Qatar Visa for UAE Residents: Hayya A2 Guide

Quick answer: A Qatar visa for UAE residents is applied for online on Qatar’s official Hayya platform, not at an embassy counter. Visit Qatar’s visa checker sends GCC residents to the Hayya A2 entry visa, and depending on your passport it may also offer a paid visa on arrival at the airport. Emirati citizens enter Qatar visa-free with a passport or GCC ID. Your passport needs at least three months of validity from arrival. Visa Doctor is not an embassy, consulate or visa centre.

Qatar visa for UAE residents: the short version

Whether you need a visa for Qatar depends mainly on your passport, and your UAE residence changes the route. Visit Qatar, the country’s official tourism site, runs a visa checker that asks for your nationality and then asks whether you are a resident of a GCC country (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia or the UAE). The answers it can give a UAE resident fall into three outcomes.

• Enter visa-free: for GCC citizens, who need only a passport or GCC ID.
• Visa required: apply for an A2 entry visa on the Hayya portal.
• Visa on arrival: for some nationalities, a visa on arrival for a fee of QAR 100 at the airport, with the alternative of applying for the Hayya A2 visa online in advance. For some passports the checker adds that a hotel stay must be booked in advance through Discover Qatar to qualify.

Your result may differ from a friend’s, because the checker is driven by nationality. Run it with your own passport before you plan anything.

What Hayya is

Hayya is Qatar’s official digital platform for e-visas, at hayya.qa, with a mobile app called “Hayya to Qatar”. Visit Qatar describes it as the platform for e-visa applications in categories including the Tourist Visa (A1) and the GCC Resident Visa (A2), and for vehicle pre-registration for the Abu Samra border. The portal also offers pages to apply, to track your e-visa and to host family and friends. Because the portal is the official route, you do not need an agent to submit, and you should be careful with any site that charges extra for an “approved” Hayya visa.

Where the Qatar embassy fits

People often search for the Qatar embassy in Abu Dhabi because they assume a visa is stamped there. For tourist and GCC resident visits, Visit Qatar points to the Hayya platform instead. We could not verify the embassy’s current address, telephone or hours from an official source, so we do not quote them. If you need the embassy for another matter, check the official Ministry of Foreign Affairs site of the State of Qatar.

Who needs what: nationality and residence

Visit Qatar says that citizens of more than 100 countries are eligible for a free visa on arrival, which it now calls visa-free entry. Travellers of select nationalities are required to pay a fee to obtain a visa on arrival or to apply for a tourist visa before travel. On the Hayya platform, Visit Qatar quotes QAR 100 for visas.

For a UAE resident the practical split is this:

• Emiratis: no visa. Carry a passport or GCC ID.
• Passports that qualify for visa-free entry or a free visa on arrival: the checker says so after you enter your nationality. You still need a passport valid for at least three months from arrival.
• Passports that need a visa or a paid visa on arrival: the checker sends you to the Hayya A2 route, or to the airport visa on arrival where that is shown for your passport.

The checker asks about nationality and GCC residence and does not ask for a profession, so older guides that list eligible professions may be out of date. We cover further route details, including hotel booking rules for some nationalities, on our Qatar visa from Dubai page.

How to apply on Hayya, step by step

• Step 1. Run the Visit Qatar visa checker with your nationality and the GCC resident answer, and note the result.
• Step 2. Check your documents. Your passport needs at least three months of validity from the date you arrive in Qatar, and your UAE residence visa should be valid for the whole trip.
• Step 3. Open hayya.qa by typing it yourself, or use the “Hayya to Qatar” app, and choose the e-visa application.
• Step 4. Select the A2 GCC Resident Visa when the checker told you to, and complete the details and uploads the form asks for.
• Step 5. Pay the fee when asked. Visit Qatar quotes QAR 100 for tourist visas on Hayya and for the visa on arrival, and for visa required cases it says you pay once the visa is approved. Confirm the figure shown for A2 on the portal.
• Step 6. Save the approved e-visa, and use the track feature if you need to check its status.

Hayya is an online application, so the route Visit Qatar describes involves no embassy appointment. The stay length and number of entries are stated on your approved e-visa, so read them, and do not rely on an older article for them.

Insurance

Visit Qatar’s FAQ recommends that all visitors hold a valid health insurance policy covering Qatar’s medical facilities, and says those without one can buy a policy on arrival. It links to the Ministry of Public Health’s health insurance scheme page for details, so check that page for the current rules for your length of stay.

Common mistakes

• Assuming UAE residence is enough. The result depends on nationality and the GCC resident answer in the checker.
• Passport validity. Visit Qatar requires at least three months from arrival, and many guides still say six.
• Applying on a lookalike site. The official portal is hayya.qa.
• Skipping the hotel rule. Where the checker says a Discover Qatar hotel reservation is required for visa on arrival, a normal booking site may not satisfy it.
• Buying non-refundable tickets first. Wait until the e-visa is in your hands.

How Visa Doctor helps

Visa Doctor is a licensed Dubai visa documentation and appointment agency. We are not an embassy, consulate or visa centre. For Qatar we confirm which route your passport falls under, check passport and residence validity, and prepare the details and uploads so your Hayya application is complete. Because this is an online application, we have no appointment to book for you. We cannot promise an outcome, since the Qatari authorities make every decision. Compare the neighbouring route in our Saudi Arabia visa from Dubai guide, or see our visa services in Dubai.

Sources and last checked

Last checked: October 2026, against the Visit Qatar visas page and visa checker, the Hayya portal at hayya.qa and Visit Qatar’s FAQ on health insurance. We could not verify the Qatar embassy’s address and hours in Abu Dhabi, the A2 stay length or the A2 fee shown inside the portal, so confirm them on the official pages.

This guide is part of our embassies, consulates and visa centres in Dubai and Abu Dhabi hub, which lists every country guide in one place.

Frequently asked questions