Travelling to Dubai

R. Mizzi writes:

I travel to Dubai (UAE) every month on my way to work and spend two days in Dubai every time in and out.

My query is this: Why am I required to get a visa every time I arrive in Dubai even though Malta is an EU member and the UAE visa regulations state that EU nationals do not require a visa?

My workmates who are English, Irish and German just show their passports and get it stamped by the immigration official and are not asked for a visa as it is automatically granted they being EU nationals.

I have been told several times by UAE officials that since I am Maltese and Malta is an EU country we do not need a visa. However, when I get to the immigration desk I am sent back to the "Marhaba" desk to get a visa.

Can you please shed some light on this matter as I always get embarrassed with this situation?

My understanding is that, for the purposes of travelling to Dubai, there is a difference in treatment between EU citizens from the 12 "new" EU countries that joined in 2004 and 2007 (including Malta) and EU citizens from the "old" 15 EU countries prior to the 2004 enlargement.

If the UAE visa regulations state that EU nationals do not require a visa, as the reader points out, they must be referring to the "old" EU members and not the 12 "new" ones.

From the information I compiled it appears that the situation is as follows:

There are some 33 "privileged" countries that are given, on arrival, a free UAE visa. These countries include the "old" EU countries but do not, so far, include Malta or the other 11 "new" member states that joined the EU in the 2004 and this year's enlargement.

In the case of Malta and the other 11 "new" countries, the situation is that citizens travelling to the UAE still require a visa. My understanding is that this is a tourist visa costing some Dhs100 ($28) and which entitles holders to a 30-day stay.

A new law appears to have been passed in March 2003 whereby citizens of the 33 "privileged" countries would also require a one-month non-renewable visit visa on arrival at a charge of $28. However, it appears that this law is not yet implemented since, as the reader points out, citizens from these countries still appear to benefit from the free-of-charge-visa-upon-arrival.

This is as far as EU citizens travelling to Dubai goes. On the other hand, it has to be remembered that UAE nationals also need a visa to enter any of the 27 EU countries, regardless of whether there is reciprocity. This is much the same situation as with Thailand that I tackled in this column a few months back. Indeed, as a follow up to that query on Thailand, I raised the issue with the European Commission in a parliamentary question asking whether the Commission intends to take any action to redress the current difference in treatment by Thailand with regard to EU citizens coming from the new member states. Replying to my question, EU Commissioner Franco Frattini explained that EU law establishes a list of non-EU countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the EU external borders. This is known as the "negative list". EU law also establishes a list of non-EU countries whose nationals are exempt from a visa requirement. This is the "positive list".

Countries are placed on the EU positive list on the basis of different criteria, among which "reciprocity" is a basic principle. This means that a non-EU country can only expect to get visa-free travel into the EU for its citizens as long as it reciprocates by allowing EU citizens to travel to it without any visa requirement. Hence, the principle of reciprocity.

Note that the UK and Ireland have opted out of these laws and, therefore, the situation might be different with respect to these two countries.

In 2005, EU law was changed to introduce a new reciprocity mechanism to be applied in case a third country which is on the positive list maintains or introduces visa obligations for nationals of one or more member states. In other words, a country that does not reciprocate the visa-free travel extended by the EU. Hence, a situation of non-reciprocity. On the basis of the new reciprocity mechanism, the Commission takes steps with the authorities of the third countries in order to restore visa-free travel. The Commission may also propose the temporary restoration of the visa requirement for nationals of that third country and it may also propose amending the law to transfer that country from the positive to the negative list.

The obvious - although not the only - case where non-reciprocity is currently an issue concerns the United States of America. The US is on the EU positive list but still imposes a visa requirement on 12 of the 27 EU countries, including Malta. This is an issue I am following very closely within the European Parliament. I am aware that it is now on the agenda at the highest level in EU-US meetings and there seems to be scope for a positive outcome in the coming months which would put an end, once and for all, to the current unfair situation. Back to Thailand and the UAE. The situation here is different in that these two countries are on the EU's negative list and, therefore, require a visa for entry in the EU.

Since EU law provides for a reciprocity mechanism, it does not apply in the case where a third country on the negative list maintains or imposes the visa obligation on nationals of one or more member states. For how can the EU expect a third country to remove the visa requirement when EU countries themselves impose a visa on that third country?

True, countries such as Thailand and the UAE exempt some EU countries from the visa requirement despite being themselves on the EU negative list. This creates a difference in treatment among citizens of different EU countries. But this is not a situation of non-reciprocity since Thai and UAE citizens also require a visa to travel to any EU country. Consequently, the reciprocity principle cannot be invoked here.

In his reply, Commissioner Frattini said that since EU law does not contain rules for such cases, at best, the Commission can raise the issue with the third country concerned and try to obtain equal treatment. But he made it clear that the Commission has no legal means to force a third country to abolish the visa requirement while this country is still subject to the visa obligation by the EU.

As a follow-up, I have since submitted a supplementary question asking the Commission whether it intends to raise the issue with the Thai authorities in order to obtain equal treatment between citizens of the "old" 15 member states (that do not require a visa) and citizens of the "new" member states (that do). I am still awaiting a reply to this supplementary question. However, I will now also seek to extend it to cover the situation of the UAE raised by the reader.

Readers wishing to ask questions to be answered in this column can send an e-mail, identifying themselves, to contact@simonbusuttil.eu or through www.simonbusuttil.eu.