Muscat: The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) recently announced that the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain will start implementng the first phase of the “one-stop” travel system in December.
The system will be gradually rolled out in other member states, including Oman.
A prelude to the launch of the Unified GCC Visa, according to the industry sources, the one-point system will integrate passenger processing by consolidating immigration, customs, and security procedures into a single checkpoint.
The GCC Secretary-General said that the system will ease air travel for Gulf citizens and cut down waiting times on arrival. Once cleared at one of the travel points, arrival or departure, travellers will not be subject to repeat checks upon landing.
The Unified GCC Tourist visa will make it convenient for non-nationals living in Gulf countries to explore other countries in the region without needing to obtain separate visas.
The application process for the Visa will be completely online.
Having a user-friendly online application process that allows tourists to apply for a visa to one country or all six countries in a few short minutes reduces the hassle and time typically involved in obtaining separate visas for each country.
The Sultanate of Oman received 3.89 million visitors by the end of December 2024, according to figures from the National Center for Statistics and Information (NCSI). The largest group of visitors to Oman came from the United Arab Emirates, totaling 1,185,880, followed by 623,623 visitors from India.
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