Qatar revises visa-on-arrival regulations

By Peter Townson & Sarmad Qazi

Staff Reporters

Qatar has revised the visa-on arrival scheme, making it mandatory for citizens of a number of countries to obtain a visa before travelling to Doha, foreign diplomats told Gulf Times yesterday.

The new visa regime is expected to come into force on May 1. A visa is available on arrival to citizens of 33 “affluent” countries but it could not be verified whether the change would affect all the countries on this list.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the embassy that American citizens would need to obtain visas before arriving in Qatar starting on May 1,” consul at the US embassy, Alex Ave-Lallemant, told Gulf Times.

“We will keep Americans informed by updating the Qatar section of the US government’s website for travellers (travel.state.gov) as well as the consular section of the embassy’s website (qatar.usembassy.gov),” he added.

Talk about Qatar adopting a new policy of “reciprocity” has been circulating in recent weeks. Although many diplomats were unable to confirm whether the new rules would apply to their particular country, reports suggest that the change will apply to all nations who do not offer visas on arrival to Qatari nationals.

A spokesman for the Japanese embassy said the matter was under discussion and a statement would be issued today. “We are meeting top Qatari officials tomorrow (Thursday),” a spokesman for the mission said yesterday.

The deputy head of mission and charge de affaires at the French embassy, Alain Beucler, confirmed the mission had received a notification in this regard from Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“According to the notification we received, ordinary French citizens travelling to Qatar will need to get a visa from the Qatari embassy in Paris before embarking on their journey.

This decision does not affect French diplomats and special passport holders,” Beucler said. The deputy head of mission at the Italian embassy, Federico Ciattaglia, told Gulf Times that he came to know about the development several weeks ago when the Italian mission in Doha had received a letter forwarded from the European Union.

“The notification by the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs was addressed to the EU delegation in Riyadh and Brussels. They forwarded it to us, because Italy is part of the Schengen system,” Ciattaglia said.

“We still don’t know the exact timing but it’s supposed to be applied from May 1,” he added. “We have heard rumours about the new law but we have not heard anything official as of yet,” said a spokesperson for the German embassy.

She explained that if this was introduced it would mean more hassle for travellers from Germany as they would have to get their visas from the Qatari embassy in Berlin, adding “Germany is a huge place, and this may cause them problems”.

Currently only Germans carrying a temporary passport need to apply for a visa prior to travel to Qatar. “We are receiving many inquiries,” claimed the spokesperson, “but we are yet to be informed.”

The minister-counsellor at the Korean embassy, Yong-jin Choe, told Gulf Times: “Qataris do not require a visa to visit South Korea for 30 days. South Koreans are given visa on arrival in Qatar.”

Other embassies chose not to comment on the potential changes but said they would be updating their citizens when information becomes available.

A prominent British businessman who has worked in Qatar for 15 years told Gulf Times: “This will obviously have an effect on families who come to visit relatives working in Qatar, as well as those arriving for business on trips arranged at short notice.

I hope that the Qatari embassy in London is prepared for the heavy volume of processing work that this will undoubtedly entail and that they will be able to turn round visa applications quickly.” Nationals from many countries have always had to apply for visas before travelling to Qatar.