Health insurance and a return ticket are now required to apply and receive approval for family visit visas – a number of applications have been rejected due to a lack of these conditions.
According to the Ministry of Interior (MOI), health insurance is now mandatory when applying and receiving approval for family visit visas. The insurance must cover the complete stay of the visitor in the country. When applying for a family visit visa, make sure that there is a copy of the health insurance policy and the return ticket.
Various applications have already been rejected because they have not satisfied these conditions.
This requirement was announced by Lieutenant Colonel Tariq Issa Aqeedi from the General Directorate of Passports of MOI during a recent webinar on ‘The Services of General Directorate of Passports on Metrash2 and the Services of Qatar Visa Centers Abroad’.
Qatar family visit visas enable expatriate residents to bring their father, mother, wife, children or other immediate family members to Qatar for a short visit. The visa is issued for one month and can be extended up to six months in some cases.
Nationals from more than 80 countries can take advantage of visa-free entry into Qatar, thanks to Qatar’s new visa waiver upon arrival. However, in light of COVID-19 and its impact on global travel, visa-free entry to Qatar is temporarily suspended for some nationalities. Please check eligibility for visas here before booking. For more information or to know the eligible nationalities, visit qatarairways.com/en-qa/visa-free-arrival.html.
Metrash2
During the webinar, Lieutenant Colonel Aqeedi urged residents to use the Metrash2 app to apply for family visit visas as well as for other services. He especially urged companies to use Metrash2 services as they are easier, and save time and effort for both the company and employee. Companies should use the automatic Residence Permit (RP) renewal service as this service can renew many RP simultaneously. The service allows companies to renew the residence permits of their employees, regardless of the number, with just one request, without entering the data of each employee and completing each transaction alone. Companies with a large number of employees can benefit from this feature.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Aqeedi, the total transactions made through Metrash2 in the first half of this year reached 440,028, with 305,302 transactions related to the renewal of residence permit.
Metrash2 offers more than 220 active services available in six languages: Arabic, English, French, Malayalam, Urdu, and Spanish. It guarantees safe and encrypted services and supports most smart devices, which contributes to reaching the largest possible segment of users.
For more information, visit moi.gov.qa.
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