• Home

Schengen expansion to boost flow of tourists from UAE

ABU DHABI — On December 21, nine European countries will join the Schengen Agreement, including the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary, which have diplomatic representation here in the UAE. The other six countries joining the agreement are Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia and Malta.

According to Vera Jerabkova, ambassador of the Czech Republic to the UAE, the move will greatly enhance the number of visitors to these countries.

“At present, we have nearly 3,000 visa applications for Czech Republic from Emirati nationals and other residents of the UAE. The Schengen Agreement will definitely make it easier for people to travel to Prague or any other Czech destinations,” Jerabkova told Khaleej Times.

She also explained that an applicant may apply for a Schengen visa at any of the embassies or consulates of countries which are part of the Schengen Agreement. “This single visa allows its holder to travel to any of the Schengen countries,” she said.

Currently, there are 24 countries in the Schengen Visa Agreement, most of which are part of EU.

Although a EU citizen can travel freely across the borders, without a visa requirement, to any of the EU countries, a non-EU national needs a separate visa for each EU state he or she plans to enter. The Schengen Agreement, which was originally signed by seven European countries in 1985, allows the holder of such a visa to travel through the Schengen countries without having to apply for any additional visas.