Qatar To Tighten Visit Visa Regulations For UK, US Nationals
 

:rolleyes:Thursday, Apr 08, 2010

DOHA (Zawya Dow Jones)--Qatar, the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, will tighten its visit visa policy next month forcing nationals of 33 mostly European countries visiting the Gulf Arab state to arrange entry before travel.

Both the U.K. and U.S. embassies in Doha have posted travel advice for citizens on their Web Sites, confirming the shake-up in visa regulations.

"We have been advised by the government of Qatar that from May 1 they will withdraw the provision whereby British passport holders can obtain a visitors visa on arrival in Qatar," the U.K. embassy in Qatar said in its travel advice section on its Web Site.

The U.S. embassy also confirmed that the current visa-on-arrival scheme is to be scrapped.

"The government of Qatar recently informed the U.S. embassy that as of May 1 U.S. citizens will no longer be able to apply for tourist visas on arrival in Qatar," a message on the embassy's Web Site said.

Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, France and Italy are among other countries affected.
:confused:

That's great for tourism!!


the real reason behind it, qataris want visa-on-arrival in the US and UK,

yeaaah....em... that will never happen.


get over it, and get in line.

Not only those countries...
all the countries that used to have the "privilege" of getting a visa on arrival...I recieved as well a E-mail from my embassy.Indeed all the visa have to be requested through Qatari embassies in respective countries BEFORE travelling to doha, or Via hotels or maybe Families members in Doha.

I can "smell" that this is a direct consequence of the killing of an Hamas member in Dubai few months back by the Mossad using European Passport....:}.
GCC Autorities have indeed realised that we might have "Mossad" people living in the gulf area using european(western) passport.

Another step "Forward"...:}
When i think Qatar Bids for the World Cup 2022....
Good luck!

another factor perhaps...

but if any intelligence angency wants to get in, they'll get a gcc passport!! as simple as that

This is why......
Incident: United Airlines B752 near Denver on Apr 7th 2010, unruly passenger leads to fighter escort

Bypass ratio,
This rule(visa) came BEFORE the incident you mention.
By the way we are talking about Visa To enter Qatar not to enter US
(Most if not all European countries are concerned..)

I think Bypass ratio is eluding to a tit-for-tat, for Qatar having been somewhat humiliated in the international press (evidently though, by the behaviour of its own diplomat). Fortunately, it seems like the country has taken the incident very seriously, to their credit.

Qatar's visa policy seems to be a departure from their strategy of making Qatar a business-friendly location, perfect for conferences, meetings and other international. Additionally, it should hurt Qatar Airways.

Fortunately, other nearby countries are open and eager for business.

Business Friendly Bahrain

Well hang on, the incident in the USA occurred on the 7th and the press release in Qatar was on the 8th??

Sorry Bypass ratio..:Wrong...:=
The press release regarding this new visa rule appears already almost 2 weeks ago. i Got already two e-mail from my embassy (10 days ago and one week ago).

This could be another arab solution:

If one slurps soup at dinner,
Ban soup.

Simple solutions for simple minds.

:eek:

Another genious solution:

If pilot gets more than 6 days off in a row.
ban more than 3 days off in a row.

Simple soultions, Simple minds.

I'm honestly surprised they haven't banned days off.

Do all theses snide remarks about the Middle East help in any way?

This will be temporary, you will see.
They say they want to increase tourism in the country, yeah right.

Who? in their right mind, would come to doha, before dubai, abu dahbi, barhain, muscat?

Does it really affect you?
maybe if you have relatives visiting, but then again.. there is nothing to do. Take them to dubai, abu dhabi, barhain, muscat where they don't have that sort of problem. or even better, go see them!!

Spend your money elsewhere.

and what now?
 

Will it be possible to apply and pay online?
------------------

I am adding this part after reading Togaluck post.... great idea, why come and spend money in Doha? will go spend the money somewhere else and enjoy :) thank you Qatar !

Simple Minds. Great band. Glad to hear they are so popular in Qatar. Do they have the requisite Visa needed?

Back to the crusades mentality...

To paraphrase other quotes here on Knoteetingham at the moment:

The Qatari nation lacks innovation...[Doha's] tourist appeal is about as exciting as having to watch paint dry...[and] the lure of Doha in its present form...[doesnt] exist.

If you're familiar with Qatar and Doha, you've gotta laugh at that 'travelogue' and the deadly accurate accurate picture that it paints of the unfriendly, unwelcoming and totally boring place that Qatar ALREADY is!

But wait, there's more!!!

To make it even WORSE, Qatar's now decided to tighten its visit visa policy next month forcing nationals of 33 mostly European countries visiting the Gulf Arab state to arrange entry before travel. Talk about dumb! Tourism's never been big in Qatar, but with this latest initiative, it's about to disappear altogether I'd say! :ugh:

Qatar - was, and always will be, a total cluster-:mad: so it seems. :}

this because whats happened in dxb , so don't jump hear and their, some of these passports forged from an officially departments and their embassy know that , so let them fix their passport quality first .

kinda have to agree with mohd340 here

ol' buddy of mine, a hispanic fella, went for an interveiw at qr. on his way out the airport police freaked out, asked him why hes got pilot manuals and all sorts of pilots stuff in his bag. he told him cause he is a pilot and because he came for an interveiw with gutter airways. after makeing him empty out his bags they let him go.

i told him he should have told them that it wasnt hispanics who were the terrorists. fix the dam problem.

mohd340

Passport quality problem?
how naive are you?

you seriously think that the problem lies on the "officially department" or the embassies?

when any of these intelligence agencies want anything done, they do it, passports i.d.'s any document, hence the name... intelligence...
besides western passports have the most security measures anyway.

but then again, why even bother explaining to you.

wow, what a big deal, just coz UK, USA and some more nationals are now required to get visa before arriving to Doha you all are making such a big deal, by the way there are more countries that need prior visa to enter Qatar ,i thought this was a professional pilot rumor network not an immigration requirement forum, u all must be sooooo bored . i think pay rise , upgrades etc should be the focus here.

Peace.