UAE to suspend visas on arrival from March 19

The UAE Embassy in the UK has tweeted that from March 19, the UAE will no longer issue visas on arrival as part of its measure to combat the spread of the Covid-19 infection.

NEW: #UAE takes extra steps to combat the spread of #COVID19 that will affect travellers from the UK:

– from March 19 no visas on arrival will be issued until further notice. UAE residents are not affected.

See list of visa on arrival countries here: https://t.co/RstTFXJ0q1

— UAE Embassy UK (@UAEEmbassyUK) March 18, 2020

It said that the directive will remain in place until further notice.

It added that UAE residents won’t be affected by this latest directive.

The ban will come into effect at 01:00 (UAE local time) on March 19.

Holders of diplomatic passports would be exempted from this decision, noted the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship in a statement on Wednesday.

According to the statement, the decision will apply to holders of exempted passports until a medical clearance process is activated at the departure country.

Read: UAE suspends issuance of all visas, bans travel to Italy, Turkey, among others

On March 14, the UAE said that it would suspend the issuance of all visas to foreigners with effect from March 17.

Read: Passengers from these countries can travel to Dubai despite entry visa suspension

However, on the following day on March 15, Dubai Airports issued a statement on its website clarifying that there would be exemptions to the rule for certain nationalities, especially among a majority of the nationalities that qualified for visas on arrival in the UAE.

This latest directive though does not grant any exceptions to the ban on visas on arrival for non-diplomatic passport holders, irrespective of their nationality or their country’s existing visa agreements with the UAE. 

Read: UAE reports 15 new Covid-19 cases, total now at 113

On Tuesday night, the UAE’s Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHaP) announced 15 new Covid-19 cases in the country taking the total number of confirmed cases to 113.