The UK is a popular destination for Gulf tourists with some 800,000 visiting in 2023, and if you’re looking to visit in 2024, the relaxing of the pre-entry visa rule will make your trip even better.
UAE nationals will soon be able to bypass the pre-entry visa process to visit ‘auld Blighty’, thanks to an announcement by the UK Government allowing visa-free entry from Thursday, February 22.
The new visa-free rules applies to UAE nationals, as well as their fellow GCC counterparts in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia, as well as Jordan. In lieu of a pre-entry visa, GCC visitors will be eligible for the UK’s electronic travel authorisation (ETA) scheme, which is three times cheaper at Dhs46, and will be processed within an average of three days and be valid for a period of two years. Travellers can begin to apply for the scheme on Thursday February 1. Qatari nationals have already been reaping the benefits of the ETA programme since last November.
The ETA scheme is the latest good news for UAE travellers who have also been granted visa-free access to Kosovo, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Turkey in recent weeks.
