Passport holders of United Arab Emirates can now travel to India by only obtaining a visa-on-arrival at an Indian airport, thus becoming the third country, after Japan and South Korea the citizens of which are privileged with such a traveling facility.
On Sunday, November 17, India has decided to grant Emiratis with the possibility of entering the country with a visa-on-arrival, in a bid to boost people-to-people contacts and trade relations in addition to strategic ties between both countries.
Emiratis can now obtain visas on arrival at the airports located in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.
The facility, will, however, apply only to UAE passport holders who have previously held an e-visa or a traditional paper visa to India. Those UAE nationals that have never had one of the two, should apply for an e-visa or a normal sticker visa, and then in the future, they will be eligible for a visa-on-arrival too.
The United Arab Emirates passport is currently the 15th most powerful passport to have in the world. According to Henley Passport Index, which ranks passport power depending on the number of countries their holders can visit visa-free, with or with a visa-on-arrival, the UAE sits in the 15th spot, out of 102 positions occupied by 199 world passports, as often several countries share the same spot.
In the last ten years, the UAE has marked the most drastic change in the last 10 years in the Henley Passport Index as its passport went up from the 61st position in 2009, to the 15th in the last quarter of 2019.
According to the Henley Passport Index, over the past five years, the UAE has more than doubled the number of destinations its citizens are able to travel to without a prior visa.