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UAE joins Schengen visa waiver programme

May 7, 2015 at 9:21 am

UAE citizens will be allowed to access Europe without having to apply for a visa before arrival after authorities signed a visa waiver agreement yesterday.

The Permanent Representative of Latvia to the EU, Ilze Juhansone, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU and the UAE Ambassador to the EU Sulaiman Hamid Al-Mazroui signed the reciprocal bilateral short-stay visa waiver agreement in Brussels, Belgium.

As of yesterday, EU citizens can travel to the United Arab Emirates without a visa and citizens of the United Arab Emirates who hold diplomatic, special, service and ordinary passports will be able to travel without a visa to 34 EU countries which make up the Schengen area for stays of up to 90 days.

According to a statement, “Ireland and the United Kingdom are exempt from the agreement” as they have separate visa requirements.