Visa ban blacklist Qatar and GCC countries

[PeterVerschitz]

Hello everybody, my name is peter, i'm austrian and was working for a qatari based company last year. i started my job in august 08 and had to leave the country end of november 08 because of problems with the company to provide me the reqired work permit and the related visa. now i'm still very much interested to take on a job in the gcc, actually i'm having some nice offers and now i'm not quite sure if i'm on a kind of ban list, blacklist or similar, would like to find out before i try to enter the gcc area. does somebody know how and where to check if i have to expect some problems, i would appriciate any good idea how to check.
all the best to anybody and especially to anybody who please could help - Peter

[shawarma]

Hello peter and welcome to the UAE visa forum .

I don't know of a GCC-wide institution that you could check for visa and entry bans. I expect you would have to check with the immigration authority of each country concerned, for example the DNRD in Dubai.

There are mixed reports of a blacklisting in one GCC country affecting whether or not you can enter another GCC country. Maybe it depends on the country and/or the reason for the ban and/or whether the immigration department tries to obtain information from another country or takes any notice if it's supplied.

[PeterVerschitz]

thanks for the warm welcome shawarma

i already found out it's quite difficult to get any information on this, also i don't know if there is a ban in any state on myself anyway, depands on my former company which was in qatar and anyway, they missed out to do the required steps to make me official. but of course i would like to find out before i jump into a plane or being refused on arriving/entering in a gcc country. i already got some tips from friends like to contact gulfnews (ask the law), dubaifaq's-visa ban uae or to contact ministry of labour directly, but response is still outstanding. also i have not yet decided where to go, favorites @ moment are uae, bahrain and qatar, but maybe there is a gcc wide cooperation? but anyway, many thanks for your thought's
have a nice eve

Peter

[shawarma]

As you are from Austria, you can get a free UAE visa on arrival, which in an odd twist, makes it more difficult for you to determine if there is an entry ban. Otherwise you could just try applying for a Dubai tourist visa or Dubai visit visa and it would probably be rejected if there was ban, so you'd find out before travelling.

A more complicated way is to try to find a job. A company should then apply for an employment entry permit, which should be rejected if there was ban in place.

You could take the risk and fly to the UAE. If there is an entry ban because of visa and work permit related issues in Qatar, it's unlikely you would be detained, just sent back.

But yes, it's difficult to find out for sure one way or another. There are a couple of other topics in the forum with similar questions (also to do with Qatar I think). Have a look at those to see if you get any better idea.

I thought there was a Gulf News "Ask The Law" question similar to yours recently but I can't find anything now, except for this one from over a year ago (01 February 2008):

If an employee has been deemed an absconder, is the lifetime ban in effect to the whole of UAE or all the GCC countries?

The lifetime ban which may be imposed on the employee, is applied only in UAE, and is not applied in all GCC countries.