Planning to travel out of UAE ? You need a permit

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Dubai: Seif Al-Dhaheri, a spokesperson for the National Authority for Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Management in UAE, announced on Monday at a press briefing that the decision to allow people to travel to and from the UAE comes with a caveat.

Countries and travel destinations have been divided into three categories: ‘low risk’, ‘medium risk’ and ‘high risk’, depending on the health conditions and spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) in those countries.

Approval and ‘ok-to-travel’

Al Dhaheri said people who get appproval to travel must coordinate and follow up with airlines to learn about the latest developments and follow up on ‘ok-to-travel’ status updates.

Al Dhaheri said that many countries are still closed for travellers and that authorities in the UAE are constantly monitoring the health situation around the world, bearing in mind that a majority of countries still have their airspaces closed. He added that the authorities will ensure coordination with countries and follow-up.

Guidelines

Al Dhaheri announced the following guidelines for travel:

1. Families travel together

Members of the same family are allowed to travel together for medical treatment or to visit close family. However, this movement will depend on the classification of countries and is subject to obtaining approval for travel.

2. Returning travellers to self-quarantine

Upon re-entry, each passenger is to be tested. If the result of the COVID-19 test is negative, the traveller must commit to self-quarantine for a period of 14 days. This period may be reduced in some cases to seven days for workers in vital sectors or if they are coming from countries with a lower risk.

3. Online travel request

A travel request should be submitted through the competent authorities or the website http://smartservices.ica.gov.ae, after which the traveller will be informed of approval based on a number of criteria, including the classification of the level of risk of the country to be visited and the reason for travel, as well as approval of health regulators at the desired destination.

Earlier this week, Dubai had announced guidelines for residents returning to the UAE, starting in June, and the opening of Dubai to tourists and visitors in July. Tourists and visitors are required to have appropriate entry permits and PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test results. Dubai authorities also announced that PCR tests would be conducted for residents returning or for those tourists and visitors who don’t have a PCR test result to show upon arrival.

All travellers will be required to sign health declaration forms and bear the cost of quarantine or treatment, if applicable.