Tourism ministers from the six Gulf Cooperation Council states have fixed “late 2026” for the pilot launch of the long-discussed GCC Grand Tourist Visa—often dubbed the ‘Gulf Schengen’. UAE Minister of Economy Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri confirmed the timetable on 28 January 2026, underscoring the Emirates’ role as project champion.
The single visa will allow leisure visitors to travel freely between the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman on one permit valid for up to 30 days, with options for extension. While final fee structures and IT platforms are still under negotiation, officials say the electronic application will mirror the GCC rail booking portal unveiled last year, ensuring quick reciprocity checks across member states.
Visa facilitation specialists at VisaHQ are already gearing up for the change. Through its UAE portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-arab-emirates/), the company streams the latest requirements for each GCC member and will notify travellers the moment the unified application opens, providing step-by-step guidance and corporate dashboards for complex, multi-city itineraries.
For multinational companies, the scheme promises to simplify itinerary planning for incentive trips, regional conferences and short-term project assignments that hop between Gulf cities. In today’s system, travellers often juggle two or three e-visas or visa-on-arrival payments during a single week-long circuit.
Immigration lawyers caution that the new visa is for tourism only; work permission and business-visitor activities will continue to fall under each country’s national rules. Yet mobility teams expect the precedent to accelerate talks on a separate ‘GCC Business Visa’, particularly as Saudi Arabia gears up for Expo 2030 and massive construction projects that will rely on UAE-based service suppliers.
Governments are racing to finalise data-sharing agreements on overstays and security hits. A joint operations centre is being built in Riyadh, with Emirates Identity Authority supplying the biometric architecture tested at Dubai’s smart gates.
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