Indians with US visa, green card to get visa upon arrival in UAE

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Cabinet today approved a decision to grant Indian passport holders 'visa on arrival' provided they have a valid US visa or a green card holder.

An official statement said citizens of India holding normal passports with a six month or more validity having a valid green card or visa issued by the United States of America shall be granted entry visas to the UAE from all ports for a period of 14 days, subject for a single renewal for the same period upon payment of applicable fees, reports Gulf News.

The decision is aimed at strengthening India UAE relations in the framework of long term strategic partnership between the two countries as also to promote political, economic and trade interests. Over 2.6 million Indian expats are estimated to be living in the UAE.

To give impetus to trade and commerce with the Gulf country, India had earlier announced this month five year multiple entry Business visa for UAE nationals.

There are around 143 daily flights between cities in both countries, one flight every 10 minutes, or 1000 flights per week.

The number of Indian tourists coming to the UAE in 2016 reached about 1.6 million Indian tourists, and there were about 50,000 UAE tourists who visited India in the same year.

India is the UAE's second largest partner, and trade between the two countries reach 60 billion USD a year, with UAE exports to India amounting to 27 billion USD a year, while India exports to the UAE is valued at 33 billion USD.