Visa-on-arrival facility ought to be reciprocal, UAE Paper

WAM ABU DHABI, 23rd April, 2013 (WAM) — A local English daily on Tuesday said that there is a series of ongoing discussions taking place between the government and foreign ministry officials in the UAE and their counterparts in various nations around the world. At the heart of these talks are allowing citizens of the UAE to enter European Union countries and Canada through the simple process of obtaining a visa on arrival, .

Citizens of more than 30 countries currently enjoy the facility granted by UAE authorities to have visas on arrival when landing at international airports or transiting though the international frontier.

“It is a quick and easy method of allowing access, doing away with the need to pre-obtain permissions, usually at a high cost and jumping through administrative hoops”, the Gulf News said in an editorial.

Last month, talks between Canada and the UAE opened the door to reciprocal visas and the British government is also considering visas on arrival for Emiratis.

“While the UAE generally grants citizens of all European Union nations visas on arrival, there is no reciprocity. It is a situation that needs to be addressed sooner than later in this age of globalisation and economies without borders”, concluded the paper.

WAM/ES