Announcing Bahrain’s as being the 1st among the GCC to issue such entry visa facilities, Shaikh Ahmed bin Isa Al-Khalifa, Interior Ministry Assistant Undersecretary for Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs (NPRA) said that the new initiative would spur tourism, business and investment sectors.
“The step will have profound economic impact as tourists, businessmen and investors, residents of the GCC countries and the visitors to GCC countries will benefit directly,” he said, adding that the phase one of the easing visa procedures launched in October 2014 has had yielded very encouraging results.
Shaikh Ahmed, was joined by Shaikh Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Abdulwahab Al Khalifa, Director of Visas and Residence at the Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs (NPRA), and Shauqi Mohammed, said the visa fees were not changed despite the enhanced period of stay and serives being rendered by the NPRA.
“It will be too early to talk about the 3rd phase as the benefits and efficiency of the new system is being evaluated by all stakeholders and it will take some time to think about adding something new,” Shaikh Ahmed in response of a question told The24X7News Bahrain (www.twentyfoursevennews.com).
“The initiative which aims at enhancing the transparency and efficiency has helped the streamlining of the entire system in line with the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad, the Crown Prince, First Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Supreme Commander of the BDF,” he said.
By mid of Aril, Bahrain is set to implement new visa system for visitors of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as part of the second phase of the streamlined multi-entry visas. Under the new procedure, visitors will be issued with a month-long multi-entry visa, which enables them to stay in Bahrain up to two weeks.
“The new procedure aims at meeting the needs of a large segment of beneficiaries and streamlining entry procedures by considering their visits to the GCC countries as visits to Bahrain” he added.
“This new category is being added to the list that already includes businessmen, GCC residents and the citizens of the countries eligible for entry visas. In the first phase of the project, the number of countries benefiting from streamlined visa procedures topped 102.”
Shaikh Ahmed said that the inclusion of those beneficiaries meets the requirements of the new policy which provides easier and quicker access for businesses with operations in Bahrain and also helps attract more tourists to the Kingdom. To learn more about the new categories which can benefit from the facilities in this phase and the conditions to obtain visas via NPRA website WWW.NPRA.GOV.BH and the online visa website WWW.EVISA.GOV.BH
It may be noted that the validity of the new multiple-entry business visas, previously were single-entry type, has been increased to one month from one week, while the duration of stay in Bahrain under the same increased from one week to two weeks.