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BEIRUT, June 16 (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates lifted a visa ban on Lebanese nationals after it was temporarily suspended due to security concerns, Lebanon’s foreign minister said on Friday,
Lebanese citizens have been reporting in recent weeks that visas for Lebanese outside the UAE are not awarded Travel agencies said they were unable to apply for UAE visas for Lebanese nationals through the usual online system.
An Emirati official told Reuters on Thursday that temporary restrictions were in place to deal with security concerns, but they will be lifted in the coming days.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdullah Boo Habib told Reuters that Lebanon’s ambassador to the UAE informed him late on Thursday that visas would be “reinstated” for Lebanese starting the next day.
But a travel agency said on Friday that the change had not yet been reflected in the online application system and that “many visa applications are still pending”.
Thousands of Lebanese nationals work in the UAE and send remittances to family back home, as the economic crisis has shut out most savers and pushed more than 80 percent of the population into poverty.
Reporting by Maya Gebeily, Editing by William Maclean and Angus MacSwan
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