residents’ Visit Visa include:
- A GCC Residents’ Permit (RP), valid for at least six months;
- An original passport with at least six months’ validity;
- A return ticket to the point of origin (if you are flying); and
- The applicant must be currently employed in one of 201 authorized professions.
This list of approved professions is wide-ranging and covers many jobs in medicine and healthcare, animal welfare, law and academia, among other fields.
While some careers such as diplomat, financial expert and geologist are not surprising for the region, other permitted professions include journalist, earthquakes expert, horse-breeding technician and author. You can see the full list here.
Tourist visa calls
The new visa requirements have been brought in as the GCC has been under pressure for a number of years to introduce one GCC-wide tourist visa, similar to Europe’s Schengen system, which allows travelers to visit multiple member countries with a single visa.
While the latest system does not quite have the same openness as the European version, and still requires individual visas for each country visited, it is hoped it will start to ease travel for residents between the six GCC states.
Last year, amid rumors that a single visa system may come into effect during 2014, the GCC’s business body said this was unlikely, as there was no unified electronic database linking the systems for the member states.
Abdul Rahim Hassan Naqi, the Secretary-General of the Federation of GCC Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said:
“The major problem is the non-existence of an electronic link between the GCC member states.
“Whenever Gulf citizens or foreigners move between GCC countries, their data are recorded and updated only by the state they are leaving and the state they are entering. There is no full Gulf update. We do need to have an electronic link between the six countries of the Council in order to exchange data and therefore ease the implementation of the common Gulf tourism visa,” he added.
Gulf visitors
Tourism within the Gulf is big business, and attracting Gulf nationals and residents to spend some of their leisure time in Qatar one of the key aspects of the nation’s tourism strategy, which was launched by Qatar Tourism Authority earlier this year.
As part of the new plan, QTA hopes to boost Qatar’s tourism figures five-fold, raising them to 7.4 million by 2030, as it widens its offering to GCC and international visitors alike.
Events such as the Souq Waqif festivals, Katara’s Dhow Boat Festival and Eid festivities regularly attract other guests from the Gulf to Qatar.
Just this weekend, the QTA said it would be stepping up its tourism promotional activities in the GCC by opening representative offices in Riyadh and Jeddah in the Kingdom, which will also serve other Gulf states.
Rashed al-Querese, QTA’s executive director of marketing and promotions, said GCC visitors to Qatar make up 40 percent of all arrivals, while half of these come from Saudi Arabia alone, according to local media reports.
Region-wide bans
Meanwhile, GCC states have started cooperating to crack down on illegal behavior by applying a law that bans a person deported from one country in the region from entering any other member state.
According to Manafez Dubai, the official newsletter of the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs Dubai quoted in Dubai-based Gulf News, the new law is based on the GCC security pact which was drawn up in 1994 and then amended in 2012. It mostly applied to cases of drugs, money laundering and murder, the newspaper said.
Each case will be considered individually, except in drug-related incidences, when the region-wide ban will be automatic.
Thoughts?
Great News. Thanks for the officials to made it happen.
1. It cannot be beyond the whit of man to produce a list of professions in alphabetical order. 2. The list is worth a read as it contains lots of generalised descriptions that would encompass far more than 201 categories of person. 3. If the GCC states cannot electronically exchange information on a valid visa from one of the states then how can they identify someone who has been banned from one of the states?
Misleading, many of those titles are still not allowed to get visas on arrival to Kuwait or KSA.
The mentioned list initially contained around less than 100 job titles which increased over time,but honestly whats the percentage of expats who have their job title as EMPLOYEE only which is not included ?
besides, when work visa for ABC nationality is restricted, an ABC expat ( driver or employee for example ) will get an exception for a valid work visa with the title of General Manager, while the actual job is completely different. I think the purpose of that list is to have a minimum standard of visitor’s financial status to secure their visit to the G.C.C, however, Schengen countries get better grip using different requirements. Hope the G.C.C visa requirements will be revised to allow better flow for visitors.
DJ25Q: Do you know if there’s any exception for expats who have their job title as ‘Employee’? Since, this type of occupation is not mentioned anywhere in the approved list, are they eligible for a visa on arrival at any GCC countries?,
Mostly these kind of job title are given to civilian’s working for the Govt in spite of their actual profession being an engineer.
I guess not, but a PRO in your company might be able to give you an answer.
So one who was working in Qatar but resigned and resident permit cancelled and moves to another GCC country with new resident permit there and within the listed profession. He too can come back visit on this
visa category and vice versa in the two years ban period?
The 2-year ban is for residency. You can come at any time during the ban as a tourist if you want.
I don’t think that is correct. Heard that tourist visas also will not be issued in the 2 year ban period or am I wrong?
My favourite on the list is no.47 – Business Lady – you really couldn’t make it up, could you?
Mine are: (143) Food Controller and (166) Land Hostess
What’s a land hostess?
The business lady one sounds bad in English but perfectly normal in Arabic, سيدة اعمال , which I assume was the language of the original list
“What’s a land hostess?” – It’s an Air Hostess that’s been stripped of their wings 🙂
Joking apart I have no idea, I can hazard a guess as to what they are referring to, but I have never come across this term before.
So Qatar lets in people from Saudi but Saudi does not reciprocate? Qatar should demand equal treatment or demand visas from those travelling from Saudi. (Not that anyone really wants to go to Saudi)
That’s always been the issue… Qatar and UAE have always pushed similar things forward like unified car insurance, medical database, single visa for all six states.. But Saudi Arabia keeps holding it back as they don’t see these thing as priorities or Kuwait who simply can’t be bothered
Well I guess the issue is the UAE and Qatar and more outward looking whereas the Saudis are more inward looking. It would definetly increased trade and tourism for Qatar and the UAE if people could drive between the two countries without a transit visa.
I guess the Saudis don’t want that or are scared who would travel through their country. They seem to resent Qatar and the UAE, they took that bit of land joining the two countries and then objected to the Dolphin Gas Pipeline saying it went through their waters.
in addition to blocking the gas pipeline between qatar and kuwat
So what happens to the unemployed spouse or children of someone on the list? Do they need a visa in advance, or are they exempt because they are under the family visa of someone on the approved list?
Dependents need to apply for visa prior hand. Visa on arrival not for them.
Let’s play a game.. Everyone picks a number describing his/her profession
I’m no.7. My productivity is so high…
.
No. 45 is quite surprising. I sure they mean Imams and the like not just anyone who picked up a copy of a holy book and pretended to be religious.
A first step towards a visa free travel among GCC countries but one can also argue that the list is rather discriminatory since in my opinion…anyone who has a valid passport, is a residence of Qatar and is able to fund his trip should be free to travel without a visa like the rest on the list. The list itself screams discrimination.
Can i go to saudi arabia on arrival visa as i am an indian and holding a valid resident visa in qatar…….with saudi on arrival visa can i do umrah???please advise