The UAE will temporarily suspend issuing all visas on arrival from Thursday March 19, reports our sister title Arabian Business.
According to a tweet by the UAE Embassy in London, there will be no visas on arrival for travellers from the UK from March 19 until further notice.
This is part of the UAE’s “extra steps” to combat the spread of COVID-19, the tweet said.
NEW: #UAE takes extra steps to combat the spread of #COVID19 that will affect travellers from the UK:
– from March 19 no visas on arrival will be issued until further notice. UAE residents are not affected.
See list of visa on arrival countries here: https://t.co/RstTFXJ0q1
— UAE Embassy UK (@UAEEmbassyUK) March 18, 2020
Citizens from around 60 countries were previously able to get visas on arrival in the UAE, where foreigners make up around 85 percent of the population.
Dubai airport is normally the world’s busiest in terms of international traffic.
A full list of countries that usually can get a visa on arrival in the UAE can be found here.
The UAE has 113 confirmed cases of the virus at the time of writing.
The UAE had previously announced the suspension of all entry visas to foreigners from March 17 apart from diplomatic passport holders.
It said UAE citizens and residents are not impacted by this decision but those who enter the country may be tested on arrival and/or be required to self-isolate.
For updates on which flights are still operating from the UAE, click here.
