Saturday 04 / May / 2024
Muscat: There have been mixed reactions to the compulsory e-visa ever since it was confirmed by the officials in the UAE, as Times of Oman (TOO) reported on Tuesday.
Read here: UAE e-visa ‘a must’ by road or air for expats in Oman
Amid talks on the pros and cons of the e-visa, travel agents fear that this new rule may hit their business as lots of last minute meetings and business plans might not happen.
“I think this will affect the last minute plans, as you would probably need to apply for the e-visa 48 hours before arrival, so this might have an impact on last minute travel. However, I think that once people get used to it, the travel pattern will get back to normal. We will still need clarity on the working process of the e-visa as there has been some confusion when this was introduced on previous instances,” said Sudeep Joseph, manager at Travel Point.
Some people think it will be a safer process and avoid last minute disappointments, while others not very happy and are waiting to see how it would work.
“I am not extremely fond of this new e-visa, because I have a manager’s visa and always got visa on arrival, however now I will have to apply in advance and can’t make any last minute travel plans. I also heard rumours on the new system that if your visa gets rejected once, it is very difficult to apply again. So that might be annoying for some,” said Sohail Noor, a Bangladeshi expatriate who works as a production manager in a private company.
Muslim Mehmood, general manager of Al Hashar Travels thinks that it is a good move if the authorities fasten the process of issuing the visa. “I think it’s a good move, only thing is that the authorities in the UAE need to perhaps fasten the process of issuing visas, which should help. I think we should definitely not panic with this, there is a positive side to the e-visa which is that once you get the visa, you can enter the country for sure, there will be no last minute disappointments at the borders or at the airports.”
Social media has been abuzz with discussions since when TOO reported the news.
“I had applied for online visa in November last year, a couple of days later when I checked the status, it was showing “Rejected” without specifying any reasons for rejection. If reason for rejection is not known, how a person can re-apply? As my first application cost me AED 250 plus, which has never been refunded until now. I tried all means to contact them for the refund as well as to know the reason of rejection but, no success,” lamented one expatriate on social media.
“The revamped system is superb, got mine and for my parents within 24 hours,” said another.
“E-visa requirement in my opinion will create unnecessary delays for Omani residents, in the past a few of my friends experienced enormous delays or ended up not getting visa at all, and what if someone has business meetings in the UAE, and their visa does not come on time, it might get quite embarrassing. There should be some kind of leniency for Oman resident card holders and there should be both e-visa and visa on arrival options,” said Shaina Malik, a Pakistani expatriate.
From April 29, expats in GCC, with exceptions of certain nationalities, will be required to apply for a visa online before they travel to the UAE.
