Decision on Schengen visa exemption for all GCC citizens likely on October 24

An announcement on the commencement of the process to waive the Schengen visa requirement for Gulf citizens is expected to be made during the upcoming EU-GCC Summit in Riyadh on October, the Arab News reported.

The GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed al Budaiwi said during an Arab News podcast said that visa-free travel for Saudi, Qatari, Omani, Bahraini and Kuwaiti citizens is very close.

Currently, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has a visa-free travel agreement with the European Union for short stays in the Schengen Area.

“On October  24, we will have the second EU-GCC summit coming, with many deliverables. We are expecting that we will reach many things,” he said in the Arab News podcast.

“I will give you something exclusive. We are very close to reaching the beginning of the process to waive the Schengen visa for GCC citizens, for the five countries, the five remaining countries. You will hear something positive about that,” he said.

However, the summit is unlikely to produce a similar announcement yet on a GCC-EU Free Trade Agreement, similar to the one signed earlier this year between the Gulf bloc and the United Kingdom, he said.