UK visa waiver for four GCC states

The UK Home Office has announced it will launch a visa-waiver scheme in 2014 for business travellers and tourists from four Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states, namely Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE. The announcement, which has been in the pipeline for some time (GSN 952/4), came at the Lord Mayor’s annual dinner on 11 November, and was made by Prime Minister David Cameron, whose Conservative government has shown considerable interest in maintaining and improving relations with the GCC, despite criticism from human rights organisations (see page 6 and View).