Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The clarifications begin...

The first of the 'clarifications' on the visa story I posted about yesterday appears in Gulf News today.

I said in the post that one of the things the announcement hadn't explained was whether the rule that visitors cannot re-enter the country for one month applied to the 33 passports which get an automatic visa on arrival.

Today's 'clarification' actually talks about 36 passports - they've added Cyprus, Malta and Paraguay to the previous list.

Citizens of those 36 countries are exempt apparently and can come and go at any time.

So that's one question answered.

Now they need to give some thought to the effects of the one month ban on the cruise business, which Dubai is trying so hard and expensively to develop, and on the general tour business here. Thirty-six exempt passports means citizens of about 170 countries are not exempt.


The 'clarification' with the list of passports exempt is here.

3 comments:

hut said...

That's a real good idea... At a time when Dubai desperately needs to pull in the punters, they try and keep potential contributors to the economy from India, Iran etc. out of the country.
What school of government does this adhere to?
Play school?

HE said...

My brother, who is Lebanese, lives in Kuwait. He has a residency visa there. When he visits the UAE he doesn't need to apply for a visit visa, he gets in upon arrival because he has this residency visa in Kuwait. He was planning on coming to Dubai, staying here for 4days and then we both head to Egypt for a week and come back here.

To my knowledge, if you have a residency visa in any of the GCC countries then you can obtain the visit visa upon arrival. This ofcourse depends on your profession.

But like I said, my brother gets his visa upon arrival. Lebanon is not on that list. So how does this apply to him?

It is a bit confusing getting your head around it, I guess I will need to go in person and ask about this. But to be honest, I simetimes feel like I am not getting the proper information even when I attend in person and ask someone, I was put in a very awkward position one time because someone in "this department" said regarding a particular situation "ofcourse you can, no problem", but when I actually went and faced this particular situation I was told "ofcourse you can't, big problem."

This is what actually irritates me more than clarifications, rules, laws and regulations. Someone you think is responsible & reliable because of their position tells you something but you find out later on because you've been put in that situation that the total opposite is the truth.

Dubai City Information said...

an emirate thriving on tourism and hospitality banning cruises? something does not jive here..