UAE and Bahrain to trial scheme to ease travel for citizens across the Gulf

Pilot to launch in December will be expanded to all six countries if successful

Travellers pass through security at Al Maktoum International airport. The visa pilot is for air travel between the two countries. Chris Whiteoak / The National

The Gulf Cooperation Council has approved a major travel plan designed to introduce seamless connection between member states.

The UAE and Bahrain are the two nations selected to trial the first phase of the project, the GCC said on its website.

GCC Secretary General Jasem Al Budaiwi announced the initiative during a meeting of interior ministers held in Kuwait City on Wednesday, confirming that the pilot phase would launch in December through air travel between the two countries.

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If successful, the system would be expanded to all six GCC member states, he said.

The Kuwait News Agency said the initiative would allow for citizens of member states to "complete all travel procedures at one point", in a move which would improve connectivity and cut down on airport waiting times.

Under the project, travellers would only need to complete immigration and security checks at the airport their flight originates from, and would not to required to carry out the same procedures on arrival at their final destination.

Assuming the pilot scheme is deemed a success, the system will extend to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar, making cross-Gulf travel almost as simple as domestic flights.

Years in the making

The scheme is part of a wider strategy to improve connectivity between members of the GCC for both citizens and residents.

Plans for a unified GCC visa were first approved in 2023 in a bid to streamline travel logistics across the bloc, inspired by the EU's Schengen system.

A unified electronic platform will see each country sharing information on travel-related violations and border records. This database will exchange information in real-time to help verify traveller safety.

It was announced in September that the unified via would be piloted in the final quarter of this year.

The new visa programme is a Schengen-style initiative that would allow non-Gulf nationals the opportunity to visit any of the six countries in the region on one visa. It is also known as the GCC Grand Tours Visa.

“A unified visa would effectively integrate six destinations into a single, connected itinerary,” Victor Abou-Ghanem, chief executive of UAE-born Story Hospitality, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Capital Group, previously told The National.

It would boost the region’s tourism industry by reducing “the administrative frictions that currently constrain multi-stop travel, enabling more long-haul visitors to combine Dubai with Muscat, Doha with Riyadh, or Jeddah with Bahrain in one journey”, he added.

Meanwhile, a much-anticipated rail service linking the Gulf region is poised to open by December 2030, senior officials told The National at the Global Rail conference last month.

The rail route will pass through Saudi Arabia and continue to Bahrain. The Saudi line will be linked to Doha, and then continue through the UAE's Etihad Rail network and across the country to eventually reach the Omani capital Muscat.

Nasser Al Qahtani, interoperability director at the GCC Railways Authority, said the border crossings would be seamless and “follow the best practices in the world”.

This means there will be no stops at borders with immigration checks taking place before boarding. “Of course, border stopping is not on the map. Railway everywhere in the world works on origin-destination. GCC member states and stakeholders are co-operating for success and support in this approach,” he said.