Emiratis take advantage of UK electronic visa waiver

Since the programme took effect on January 1, nearly 2,000 Emiratis have used the new visa-waiver scheme, which allows travel within 48 hours of application.

DUBAI // Emiratis have started using the new electronic visa waiver to travel to Britain, which allows travel as soon as 48 hours after applying online.

The British government introduced the scheme on January 1. Citizens of the UAE, Qatar and Oman can apply online up to 48 hours before travelling.

“It’s the first time I used this system,” said D K, 25, an Emirati who flew to London from Dubai on Friday. “Every time my visa to the UK expired, we would renew it, so I’ve never not had a visa.”

D K and her family travel to London up to three times a year.

“We have a place there so I never had an issue with getting a visa,” she said. “It usually lasts for five years, but this has obviously made it less of a hassle for the whole procedure.”

After applying online two days ago, she went with a group of her friends from Dubai for a two-week visit.

“It’s easier to plan your travel by just going online to apply,” she said. “London can be such a heavy traffic location from here.”

She suggested that the UK consider completely removing its visa procedures for Emiratis.

“I think if they want to do an electronic visa waiver, they should just do the whole thing, without any online procedures,” she said. “It’s 100 per cent less of a hassle already but they really should go all the way with it.”

She said she considered London to be her second home.

“I go twice a year and having a place there really helps if you want to go and not spend so much money,” she said. “I like to travel and go on vacation and not see the same people from here.”

More than 5,000 people have applied for the electronic visa waiver: 1,948 Emiratis, 1,369 Omanis and 2,184 Qataris.

“London is such a second Dubai to the people here because they go so often,” D K said. “I definitely think the electronic visa waiver will attract more people to apply.”

Her parents have also starting using the online system.

“My parents have doctors there so they go more often than we do,” she said. “My cousins live there, my uncle studied there and I usually go around winter or summer. Growing up, we used to go to London every summer. Now, if it’s during a holiday, I won’t go because it’ll probably be packed, but this will definitely increase my visits there.”

She said she found the UK to be “a relaxing place”.

“We built a culture of going to London – if we want to travel somewhere low key and relax away from here, then we automatically go to London.”

For Mansour Hashem Al Qaissieh, a 21-year-old Emirati studying art history and business at New York University, the procedure was not as smooth.

“I was actually googling about the UK visa and found out that on January 1, the GCC would be using the electronic visa waiver,” he said. “So I waited until after January 1 to plan my trip to the UK.”

Mr Al Qaissieh, who had not visited the UK since 2007, applied online and booked a flight from New York to visit his brother. But his first application was rejected.

“There were some minor pieces of information missing,” he said. “The only problem was that, if I changed my flight, I would have to change the visa at least 48 hours before and that is what I had to do.”

He said most of the Virgin Atlantic staff at JFK Airport were not aware of the new scheme, but he would definitely visit the UK more often because it now took only two days to obtain approval.

“It was not bad and I would use it again since I do not need to be in the embassy in person and could just do it electronically, which is obviously faster,” he said.