On Tuesday, the United States said that it would waive visa requirements for citizens of Qatar. The Gulf state is the first Arab nation to be included in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. Thus, Qatar, under the program, will be the 42nd country whose citizens are allowed to travel to the U.S. to enjoy tourism and business without having to obtain a visa. This article is on U.S. Grants Visa-free Access to Qatar

The Department of Homeland Security said Qatar had met the high level of security requirements to join the program, underscoring the energy-rich Gulf state’s strategic importance to the U.S. “This agreement will deepen our strategic partnership and enhance the flow of people and commerce between our two countries,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

Qatar is, in reality, one of the greatest U.S. allies for many years within the Middle East, hosting a large U.S. airbase and playing an active diplomatic role in the region, though, by recent matters, it has taken a leading role in an effort at brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza; Qatari citizens constitute a very small minority of the population in this kingdom. Although those efforts have yet to bear fruit, Qatar’s participation in regional diplomacy is certainly a powerful indicator of the fact that the country is increasingly dictating what happens in the rest of the world.

Besides this, Qatar has played a pivotal role in helping the United States in the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. The Gulf state helped evacuate thousands of Afghan allies as the Taliban took control of Kabul.

The U.S. Visa Waiver Program comprises mainly of countries in Europe and East Asia; these citizens could then apply for pre-clearance online, thereby avoiding long visa procedure. This inclusion of Qatar is a great milestone in the U.S.-Arab relations. The U.S. officials further added that they do not have a rule over the possibility of adding other Gulf Arab states to the list as well.

Last year, Israel was added to the program after Jerusalem addressed longstanding US concerns over treatment of US citizens of Palestinian or Arab extraction. Israel promised-as part of its admission to the program-that it would not discriminate in permitting entry of US citizens on grounds of ethnicity or nationality.

In reality, this waiver program makes travel pretty easier, although not all restrictions are lifted, as, for example, in order to use it, you need to secure a pre-clearance through an online application and those who have traveled to nations with adversarial relationships with the U.S., like Iran in that case, may still face requirements to obtain a visa So U.S. Grants Visa-free Access to Qatar.

Adding Qatar to the Visa Waiver Program is a further step that strengthens ties between Washington and Doha and cements Qatar’s role as one of America’s closest allies in a volatile region.

U.S. Grants