Exemption of Gulf citizens from Schengen visa!

It seems that there is a possibility of facilitating travel to Europe for Gulf citizens without the need for a visa. There are serious efforts being made to achieve this goal, which is to exempt Gulf citizens from the Schengen visa.

The Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jassim bin Hamad Al Budawi, announced his intention to travel to Brussels soon to discuss this matter, and he carries with him a “strong file.”

Al-Budaiwi expressed his dissatisfaction with the fact that Gulf nationals have not been exempted from the Schengen visa so far, pointing to the positive presence of Gulf nationals in various fields such as tourism, education, treatment and trade. He stressed that at one stage, citizens of the Cooperation Council will be exempt from the Schengen visa.

Al-Budaiwi added that Gulf investments in Europe play a major role in this, and that the Gulf countries are politically and economically stable, which justifies exempting their citizens from the Schengen visa.

In a related context, Al-Budaiwi referred to the United Kingdom’s decision to exempt Gulf citizens from its visa, and called on other European countries to emulate this decision.

Al-Budaiwi also spoke about the decision of the Doha summit last December to approve the unified Gulf visa, expecting the first Gulf visa to be issued during this year after the technical committees study the issue.