UAE residents, citizens allowed to travel to select countries from June 23

Residents and citizens in the UAE will be allowed to travel to select countries starting June 23, officials confirmed on Monday night.

The joint statement made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MOFAIC), the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA), and the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management (NCEMA) said that the decision was reached following a thorough evaluation of the preventative measures currently in place and the recent positive developments as a result of it.

The categories of people allowed to travel along with the approved destinations would be announced at a later date, reported official news agency WAM.

اعتبارا من 23 يونيو الجاري .. #الإمارات تعلن السماح للمواطنين و المقيمين بالسفر إلى وجهات محددة وفق اشتراطات و إجراءات سيتم الإعلان عنها لاحقا#uae

— UAEGov (@uaegov) June 15, 2020

The guidelines and procedures for travellers will also be announced subsequently and these must be adhered to by both UAE citizens and residents before they travel, during their stay abroad and also upon their return to the UAE.

It added that the UAE will facilitate travel while maintaining all precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

On June 4, the UAE lifted the ban on commercial passenger flight operations that was in place since the end of March and decided to resume limited commercial passenger flight operations at its airports across the country including at Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.

Several airlines including Emirates, Air Arabia and Etihad soon after announced that there were resuming services to a few destinations, besides allowing passengers to transit via airports in the UAE to onward destinations.

On June 11, Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) issued a set of guidelines outlining the mandatory 14-day quarantine that can be fulfilled at either a hotel or at home and which is in place for all residents returning to the country.

Read: All residents returning to Dubai to be quarantined for 14 days

Returning residents will be subjected to a Covid-19 test upon their arrival at the Dubai airport itself.

The UAE also recently issued a directive to bring back residents holding valid residence permits currently present outside the country.

Read: UAE launches initiative to repatriate residents holding valid visas

The initiative, which is aimed at residents who were stranded outside the UAE due to travel restrictions triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, is targeting the return of nearly 200,000 people.