UAE lifts ban for transit travellers from six countries including India

NEW DELHI: United Arab of Emirates (UAE) lifted the ban for transit travellers for six countries including India, travelling from and to UAE banned to due to ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Besides India, the ban has been lifted for Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Nigeria and Uganda.

In a tweet, UAE's National Emergency and Crisis Management Authority (NCEMA) said: "These categories include those with valid residency permits who have received full vaccination doses in the UAE and 14 days have passed since receiving the second dose and who have vaccination certificates approved by the official authorities in the country."

Further NCEMA clarifies the situations in which categories are entitled.

"Medical personnel working in the country will be excluded, including doctors, nurses, technicians from the vaccinated and non-vaccinated, and those working in the educational sector in the country who teach in universities, colleges, schools and institutes from the vaccinated and non-vaccinated categories," NCEMA tweet read.

UAE is a major transit hub for travellers since it connects USA, Europe and African countries but due to COVID pandemic it was suspended from several months.

NCEMA is the nodal agency in UAE which looks after the COVID related relaxations in case of travel from other countries and informs the passengers about the travel criteria.

"All these categories will be required to submit a request on the website of the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship to obtain the necessary approvals in addition to vaccination certificates certified by the concerned authorities in the country for the categories from which these certificates are required," the NCEMA said.

Travel will resume for transit passengers from all countries from which transit passengers were previously stopped, provided that the traveler's last destination is accepted and a laboratory examination is submitted within 72 hours from the time of departure, and the country's airports will allocate special lounges for transit passengers.