Wednesday 13 / November / 2024
Muscat: United Arab Emirates has once again opened its doors to tourists from Oman wanting to enter the country without an e-visa, with some saying that they have to pay OMR35 at the Oman-UAE border for a visa.
“Visa-on-arrival facility is now available and you have to pay 100 Dirhams (OMR10.4) more for it,” said a frequent traveller to Dubai.
Qamar Riaz, a resident of Oman who travelled to the UAE a few days ago, however, said that he had paid only OMR25 for the visa.
“I was given a visa-on-arrival but the authorities said that it would be the last time and that he will need to apply for an e-visa from the next time on,” he said.
Recently, new sign boards were installed at the Oman-UAE road border, informing that visa-on-arrival requests for residents of GCC will be processed electronically and that the manual process has been discontinued. “But I suppose they again opened up for Eid holidays,” tourists said.
Incidentally, UAE’s Ministry of Interior had announced on Sunday that the e-visa will be applicable from July 15.
“Starting from July 15, UAE will start implementing e-visa services and the visa-on-arrival will be completely stopped at all airports for expats living in the GCC,” it said on its website.
Airlines, however, insist on passengers possessing an e-visa.
“Our rules are very clear and we are not allowing passengers to board the aircraft without an e-visa,” a senior official of flydubai said.
The e-visa, however, does not apply to nationalities of around 46 countries having a treaty with the UAE, such as Hong Kong, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Germany or the European Union countries.
Citizens of these countries have a choice between visa-on-arrival or applying for a visa online.
