DUBAI – The roll out of a unified visa for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries has been delayed despite repeated statements to implement the visa as soon as possible.
Oman’s minister of heritage and tourism has confirmed the delay citing security concerns and differing national perspectives regarding the visa which could have helped hundreds of thousands of citizens.
Mohammed Al Mahrouqi spoke at the Shura Council and admitted that the visa remains under study and is unlikely to be implemented in the near future.
Though the visa was approved in 2023 and representatives of countries involved were hopeful about the launch, same has not been the case in reality.
The six GCC nations — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE – had agreed in principle to launch a unified visa on the same pattern as Schengen visa to facilitate those trying to travel between these countries on a single visa.
The unified visa was seen as something which could bolster the region’s appeal to international travelers and cement deeper economic cooperation at a time when Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were trying to attract more and more tourists from across the globe.
Naturally there was immense public support for rolling out the visa, technicalities have hindered the launch of visa including issues related to national security, data sharing, immigration control etc.
Efforts were put in by GCC countries to such an extent that even the name of the visa had been announced. Termed ‘GCC Grand Tours’, it was also announced by UAE Minister of Economy Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri that the visa will allow travelers to spend more than 30 days in the region, however, no specific date for the launch of visa was announced and the recent statement somewhat implies that the visa would not be launched anytime soon.
