THE United Arab Emirates (UAE) has dismissed media reports that the Emirati authorities have imposed a visa ban on nationals of Ghana, Nigeria and 18 other African countries.
Many news outlets reported on October 25 that the UAE had banned nationals of the 20 African countries from entering its capital city, Dubai. The reports quoted a notice supposedly issued by the Emirati authorities as saying in part, ‘This is to inform you that we will not be posting 30 days visa applications for these nationalities effective today October 18, 2022,’ Countries affected by the visa ban include Uganda, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Cameroon, Nigeria, Liberia, Burundi, Republic of Guinea, Gambia, Togo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Benin, Ivory Coast, Congo, Rwanda, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Comoros, and the Dominican Republic. In a notice issued to trade partners including travel agents, authorities indicated that all applications should be rejected. Any applications from the above-mentioned countries will be sent back or cancelled.’
Refuting the reports, the UAE Ambassador to Ghana, Amer El-Alawi, told Joy News in Accra that there was no official statement to that effect.
‘UAE, we have adjusted the new visa system, which is more flexible with the foreigners which makes the UAE easy to reach. But for the ban, I can assure you there is no official statement about it,’ he said.
A UAE trade representative in Ghana also stated at an event reported by local news channel Kofi TV that visas were still being issued and that any rejection would be due to an immigration or security issue relating to an individual and not all citizens of a particular country.
