Qatar now offers a free 96 hour visa!
Oct 7, 2016, 4:08 am
#16
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: PNH and HBA
Programs: QR-G/OWS, QF-G, VA-G, NZ-S
Posts: 141
Afraid it didn't work for me on Wednesday night. I had a private stopover planned of 4 days with friends in Doha and it was seven hours between when I landed from DXB before the next scheduled flight to Phnom Penh. The immigration officer knew of no new visa rule changes, so credit card again. Pleased to hear of any more positive outcomes.
Oct 8, 2016, 9:29 pm
#17
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: LON
Programs: BA Gold, LH SEN , A3*G & others less exciting that don't fit in my wallet
Posts: 1,657
Afraid it didn't work for me on Wednesday night. I had a private stopover planned of 4 days with friends in Doha and it was seven hours between when I landed from DXB before the next scheduled flight to Phnom Penh. The immigration officer knew of no new visa rule changes, so credit card again. Pleased to hear of any more positive outcomes.
Would be interesting to know if this visa exists in anything other than press releases !! ( either in the new 96 hour version or the previous 48 hours version )
Oct 9, 2016, 7:20 am
#18
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 3,944
EvilDoctorK it would appear that my hopes "apparently opens up for 'private' stopovers." have been dashed.
I think that maybe the free visa exists but is restricted to QR arranged stopovers and possibly both STPC and Doha City Tours. Exactly how this fits with the cruise passengers I do not know. We are all groping around in the dark here because of the sparsity of details publicly available so these are all guesses as to what the situation is.
See http://www.qatarairways.com/global/e...ocale_id=en_gl for what is known.
I think that maybe the free visa exists but is restricted to QR arranged stopovers and possibly both STPC and Doha City Tours. Exactly how this fits with the cruise passengers I do not know. We are all groping around in the dark here because of the sparsity of details publicly available so these are all guesses as to what the situation is.
See http://www.qatarairways.com/global/e...ocale_id=en_gl for what is known.
Oct 12, 2016, 2:33 pm
#19
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 8
Transit Visa - Announced but not Implemented
I called Qatar Airways and talked to a Supervisor - as of Oct 3rd, their internal systems only state that the new transit visa rules have been announced with the implementation date "TBA - To Be Announced". We're just going to have to wait and see.
Oct 13, 2016, 9:27 pm
#21
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Bellevue, WA - AA EXP 3MM
Posts: 2,756
Qatar's press release says the change has been made and is already in effect. "The new transit visa structure now allows..." (emphasis added)
If I buy a ticket in reliance on this statement, and am later charged a visa fee that QR said had been removed, maybe QR would like to reimburse me the amount of the fee I was charged?
If I buy a ticket in reliance on this statement, and am later charged a visa fee that QR said had been removed, maybe QR would like to reimburse me the amount of the fee I was charged?
Oct 14, 2016, 9:34 am
#22
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Zurich
Programs: BA GGL, TK*G EL, KL P ELPL, ex AB P, ex LH/LX Sen, HHonors D4L, Bonvoy P
Posts: 1,647
No new visa rule
Similar to other recent posters, there is no new visa rule according to the immigration officer at the premium immigration - AND THERE WILL NEVER BE she added.
Oct 15, 2016, 12:18 am
#23
Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 8
Qatar Tourism Authority Update - "Few More Months"
http://dohanews.co/new-four-day-tran...ll-in-process/
"It will be at least a few more months before visitors who stop over in Qatar can get free four-day transit visas, officials have clarified.
And once the scheme is in place, only Qatar Airways passengers will be eligible for the visas, the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) said.
In response to questions from Doha News this week, a spokesperson said:
“The new transit visa scheme is in the process of being put into effect. Once in place, transit visas will be available to Qatar Airways passengers of all nationalities, free of charge.”
Oct 31, 2016, 9:56 pm
#24
Join Date: Aug 2013
Programs: SPG & Marriott Plat Privilege Club Plat
Posts: 111
Qatar free 96 hour visa
Oct 31, 2016, 11:16 pm
#25
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 842
Nov 1, 2016, 1:17 am
#26
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: PAR
Programs: QR Plat, Accor Plat
Posts: 1,090
And the best part is that they changed their fare rules for non GCC flights, allowing a free 96 hours stopover in DOH (and in some occasions in another connecting city which was not allowed by the previous rules) instead of having to pay 100 USD/EUR for that stopover :-)
Nov 5, 2016, 9:46 am
#28
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2003
Programs: BA Silver, EY Gold, HH Diamond, IHG Plat
Posts: 12,210
You need to apply 7 days in advance and meet a few other conditions to get the free transit visa. The link to apply is here.
Nov 5, 2016, 10:42 am
#29
Join Date: Apr 2012
Posts: 3,944
onlysuites surely a partner redemption would be on partner ticket stock? QR ticket stock always starts with 157.
The terms and conditions https://transitvisa.qatarairways.com...plyVisa/search say "Confirmed tickets for a journey into Qatar and the onward journey out of Qatar must be on Qatar Airways ticket document. Both the flights must be operated by Qatar Airways. The facility is not applicable for travel where Doha is the point of turnaround e.g. BOM-DOH-BOM."
"Both the flights must be operated by Qatar Airways." also excludes codeshare when operated by another carrier.
The terms and conditions https://transitvisa.qatarairways.com...plyVisa/search say "Confirmed tickets for a journey into Qatar and the onward journey out of Qatar must be on Qatar Airways ticket document. Both the flights must be operated by Qatar Airways. The facility is not applicable for travel where Doha is the point of turnaround e.g. BOM-DOH-BOM."
"Both the flights must be operated by Qatar Airways." also excludes codeshare when operated by another carrier.