New Delhi: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has decided to allow tourist visas to Indian passport holders, who have not been to the country in the last 14 days, PTI cited Gulf News report on Sunday (August 22). Passport holders of Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Uganda, will also be provided this facility, the report added.
Currently, only UAE citizens and transit passengers are allowed to fly to the UAE, in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision to permit Indian passport holders, who have not been in the country in the last 14 days, comes as the UAE moves towards opening its arrivals slowly.
It is to be noted that all passengers will have to undergo a Polymerase Chain Reaction test on the day of arrival and on the ninth day after arrival in the UAE.
Further, the UAE will accept passengers from Pakistani airports Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore. Earlier, arrivals from Pakistan were only allowed to transit passengers.
The UAE has reported 2,018 deaths due to COVID-19 infection, along with 708,302 confirmed infections, according to Johns Hopkins University.
On August 3, the UAE had announced relaxations in restrictions imposed on the passengers from India and other countries. The National Emergency and Crisis Management Authority (NCEMA) said it will lift the ban on entry of passengers from India and five other countries including Pakistan, Nigeria, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Uganda from August 5. Indians with a valid residency permit and who are fully vaccinated, at least 14 days prior to the travel, have been permitted to travel to the UAE.
In July, UAE had banned a travel ban on its citizens to India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Namibia, Zambia, Congo, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, South Africa and Nigeria in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
(With agency inputs)
