The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are expected to soon introduce a common entry visa system for foreigners on the lines of the European Schengen visa. Immigration chiefs from the GCC are likely to shortly put in place the single visa application system for visitors for all the six member-countries so that people can tour the entire region without having to seek separate visas for each country, which is currently the case. Expatriates might also be extended the facility. Immigration officials from the GCC countries are also looking at the possibility of issuing ‘double residency permit’ to foreign residents so they can study and open offices in any of the six GCC countries. Plans to issue a single entry visa for the region are being discussed for quite sometime but were given the thumbs up by the undersecretaries of interior ministries from GCC member-states at a recent meeting in Riyadh. Immigration chiefs from these countries are meeting in Abu Dhabi to follow up on the decision. A single entry visa for the region is likely to immensely boost tourism and foreign investment in the GCC countries. http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=June2009&file=Local_News200906096408.xml

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