Qatar now offers a free 96 hour visa!
 

Fantastic news - http://www.qatarairways.com/uk/en/pr...se_tourismvisa

Basically, no more QNB cards/fees/lines - 96 hours max works perfectly between flights if you have friends living in Doha and you can visit in the day.

A wonderful move forward for Qatar, and I'll be using it rather than staying in the airport.

Well I feel a bit of a wally! I wasn't even aware of the old visa scheme until I read the weblink just now. I've probably wasted a good few hundred QAR in visa fees over the past two years while overnighting in Doha hotels.

Me too ... How does one avail of this ? ( will it be up and running in 10 days time ?)

Any time previously I've just handed over the credit card with the passport at the immigration desk and paid the fee - There didn't seem to be any other option before ( not well advertised at least )

Ah Ah. I was hopeful that my 2-4 hour transits would allow me to stand outside the airport and suck in some fresh air. I do genuinely dislike being in an airport that is 100% restricted air conditioning. A little stroll outside departures / arrival inbetween flights is a wonderful thing if they don't have outdoor areas in transit :(

Didn't you know? Fresh air can get in!

Leaking roof causes floods at Doha's $15bn Hamad International Airport

Fresh air...in Doha...in the summer!!:D:D:D you'll be back inside in a nice air conditioned lounge within 1 minute...!

For those who like to run, I highly recommend jogging on the bicycle path outside DOH airport. Details and instructions at http://www.benedelman.org/travel/running/ . Perfect to build up an appetite for the next flight!

Let's hope that they will increase the frequency of buses into town...

From checking their visitqatar website, it appears as if the 48 hours free visa (now 96) is only valid in connection with a stop-over package?

Yes and looking at the Qatar Airways site with the link to the Visa info from the TIMATIC(?) system there's no mention of this change yet ... only mentions the old transit visa which was only valid in conjunction with a STPC package sponsored by the carrier [ which just going into Doha into a hotel you'd arranged yourself clearly wouldn't be ]

I'm there in 10 days time so will report back on what my experience is .. in the meantime if anyone has any other ideas as to how this might actually work and if it would be possible to save the visa fee then that would be great !

I guess this could be down to the recent BA/QR tie-up. It would be convenient if QR allowed longer stopovers in DOH.

Would be good to know exactly how this works.

I have an 8 hour transit from DXB>DOH en route to BHX.

As it'd be a transit visa, I assume one would need to follow the exit signs and go through passport control/customs etc and the leave the hold luggage behind since? (Seems a bit weird doing so as I've never exited an airport without my bags before!).

That's exactly how it works. We transited Doha a few years back with an eight hour stopover on the way back from Singapore. My brother-in-law lives in Doha so we had brunch and went back to the airport. No hassle whatsoever.

Yes this is what you normally do ... and then at immigration you hand over your credit card along with your passport and you pay about £20 for your visa ... I have no idea how you would get the free ( previously 48 hour, now 96 hour visa) ... maybe you just have to ask ! .. wasn't very obvious before anyway.. there didn't seem to be any real choice other than to pay up.

This was discussed on a thread in 2010/2011 and as far as I remember the conclusion was that it was only available for QR arranged stopover packages, not STPC. This new move seems to be more flexible and apparently opens up for 'private' stopovers.