After over a year of family visa suspension due to Covid-19 restrictions, Qatar seems to be slowly opening up its borders for visitors.
The ministry of interior’s mobile application, Metrash2 is now allowing Pakistani and Indian expatriates to apply for family resident visa applications.
Although there has yet to be an official announcement from the government about the opening of family visas, an update to the application now allows for residents from both aforementioned Asian countries to fill in details and submit relevant papers.
While the option is currently only available for the two specified countries, more is expected to be added soon as cases continue to decrease in the country.
Visit visas are still closed due to Covid-19.
The welcome news comes as a sigh of relief for thousands of expatriates in Qatar, many of which have been waiting for more than a year to reunite with families.
Authorities in Qatar initially closed off borders for visitors as part of restrictions to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the Gulf state.
Read also: Qatar’s Covid-19 cases drop below 100
Since then, calls to re-open family visas have continued, with thousands urging authorities to help them reunite with their loved ones. With daily Covid-19 cases now falling below 100 and an increase in vaccination numbers, the country seems to be slowly easing visa restrictions once more.
In August 2020, Qatari authorities announced resident permit [RP] holders could apply for an ‘Exceptional Entry Permit’ [EEP] to return to the country.
Precautions such as home quarantine for those coming from designated low-risk countries, as well as hotel quarantine for those coming from other destinations were also put in place to help mitigate the risk of the spread of Covid-19.
The aim of the EEP system was to stagger the return of residents to the country to reduce the risk of a spike in coronavirus numbers. Despite the ‘easy’ registration process, many people reported that their…