Ambiguity About Decision Preventing Algerians From Entering The Emirates (UAE)

Mystery still prevails over the validity of the decision to prevent Algerians and citizens of 12 other countries from entering the UAE, due to official secrecy and conflicting media reports.

On Wednesday evening, the Emirati journalist Abdul Khaleq Abdullah, close to the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed, confirmed the validity of the ruling.

In his tweet, he shared a news story about the issue, commenting, “In the time of Corona virus pandemiic, all countries have green, yellow and red lists, and the motive may be security or other reasons”.

Before that, Algeria’s Consul General in Dubai, Mohamed Draghi, denied, on Wednesday, the news of Algerians being prevented from entering the UAE, stressing that this news is unfounded.

The consul told Al-Hadath TV that the decision to prevent Algerians from entering the UAE is untrue, after the Algerian consulate in Dubai inquired from official authorities in the UAE.

Mr. Draghi confirmed that parties he described as “malicious” sought to put Algeria on this list.
Earlier, the “Reuters” news agency, on Wednesday, quoted a document issued by the business complex, owned by the United Arab Emirates, confirming that Algerians and citizens of 12 other countries were barred from entering the country, after days of controversy over the validity of the decision, and official silence.

The agency stated that the UAE has stopped issuing visas to citizens of 13 countries, most of which are Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Syria and Somalia, according to a document issued by a government business complex.

The document, which was distributed to companies operating at the complex and seen by Reuters, referred to a publication from the Immigration Department that came into force on November 18.

It said that requests for work or visit visas are now pending for those outside the country from citizens of 13 countries, including Afghanistan, Libya and Yemen, until further notice.

It added that the visa ban also applies to citizens of Algeria, Kenya, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Tunisia and Turkey.

It was not clear if there were any exceptions to the ban.

During the past few days, the communication networks witnessed a great debate about the authenticity of the document in the absence of an official source confirming or denying the news from Abu Dhabi or the rest of the countries concerned.