UAE bans Ghana, 19 other African countries

According to a report by DW Africa, the ban for these 20 African countries takes immediate effect.

The affected countries are include Sierra Leone, Sudan, Cameroon, Nigeria, Liberia, Burundi, Republic of Guinea, Gambia, Togo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Benin, Ivory Coast, Congo, Rwanda, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Comoros and Uganda.

The DW report stated that the one key reason for the ban is that many of the people from these African countries who arrive on visit visas end up overstaying in the country illegally while working, without legalising their stay.

This comes merely a month after Nigeria’s foreign ministry announced that Nigerians under the age of 40 will no longer be issued tourist visas to the United Arab Emirates as the Emirati “introduced a new visa regime and has stopped issuing tourist visas to persons under the age of 40 years, except for those applying for family visas.”

This is not the first time Ghana and other African countries have been barred from travelling to Dubai.

Emirates Airline announced on December 28, 2021, that eight African countries will not be accepted to travel to or through Dubai until further notice due to the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant.