Qatar Visa by Nationality: The Shared Hayya Framework
Body title: Qatar Visa by Nationality: The Shared Hayya Framework
Hayya is Qatar’s official e-visa digital platform, operated by Qatar Tourism. For a reader from Pakistan, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Egypt, the United Kingdom or Canada, the shared framework below is the starting point, and the official Visit Qatar visa wizard and Hayya recommendation flow are the route to a nationality-specific answer.
This article covers the shared framework only. It does not give a route, fee, stay length, extension rule or document list for any single nationality. Those details are not stated on the official pages cited here, so they are left out until the official wizard and Hayya flow are checked for each nationality.
Hayya and the five visa categories
Qatar News Agency states that Hayya is operated by Qatar Tourism and is Qatar’s official e-visa digital platform. Qatar News Agency lists five distinct visa categories: the Tourist Visa (A1), GCC Resident Visa (A2), Visa with ETA (A3), Companion of GCC Citizen Visa (A4), and the Visa-Free for US Citizens (F1). The Hayya portal page presents Hayya Tourist E-Visas, app management of the Hayya E-Visa, and How-To Guides. That Hayya page does not state eligibility lists, fees, steps or country rules.
The A2 change from 30 November 2025
Qatar News Agency states that from 30 November 2025 the A2 GCC Residents Visa allows stays for up to two months with multiple-entry access. It states that the change was announced by Qatar Tourism with the Ministry of Interior and the Permanent Committee for Managing Visitor Entry. That page does not state stay lengths for A1, A3, A4 or F1, and does not state eligibility for any category.
Who can use a tourist visa, and the Hayya cost stated by Visit Qatar
Visit Qatar states that the Qatar tourist visa is available to nationals of all countries, except GCC citizens. Visit Qatar states that citizens of over 102 countries are eligible for a free visa on arrival. Visit Qatar states that visa-free entry is now the term for what was previously called visa on arrival, and that nothing changed except the name. Visit Qatar states that GCC nationals, from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, do not require a visa to enter Qatar. Visit Qatar states that visas can be applied for on the Hayya platform for a cost of QAR 100.
Two official pages, two figures for visa-free countries
Hukoomi states on its Apply for Tourist Visa e-service that nationals of more than 80 countries are eligible for visa-free entry, with varying allowable lengths of stay. Visit Qatar states that citizens of over 102 countries are eligible for a free visa on arrival. Each figure is stated for its own page and route: the Hukoomi figure for the tourist-visa e-service, the Visit Qatar figure for free visa on arrival. Check the Visit Qatar visa wizard for the figure that applies to your nationality.
Passport validity on the tourist-visa route
Hukoomi states on its Apply for Tourist Visa e-service that the passport should be valid for at least six months from the date of entry. The Visit Qatar visas page does not state a passport-validity rule in its visas answers. No three-month passport rule is stated here. Per-nationality passport validity rules are not stated on the official pages cited here; check the live page for the route you will use.
What the Hukoomi tourist visa e-service states about channels, documents and timing
Hukoomi states that tourist visas are available via employer, hotels, or Qatar Airways, upon nationality and the requirements of each.
For the online form, Hukoomi lists:
- the passport bio page
- a passport-sized photo
- an airline ticket
- and hotel confirmation or place-of-stay documents.
Hukoomi states that Qatar Airways passengers are exempt from the ticket copy. Hukoomi states that an application can be made no more than 90 days and no less than four working days prior to travel. Hukoomi states that applicants are contacted by email within 48 hours. Hukoomi states that visa holders are not allowed to work in Qatar during their stay. Hukoomi states, for the hotel and embassy route on that page, that tourist visa issuance fees are QR100, QR50 for each accompanying person, and QR200 as overstay fine per day. The QR200 per day figure is stated on that Hukoomi page for that service, and this article does not apply it to other visa types.
How to check your own nationality
Check your nationality on the official Visit Qatar visa wizard and in the Hayya recommendation flow. No per-nationality outcome is stated here. Use the outcome shown for your nationality on the official tool.
What the Hayya homepage itself shows, and what it does not show
The Hayya portal page is short. It presents Hayya Tourist E-Visas with the line: explore our selection of E-Visas to find the option that fits you best. It says the app lets a traveller manage a Hayya E-Visa, keep track of events, and stay on track with a travel plan. It says How-To Guides explain every step, so a traveller can apply with confidence and enjoy a smooth arrival. It presents Business Services only for governmental or semi-governmental organisations, covering visa processes, guest services and event management.
No visa type name, eligibility list, fee, step, or country rule is stated on that homepage. A reader who stops at the homepage will not learn whether they need an A1, A3, or visa-free entry. The homepage points to the E-Visa selection, the How-To Guides, and the recommendation flow itself. This guide does not invent the contents of those guides or that flow. The Business Services box does not establish a general business visa for an ordinary business traveller, because it is addressed to governmental and semi-governmental organisations only.
Transit, joint tourist, and health insurance: three Visit Qatar answers
The Visit Qatar visas page contains three further answers that sort out kinds of entry without giving any nationality a route. On health insurance, the page recommends that all travellers have a valid health insurance policy covering Qatar’s medical facilities, and says those without a policy are welcome to purchase one on arrival. That is a recommendation, not a visa condition stated on that page, and no insurer, price, or required cover is named.
On the Qatar-Oman Joint Tourist Visa, the page says the visa is issued upon arrival, is valid for 30 days for Qatar and Oman, allows multiple entry to both countries, and is extendable for an additional 30 days for a fee. No eligible-country list is stated on that page for the joint visa, so no eligible country is named here. On the Qatar Transit Visa, the page says passengers flying with Qatar Airways and transiting for a minimum of 6 hours at Hamad International Airport, who are not eligible for visa-free entry but are interested in a Doha transit tour, can apply for a transit visa at the Discover Qatar Transit Desk in the airport, with terms and conditions applying. Separately, a transit visa valid for up to 4 days is available through Qatar Stopover packages; check those packages for their conditions. The transit-desk answer above is addressed to a Qatar Airways transit of at least 6 hours by a traveller not eligible for visa-free entry. It is not a general short-stay visa, and no fee or document list is stated for it on that page.
What the Hukoomi tourist visa page adds beyond fees
The Hukoomi page contains a separate extension service.
Visitors and tourists may submit a request online to extend their exempted visa on the Ministry of Interior website:
- enter a Visa or Passport number
- select nationality
- enter the verification code from the picture or audio
- and click Extend.
No extension length, fee, or approval rule is stated in that part of the page, so none is stated here. An online extension request form is not the same as a right to an extension.
The same page lists additional documents a traveller may upload to strengthen an application:
- documents showing investments of USD 8,000 at least
- income tax papers showing an annual gross income of USD 8,000 at least
- and evidence of travel in the last five years to Qatar, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Schengen countries, USA or the UK.
Those are strengthening documents, not mandatory documents for every applicant, and the page does not say uploading them guarantees approval. Fee payment can be made with Visa or MasterCard, debit or credit only. It is not possible to use the service for children endorsed on their parents’ passport.
To cancel a visa, the page says to visit the centres affiliated to the General Directorate of Border Passports and Expatriates Affairs. No cancellation form, fee, or step is stated there. The page contains a line about Tourist Visas on arrival for nationals of 33 countries mentioned above, but the page does not enumerate those 33 countries in readable text, so the number 33 is not used here as a country count.
How to use the two official tools without guessing
Check a nationality in two places, and record what each place actually shows: the Visit Qatar visa wizard, and the Hayya recommendation flow with its E-Visa selection and How-To Guides. For each nationality, record the category code shown, the stay length, whether entry is single or multiple, the fee, the passport validity, and any hotel or booking requirement, with the exact wording of the tool. Do not average two tools that disagree, and do not fill a blank in one tool with an answer from the other. If the wizard gives no outcome for a nationality, no outcome is recorded. A country list without headings, a fee without a category, and a stay length without a nationality are not outcomes.
Related guides
