Saudi Arabia lifts travel ban on citizens, but India still on ‘no go’ list

KEY STORY

• Saudi Arabia reopened its airports, seaports and land border crossings early on Monday, allowing its citizens to travel outside the kingdom as it lifted the 14-month-long travel ban imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Arab News reported the General Directorate of Passports had specified eligibility criteria for those nationals wishing to travel abroad.

• “The categories include those who have received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, those who received one dose at least two weeks prior to travel, those recovering from the virus within six months from the date of travel, and citizens under 18-years-old provided they present a travel insurance policy approved by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), covering the risks of COVID-19 outside the Kingdom before travel,” Arab News reported.

• The civil aviation authority stated 385 flights would depart from nine Saudi airports on Monday for international destinations.

• However, India remains on a list of 13 countries to which Saudi citizens cannot travel directly or indirectly due to COVID-19. The National, a UAE-based publication reported, “The banned countries are Afghanistan, Armenia, Belarus, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Iran, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Turkey, Venezuela and Yemen. They are no-go zones because of instability or surges in coronavirus cases.”

  No quarantine for vaccinated foreigners

• On Sunday, Saudi Arabia announced that foreign nationals of most countries flying to the kingdom will no longer need to quarantine if they have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

• Reuters reported, “The civil aviation authority said that from May 20 non-Saudi visitors arriving in the kingdom from eligible countries by air who are fully vaccinated, or have had COVID-19 and recovered, will no longer have to spend seven days in government-approved hotels as long as they provide an official vaccination certificate upon arrival. Currently, all travellers coming into the kingdom need to quarantine for a period of seven to 14 days depending on the countries where they are coming from, and provide negative PCR tests.”

CONCLUSION

• The National reported on Monday that “Saudia said all travellers to the kingdom ‘must obtain and show proof” of two doses of vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca or Moderna, or one from Johnson & Johnson. People travelling to the kingdom after one shot or a negative PCR test must complete seven days of quarantine at their own expense.”

• However, visitors from 20 countries, including India, the US and UK, remain barred from entering Saudi Arabia on account of continuing COVID-19 spread there.