UAE’s two major airlines Emirates and Etihad asked to Canada to expand landing rights to Ottawa and was refused. The result?
Canadians traveling to the UAE on visit or business will be charged hefty visa fees from January 2, 2011.
Previously, Canadians didn’t need to apply for visit/tourist visas to come to the UAE just like citizens from 33 countries but now, UAE visas must be paid and applied for in writing to the UAE Embassy in Ottawa two weeks in advance of entering the UAE. The following are the cost of the visas:
- Short term visa (30 days) – CAD 250
- Long term visa (90 days) – CAD 500
- Six months multiple entry visa – CAD 1000
What a sad sour turn for two countries who used to have strong ties. UAE Ambassador Abdullah Al Gafi said,
The UAE was Canada’s largest trading partner in the Middle East with bilateral trade figures of over $1.5 billion, of which 95 per cent is Canadian exports.
I feel sorry for the individual Canadians who need to shell out cash to visit or do business in the UAE just because the Canadian and UAE government couldn’t discuss the matter in a more sensible and mature way. In this scenario, Canadian travelers to the UAE look like kids suffering because two bickering (divorcing) parents!
News source: Gulf News
Finding Backroads 
That’s a lot of money for a visa. I guess they really don’t want Canadians visiting.
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That really sucks..Silly retaliations! We (Canada) have our reasons to restrict certain airlines (ahem, lots of fear of terrorism, which present real threats in the western world that have mostly been thwarted in Canada)…So it sucks to pass it onto Canadians visiting. They could have done like Mexico, and only asked that green and red passport carriers (politicians and diplomats) pay visa fees. We recently imposed visa restrictions on Mexico, since most of our illegal immigrants were coming through “on vacation” and then claiming refugee status, which were untrue and bogged up our system.
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Meh, I really hate when you have to shell out money (except those for taxes and such) because I don’t see the point in paying money to enter an other country. They don’t offer you anything in return…
.-= Alex@Jocuri´s last blog ..Impuscaturi multiplayer =-.
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Dominique, what on earth does terrorism have to do with this dispute? Seriously, they can take any other airiline, lol. Not like they don!t have to go through customs… Your comment is so ignorant.
Cheers, your fellow Canadian
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Forget Arabs. Everything United Arabia Emirate has, and will have, is from WESTERN contribution. Those people have no ingenuity, except to be at each others throat.
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I GUESS IF DUBAI IMPOSED VISA ON CANADIANS, CANADIANS SHOULD CONSIDER TRAVELLING OTHER POOR COUNTRIES IN THE REGION. DEFINATELY DUBAI IS NOT THE ONLY CHOICE. YOU CAN TRAVEL TO BANGLADESH, VIETNAM, CAMBODIA OR OTHER SIMILIAR COUNTRIES. I SUPPORT CANADIAN GOVERNMENT DECISION OF NOT ALLOWING LANDING RIGHTS TO EMIRATES AND ETIHAD AIRLINES. IT IS VERY SIMPLE, IF THEY DON’T WANT CANADIANS TO VISIT THEIR COUNTRY, CANADIANS MUST NOT GO THERE. I AM SURE IF CANADIANS WILL NOT TRAVEL TO UAE, THAT WILL BE UAE WHO WILL SUFFER AND DEFINATELY NOT CANADA.
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