Dubai: UAE's Indian Ambassador Pavan Kapoor has revealed that Indian citizens are not allowed to travel to the country on visit visas until there is clarification on the travel protocol, Khaleej Times reported.
"At this point, it is not clear whether the UAE is allowing people to come on visit visas or not. We are awaiting clarity on that. Also, the government of India is yet to decide whether to allow people to travel on visit visas," the ambassador said in an interview with Khaleej Times on Monday, August 3.
He confirmed that airlines are not carrying passengers with visit visa as of now.
Khaleej Times had reported that Dubai has started issuing visit visas to more countries, including India, starting July 29 and although there was no official announcement, travel agents and Amer centre confirmed that restrictions on a number of nationalities have been lifted while issuing visit visas.
At the same time, it was unclear how the visit visa holders would travel to the country with the halting of commercial flights in India and the Vande Bharat mission flights only flying people with a valid UAE residence visa.
The envoy said the embassy has been inundated with queries related to visit visas. We do not want people landing up here on visit visas and have problems, he said. "So we have asked for clarifications and we will decide accordingly," said the ambassador.
The embassy has recommended to the government of India that people who wish to travel should be allowed as Dubai is issuing visit visas, he added.
Mr Kapoor asks jobseekers to "hold on" until things get clearer. "If you have a confirmed job, then no problem. But our main concern is that people will travel to the UAE to seek jobs and end up in distress. If someone is coming on a visit visa to meet a family member, then it is okay. But if you are travelling for jobs, we need to ask whether it is the right time to do so."
Travel agents told Khaleej Times that all the visit visa applications, including that for Indian nationals, they submitted to the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs are getting approved.
As per the latest travel advisory by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, India, in-bound travellers should have a stamped residence visa on their passport and a valid ICA (Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship) or GDRFA approval to travel to the UAE.