UAE residents from 6 countries including India can return after vaccination
Nationals of six countries, including India and Nepal, who hold residency permits of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and are fully vaccinated, and health workers will be allowed to return to the emirates from August 5, authorities announced on Tuesday.
The directive from UAE’s National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) and General Civil Aviation Authority will also apply to citizens of Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Uganda.
The move will allow UAE residents from these six countries to return, provided 14 days have elapsed since they received the second vaccine dose. The travellers must possess vaccination certificates issued by authorities in their countries.
According to the latest directive, both vaccinated and unvaccinated travellers from several other categories will also be allowed into the UAE from August 5.
These categories include health workers such as doctors, nurses and technicians employed in the UAE, those working in the education sector, students, humanitarian cases with valid residency permits, and employees of federal and local government bodies.
India has been pushing the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, including the UAE, to allow Indian professionals and other workers to return to their jobs in West Asia by easing Covid-19 related travel restrictions. Some recent reports earlier suggested that the UAE could extend the restrictions into August.
The UAE alone is home to 3.42 million Indians, one of the largest concentrations of expatriates in West Asia. A large number of doctors and nurses in the UAE are of Indian origin.
The UAE imposed fresh travel restrictions on India and suspended flights following a second wave of Coronavirus infections earlier this year. Other categories of travellers from these six countries will continue to be barred from entering the emirates.
Travellers will have to apply online through the website of the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship to get approval. Besides vaccination certificates, the applicants need to submit a negative PCR test result within 48 hours of the date of departure. A lab test will be conducted before they board the planes, and a PCR test will be done on arrival in the UAE. This will be followed by home quarantine.
The UAE will also lift a ban on transit passenger traffic from the six countries from August 5. NCEMA said on Twitter that passengers from these countries will be able to transit through UAE airports as long as they present negative PCR tests taken 72 hours before departure.
Final destination approval would also have to be provided and UAE departure airports will arrange separate lounges for transiting passengers, NCEMA said.