New visa policy for UAE transit passengers

ABU DHABI: The cabinet of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has approved a plan to grant entry visas to transit passengers across all the UAE airports who wish to visit the country's tourist attractions.

The new policy aims to enhance transit visa procedures to enable stopover passengers to enjoy a day out in the country, thus boosting the tourism industry, according to the UAE official news agency WAM.

The working group, led by Federal Authority for Identity and Nationality, will propose a general policy for transit visas. The policy will include visa fee and mechanism to increase the number of visitors.

Recent statistics show that 70 percent of the total passengers who passed through the UAE's airports in 2017 were transit passengers. It is expected that the new policy will list visa fee, mechanism for increasing the number of stop-over visitors, as well as ways to promote the country's tourism attractions. Nearly 14.9 million tourists visit Dubai annually and the figure is expected to hit 20 million by 2020.