Dubai to allow entry of Indian residence visa holders from June 23

Dubai's Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management on Saturday announced the decision to ease travel restrictions for passengers from South Africa, Nigeria and India which is to come into effect from Wednesday, 23 June.

Inbound passengers from India and South Africa who are vaccinated with two doses of UAE-approved vaccines will be allowed entry access to the emirate. The UAE has approved four vaccines including Sinopharm, Pfizer-BioNTech, Sputnik V and Oxford-AstraZeneca for use against the Covid19 infection.

In its latest directive, the committee has also instructed Indian expats with a valid residence visa to undergo a rapid PCR test four hours prior to flight departure to Dubai and mandatory institutional quarantine. It is yet to be announced if the India-UAE travel ban will be lifted for Indian expatriates or if visiting visa holders will be granted entry permission.

Travellers from the aforementioned three countries, including Nigeria, are required to present a QR coded negative PCR test certificate taken 48 hours before departure and are to take a PCR test upon arrival including transit passengers.

Dubai's flag carrier Emirates and budget aircraft Air India Express had earlier announced the extension of India – UAE commercial flights ban until July 6, which was previously extended till June 30. The travel suspension came into force from April restricting all residents or visitors from India to enter the UAE, however, exempted UAE nationals, UAE Golden Visas holders and diplomats from the ban.