Fully vaccinated travelers can now apply for tourist visas to visit the UAE. The National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) has revealed that travelers can apply for a visit visa from August 30th 2021 if they have received a full dose of a Covid-19 vaccine that is approved by the World Health Organization (WHO).
So what do you need to know about obtaining a tourist visa?
Only those who have been administered WHO approved vaccines will be allowed entry. These are Covishield, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Sinopharm and Sinovac. Both doses of these must have been administered to the passenger for them to be eligible for a visit visa.
PCR tests are becoming the norm in travelling anywhere at all, and if you’re already in the UAE, even when travelling to and from Abu Dhabi. All travelers coming into the country for a vacation will take a mandatory rapid PCR test on arrival into the UAE and the rules and exemptions for unvaccinated travelers remain the same.
If the country you are travelling from was previously on the red list, you are still eligible for a tourist visa! That includes India, Pakistan, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and other countries where flights were banned due to their rising COVID-19 cases. If you’re coming in from those countries, all you need is to be vaccinated and take a rapid PCR test on arrival too.
So how will anyone know you’ve been vaxxed?
Visitors should register their vaccination status and submit proof of vaccination on the ICA or Al Hosn app. This enables them to gain the benefits that are given to vaccinated individuals in the UAE.
