Gulf states are ironing out the details of a European style free travel visa for expats and business people wishing to move between the six nations.
The Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) is following the blueprint of the European Union’s Schengen visa, which offers freedom of movement between member states except for the UK and Ireland.
The six GCC countries – Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar – hope to have the visa in place by the summer of 2014.
The aim is to ease the red-tape for business and tourists who wish to move between the countries.
Abdul Rahim Hassan Al-Naqi, secretary-general of the GCC Chambers of Commerce and Industry said: “The Gulf countries are currently working on the technical details of the project, especially an automated system that will link the member countries.”
Travel restrictions
Around 15 million expats work in the Gulf States, which is almost a third of the population. Most – around 9 million – are in Saudi Arabia.
Although visa restrictions vary between some nations, most tourists and expats on business have to apply for travel documents to move between countries, which many claim is excessive red tape slowing down the growth of business and tourism.
The delay in issuing the visa appears to be a computer network allowing customs and border posts for each state to swap information allowing free movement.
Currently, each nation has a separate system and procedure and negotiations are continuing to try to slim down the process into one which is compatible with the needs of each agency.
Visitors from the 26 EU Schengen countries, the US, UK, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia are exempt from requiring visas to land in the UAE, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain – but not Saudi Arabia or Kuwait.
Unified visa
Ministers are also keeping restrictions to stop anyone banned from entering a GCC country from obtaining the visa.
Transferring this information between government agencies is also holding up this process.
The unified visa will not affect the rights of GCC nationals to move between states without visas.
“The single-entry visa should be valid for one month, but multiple-entry visas could be issued for one year,” said a GCC spokesman. “Conditions for obtaining the GCC visa include presenting evidence of sufficient financial resources. There are some technical issues that are being addressed now and the GCC visa could be issued in mid-2014.”
