GCC Unified Tourist Visa launching in 2025: Everything you need to know
The GCC Unified Tourist Visa, which will officially be named 'GCC Grand Tours', will allow freedom of movement between residents in the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
Countries included in the system are the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman.
On Wednesday July 2, a statement by the GCC Secretary General Jassem Al-Budaiwi stated that the new visa will arrive soon, and expressed gratitude to all the efforts being made to help the project become a reality.
Visa-free travel is already available for citizens of GCC countries across the region but the GCC Grand Tours Visa will enable the millions of foreign nationals living in the region to travel freely.
It will simplify the process of getting visas and will likely have a longer validity period and lower overall costs compared to obtaining six separate visas.
Plans for the new GCC Unified Tourist Visa were officially approved late in 2023 following a unanimous vote by ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council at a meeting in Oman.
While an official launch date has not been confirmed, it is expected that the visa will be introduced by the end of 2025.
The visa is aimed at encouraging tourism within the region and growing each nation's tourist economy.
When can we get a GCC Unified Tourist Visa?
In February 2025, a meeting of the ministers responsible for tourism in GCC countries discussed implementing the visa in the coming period.
At the time, Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy and the Chairman of the Emirates Tourism Council, said:
'The meeting represents an important step to enhance joint efforts to activate the unified Gulf tourist visa in the coming period, as it will contribute to achieving a qualitative shift in the Gulf tourism sector by highlighting the diverse tourism components of the GCC countries, and attracting tourists and encouraging long stays.'
For now, UAE residents have different conditions for travelling within the GCC, so the introduction of the new GCC Unified Tourist Visa will allow for more consistency. It's expected to greatly streamline the process when travelling in different nations.
Applicants will likely be able to choose between one-country or six-country access and the validity period of the visa may be between 30 and 90 days.
Current rules for intra-regional GCC travel from the UAE
UAE citizens do not need a visa to enter Saudi Arabia and can stay for up to 90 days but people just living in UAE do require a visa.
In Bahrain, it's a similar story as UAE natives don't require a visa to enter but passport holders of other countries who reside in the UAE need either an eVisa or a Bahrain on-arrival visa.
Credit: Supplied
Oman is open to UAE citizens without the need for a visa but residents in the GCC currently need to be on a list of approved professions or be accompanied by someone who is in order to get an unsponsored visa.
Citizens of GCC countries can enter Kuwait without a visa by presenting a valid GCC ID card but those who are non-nationals will need an eVisa or visa-on-arrival.
Qatar allows citizens of more than 100 countries to enter visa-free including those from the UAE. Lengths of stay vary, and conditions will be different depending on your nationality.
And, people travelling to the UAE from other GCC countries are allowed entry for a period of no longer than 30 days, which can only be extended once with an eVisa.
When the date for the new unified tourist visa is confirmed, we'll have all the details you need to know to prepare yourself.
What do you need for a GCC Unified Tourist Visa?
Currently, we do not know the requirements for UAE citizens or residents for the new visa.
However, it has previously been hinted by the UAE Minister of Economy Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri that the visa will apply to residents within the GCC rather than just passport holders.
In November 2023 he said: 'Hopefully, we are going to see something around a pan-GCC visa which will allow easier mobility of people within the GCC.
'A resident of Saudi, for instance, can enter the UAE and vice versa. I think that's where we see the future of GCC tourism.'
This could mean that your Emirates ID is about to become even more powerful than it already is.
What will the GCC Unified Tourist Visa mean for UAE?
While the UAE is arguably the best prepared of the six GCC nations to welcome large swathes of tourists, the country is going to make some changes to make travelling easier.
For visitors to the UAE, the Emirates Tourism Council say they are working on a tourist route within the country which will interconnect the seven emirates.
Infrastructure projects such as the Etihad Rail passenger train should make travel around the UAE easier (Credit: WAM)
The new Etihad Rail passenger train set to start operations between Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the future should also make travel around the country much easier.
New major roads around Dubai, the UAE's most populated city, will eventually make things easier too.
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