Six Gulf countries to launch a Schengen-style visa in 2025

By the end of 2025, six Gulf countries plan to launch a joint tourist visa allowing free movement between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

The new visa, named the "GCC Grand Tours Visa," was approved by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) back in 2023. At present, member states continue working on the legal and technical aspects of the agreement, aimed at ensuring collective security and simplifying movement between member states, according to a Council statement from early July 2025.

Modelled on the European Schengen visa, the new tourist visa for GCC countries will be unified, meaning its holders will be able to move freely between all six countries for the entire duration of its validity. The exact validity period has not yet been finalised, but it is expected to range from one to three months. Importantly, the visa is intended solely for tourism, visiting relatives, and short stays; travel for employment purposes or long-term visits is excluded.

The decision to create a unified visa stems from a desire to let international tourists combine several destinations in one trip without going through the complex and costly procedure of obtaining a separate visa for each country. In this way, the joint visa is expected to boost regional tourism growth, increase the length of tourists' stays and their travel spending, and strengthen the region's image as a unified tourist destination.

Some Gulf states have already begun simplifying their visa regimes, seeing the development of the tourism sector as a way to reduce their economies' dependence on hydrocarbon exports. For example, Oman and Qatar offer free visas on arrival to citizens of around 100 countries, and as part of the UAE's tourism strategy through 2031, the sector's revenue is planned to increase to AED 450 billion, with visas on arrival offered to citizens of 85 countries in addition to the five GCC partner states.

In addition, luxury resort areas in Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah, and Abu Dhabi are being actively developed, and Saudi Arabia is actively attracting women tourists through dedicated advertising campaigns.

These measures have already produced results: between 2019 and 2023, the number of international tourists arriving in GCC countries grew by 43%, reaching 68.1 million people in 2023. Tourism revenue over the same period exceeded $110.4 billion, an increase of 28%. The new visa is expected to further boost the share of intra-regional tourism, which in 2023 had already approached 27%.