Aiming to ease entry procedures to Qatar, the Ministry of Interior (MoI) has launched an e-portal to issue visas for those interested in visiting the country, with a focus on events that are held in the State.
Maj. Abdullah Khalifa Al Mohannadi, Director of Visa Support Services Department at the Ministry of the Interior, said the launching of Qatar Visa Portal was in addition to the list of leading visa projects, which comes under the Ministry of Interior’s efforts to develop e-services to the public and to contribute to the strengthening of the state’s growing economic growth in line with Qatar National Vision 2030.
The Portal not only covers visas of events, but also business visas, investment and visas for other various activities. Al Mohannadi said the movement of entry and exit in Qatar is growing rapidly thanks to the many diverse programs that the country has embraced, including enabling citizens of more than 80 countries to obtain immediate visas upon entering Hamad International Airport, which made Qatar among the most open countries to the world. Recently, statistics by the Ministry of Interior showed that the total number of entry and exit traffic through Hamad International Airport in September reached 1,056,027 movements.
Qatar’s aviation hub welcomed a record-high total of 10.7 million passengers in the third quarter this year, making it the busiest quarter the airport has ever seen. The airport currently serves over 165 destinations from Qatar and annually connects more than 35 million passengers to all corners of the world. The airport is gearing up to welcome a rising number of travellers in the run up to FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and beyond.
The Director of Visa Support Services Department also touched on the issue of Qatar Visa Centers and said Qatar currently has more than 14 visa centers operating in six countries. The next Qatar Visa Center will be opened in the Republic of Tunisia, he said.
The Qatar Visa Portal was launched in collaboration with a number of other entities in the State, including a special body on events, which contains all the details of ongoing and upcoming events happening in the country, thereby allowing the public inside and outside of Qatar to familiarise with all events.
Qatar hosts many different cultural, scientific, sports and tourist events throughout the year. These events attract a huge number of visitors, which require the establishment of a unified platform that receives applications for visas to enter the country. The portal provides the electronic visa service and follow-up facility to citizens of all countries in the world to attend the events hosted by the State like the Arab Gulf Cup and the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup and the most awaited FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
