Katrina Tamayo, a traveling consultant from Happy Trip, said 20 Filipinos who transacted with them in exiting to Kish and Qeshm are now being assisted for a trip back home to the Philippines as fresh visas for them in Dubai can no longer be processed since last week.

Tamayo said their visa applications for people who are in Kish or Qeshm received an “error” in the immigration system. 

This, she said, was based on a new immigration rule of the UAE, which was only “verbally” shared with Happy Trip.

“As per a new UAE immigration rule, passengers of any nationality who have entered Iran (Kish, Qeshm, etc.) for visa change or any other purpose on expiry of their most recent UAE visa, will not be issued with new UAE visas of any category (Tourist, Employment etc.) for 6 Months,” according to the copy of the memorandum issued by the management of Happy Trip obtained by Kabayan Weekly.

 “Please note we have received this information verbally from the Immigration office without any prior notification as a sudden change in immigration policy. We are informed this is a Federal rule concerning all Emirates and will immediately apply to all passengers currently in Iran,” the memo read.

The memo also said that they are “unsure” if the new Federal rule will be implemented across all emirates, and if so, for how long, but noted that they are still receiving approvals for tourist visas from their Dubai trade license and can assist with applying for visitors via Dubai immigration.

To this, the management advised Filipinos to exit in Oman instead.

“We strongly urge all Filipino National visitors on UAE Tourist Visas approaching expiry of their UAE visas to apply for our Oman (Buraimi) by Bus Visa Change Service minimum 14 days prior to the expiry of their UAE visa, and to plan their exit minimum 7 days prior to the expiry of their Visa as seats on the Bus Service are limited to 50 per day (as of this moment) and allocated on a first come first serve basis,” it said.

Tamayo, for her part, said that the public may also exit to Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Philippines.

Meanwhile, for those who are already in Iran, Happy Trip said that they will assist with booking tickets to their home country.

“They would have to present their confirmed Dubai-Philippines (or home country) ticket at the local Kish or Mahan (Qeshm) Air counter prior to confirming their seat on the Iran-Dubai flight. We recommend booking the Dubai-Philippines sector at least 4-5 days in advance to ensure the passenger is able to find a seat on the connecting Iran-Dubai flight accordingly (with minimum 4 hours connecting time between flights).

“As per current Kish Air and Mahan Air Policy, we are not permitted to book the passenger’s return flight from the UAE and the same can only be done locally in Kish or Qeshm at the airline office.