Reuters has confirmed that the United Arab Emirates has stopped new visas to Lebanese citizens in addition to 12 other nationalities.
The news organization cited a document that was sent out to companies operating in a state-owned business park.
An anonymous source revealed that the UAE stopped issuing visas for the nationalities, most of which are from Muslim-majority countries, over “security concerns” but did not elaborate.
In addition to Lebanon, the countries newly banned include Syria, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Tunisia, Algeria, Kenya, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia.
The same source told Reuters that the visa ban, which reportedly took effect on November 18th, was not expected to last for too long.
The new visa ban will not affect those currently holding valid visas.
This comes after an entire week of confusion over the news that the UAE was reportedly suspending visas for Lebanese.
Despite that this news has been initially denied by Lebanon’s ambassador to the UAE and local news sources, many Lebanese people have noted that their visa applications were suddenly being declined.
Some people revealed that they were told by travel agents that there are no more visas to the UAE. To top it off, several employers in Dubai informed The961 that visa processing for Lebanese has been suspended.