Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, provided the latest update while addressing the Security and History Dialogue 2026 forum in Riyadh on 6 September 2026. The unified visa is intended to enable foreign visitors to travel more easily between Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.
Albudaiwi said: “This will represent an important step towards strengthening Gulf integration and facilitate the movement of visitors among the GCC countries,”
According to the GCC Secretary General, the Unified Gulf Tourist Visa is intended to facilitate visitor movement among the six countries while supporting the region’s tourism sector and its development as a combined regional destination.
The initiative has been under development for several years. Interior ministers from the six GCC countries unanimously approved the introduction of a unified tourist visa at their 40th meeting in Muscat, Oman, in November 2023. The plan was designed to establish a common visa framework allowing tourists to visit multiple GCC countries without requiring separate tourist visas for each destination.
The GCC Supreme Council subsequently welcomed progress on the project at its 45th session in Kuwait in December 2024, endorsing the work undertaken by the Interior Ministers’ Committee and authorising the ministers to proceed with the necessary measures related to the visa.
Technical preparations continued during 2025. The GCC General Secretariat reported that passport departments within the member states’ ministries of interior were holding joint technical meetings covering the Unified Gulf Tourist Visa and the systems required for its implementation.
In July 2025, Albudaiwi said the passport authorities were working together to advance the project while addressing technological developments and security requirements. The work involved coordination between the relevant authorities of the six countries as part of preparations for the common travel framework.
The timetable has changed since the visa was initially approved. Earlier plans had envisaged implementation during 2024 or 2025, subject to the readiness of national systems. In November 2025, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Tourism, Ahmed Al-Khateeb, confirmed that the expected launch had moved to 2026, as work continued on the technical and security systems required to connect immigration procedures across the GCC.
The Unified Gulf Tourist Visa forms part of wider GCC efforts to increase coordination in tourism and facilitate cross-border travel within the region. Previous GCC tourism plans have identified easier visitor movement and multi-destination travel as components of regional tourism development.
The latest announcement did not specify an exact launch date. GCC authorities have also not announced through the latest statement the final visa fee, the complete list of eligible nationalities, the permitted length of stay or detailed application procedures.
Until the Unified Gulf Tourist Visa becomes operational, existing national entry and visa requirements continue to apply separately in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.
Tags: Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, Gulf Cooperation Council Unified Gulf Tourist Visa
