The Diplomat
The Council of Ministers approved last Tuesday the signing of the agreement between Spain and the Sultanate of Oman on reciprocal visa exemption for holders of diplomatic, special and service passports.
Spain requires the possession of a valid and valid visa for nationals of third countries that appear on the list of countries subject to this obligation, as is the case of Oman. In addition, the Sultanate’s authorities require a visa for Spanish nationals – except for tourists, under certain circumstances – to enter the country.
For this reason, the authorities of the Sultanate of Oman proposed in mid-2010 to the Spanish authorities the start of negotiations for the signing of a bilateral agreement to waive visas for holders of diplomatic, special and service passports. Both parties exchanged comments on the text until the end of 2014 without reaching agreement on its final wording. Negotiations were interrupted and resumed in early 2021, when Spain proposed to the Omani side a draft agreement on visa waiver for diplomatic, special and service passports. The exchange of comments on the text lasted until early June 2021, when its wording was definitively established.
The possibility of adopting visa waiver agreements for certain categories of passports is provided for in the Community Regulation of 15 March 2001, which, in addition to determining the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders of the European Union, allows Member States to provide for exceptions for nationals of third countries when they are holders of diplomatic, service or other official passports.
The agreement, which will be of indefinite duration unless denounced, will enter into force 30 days after the date of the last notification by which the parties have notified each other of the completion of the internal legal procedures necessary for its entry into force. From the point of view of economic impact, this agreement does not imply any increase in public expenditure.
