Abu Dhabi: The UAE was unanimously and unconditionally voted on the Schengen visa-free list by the Council of the European Union and the European Commission on Friday, said a senior official on Sunday.
“The UAE has achieved another victory towards realising a Schengen visa waiver, which will allow Emiratis visa-free travel to any of all 28 Schengen states,” Sulaiman Al Mazroui, UAE Ambassador to the European Union, told Gulf News.
Al Mazroui said the proposal to add the UAE to the Schengen visa-free list was passed unanimously and unconditionally by the permanent representatives to the European Union, but awaits final approval by the European Parliament in early January.
The ambassador said he hoped an UAE-EU agreement would be finalised in the first half of next year, whereby Emiratis would no longer require a visa for short stays (up to 90 days) in the Schengen area, whether for business, tourist or family visit purposes.
Continued efforts of UAE diplomats, indefatigably working under the chief of UAE foreign policy, Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, have resulted in a unanimous vote in favour of marking the country on a list of countries exempt from Schengen visa requirements.
This follows the recent vote at the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), where the UAE was added to a list of countries in the Caribbean and Pacific oceans recommended for receiving the visa-waiver. The proposal was passed with a majority vote of 71 per cent of voting LIBE members. see more
source: gulfnews
Tags: laws, victory for UAE
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