Author: Ra'uf Asim Rahal
These rankings show that the UAE Passport takes the 10th worldwide spot on the Henley Passport Index for 2025. Since developing its visa policy decades ago the UAE now stands as the sole Arab member in the world’s top 10 passport rankings and holds visa-free travel to 185 countries. During the past five years the UAE gained 72 new travel destinations whereas its passport climbed from 42nd ranking to tenth worldwide. The country keeps increasing its visa-free access deals which led to the recent agreement with New Zealand. In an interview Philippe Amarante explained how the UAE’s active global connections…
Today, residents of the UAE have a possibility to invite friends and relatives to stay for a longer time – up to 90 days within the frameworks of the Friend or Relative Visa service of the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs, and Port Security. This visa service is available with single and multiple entries at liberal stay periods of 30/60/90 days. The visa allows entry within 60 days from the time it was issued; the extension can be sought within the country. The process of the application is simple to fill and complete since the resident can apply through…
The Middle East Film & Comic Con (MEFCC) is now coming back to Abu Dhabi starting from April 18 to 20 at the ADNEC Centre to have the most amazing pop culture gathering. From anime conventions to sci-fi movies, games, and more – MEFCC’15 has some great news for everyone – movie stars, star-studded panels, figures, toys, and activities. Meet the Stars of Pop Culture Heading the list is Ian McDiarmid, the artist who portrayed sinister Emperor Palpatine in the Star Wars series. Gaming enthusiasts will also be pleased to greet TV and movie actor Hideo Ishikawa who is famous…
The session which Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairperson of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority has attended at the 1 Billion Followers Summit enthralled an assembly to hear about Maye Musk’s story. Our final guest speaker, Maye Musk, a professional dietitian, model, mother of Elon Musk, taught valuable lessons on parenting, success, and relevance. In the session moderated by the 1 Billion Followers Summit CEO, Alia AlHammadi, the participants discussed Musk’s journey of fatherhood and parenting three children and the world’s richest man. The talk that Elon Musk listened to was ‘How I Raised Three…
Currently, Emirates Airlines has revealed that it is to add a new flight to its Dubai Colombo route beginning in January, 2, 2025. This new service that has been introduced is the EK654/655 as part of the way used by Emirates to expand the capacity of the seat by 30 percent. This decision has been made due to Sri Lanka’s latest actions for increasing tourist inflows, in 2025 goals to attract even more tourists. The new flight will fly six times weekly during the winter season with no operation on Wednesday until March 31, 2025. Since April first, an additional…
A special focus on the specificity of public transport utilization was made for New Year’s Eve of 2025, where the number of riders of public transit, shared mobility, and taxis reached 2,502,474 individuals. This is a higher figure than the 2,288,631 passengers that passed through the airports during the corresponding celebrations last year an increase of 9.3%. Showing the figure of 1,133,251, the Dubai Metro which has the Red and Green line turned out to be the most used mode of transport. On the other hand, the Dubai Tram ensured timely journeys for the 55, 391 commuters. Public buses were…
Over the past few years, Abu Dhabi is all set to further boost the status as one of most sought-after filming hubs globally from January 1 next year with a 50 percent rebate that has been offered on production and post-production expenses. This boost comes as a result of a 35 percent rebate policy that the UAE capital has enjoyed for a decade that sees film behemoths from across the world being drawn to the region. The new structure of rebates was recently announced by the Abu Dhabi Film Commission and it concerns not only feature films but also reality…
Dubai is preparing a new Smart Rental Index to reform the rental market in the country beginning January 2025, according to the Dubai Land Department. This sophisticated system will have a central part in the governmental management of the emirate’s real estate market with reference to rental values, contributing to the building of ‘credibility, clarity, and confidence’ of the landlords, tenants and investors involved. Smart Rental Index will offer customers timely and up to date information and act as the reference point when setting rental prices, renewal and in cases where there are disagreements on the rental prices. The created…
Dubai is preparing for the exotic New Year celebration 2025, 36 firework shows proposed for Burj Khalifa and major landmarks such as Global Villages and Dubai Design Districts. Working under the umbrella of the Events Security Committee with the support of 55 government and private partnerships, detailed plan has been developed envisaging safety, effectiveness and fun at institutions. Strategic Sector Division In Continuation to the successful previous year, Dubai is divided into four operational zones to administer security and service, they are the North Zone, Central Zone, Western Zone, and Maritime Zone. Dubai Police will mobilise 8,530 individuals, 1,145 patrols,…
RTA of Dubai published recently the official statement according to which the much-discussed and long-awaited Dubai Metro Blue Line will be operational on September 9, 2029. Its importance lies in the fact that this year marked the 20 years since Dubai Metro was first introduced to the city as a transport system. The 30-kilometers Blue Line will be dry with fourteen stations where five will be sub-terrain and nine sub-terrain giving a much-needed connectivity to the populous area of Dubai. It will link directly with the Red Line at the Centrepoint Station and the Green Line at the Al Khor…