UAE temporarily suspends visa-on-arrival facility for Indian passengers
New Delhi | The United Arab Emirates (UAE) national carrier, Etihad Airways on Tuesday (August 24) announced that UAE authorities have decided to temporarily suspend the visa-on-arrival facility for Indian travellers. Now passengers headed from India to the UAE, and even those who’ve stayed in India over the last two weeks, will not be able to access the “visa-on-arrival” facility.
“The UAE authorities have decided to temporarily suspend the visa-on-arrival facility for passengers who are arriving from or been in India in the past 14 days. We’re working to update our website, please keep an eye on https://bit.ly/TravelGuideEN for latest regulations,” Etihad Airways wrote while replying to a query.
The same rules are applicable for passengers arriving from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, and Namibia, among other countries. Passengers are required to carry a COVID-19 negative RT-PCR report while travelling to the UAE which should not be older than six hours before boarding the flight. ‘Hope situation in Afghanistan doesn’t pose challenge to neighbors’ India..
Earlier, the UAE authorities had permitted Indian citizens to receive entry visas upon arrival, valid for 14 days and could be extended only once for a similar period.
“Indian citizens holding regular passports with US visas, green cards, UK Resident Permits, or EU (European Union) resident permits are allowed to receive entry visa upon arrival to UAE valid for 14 days and can be extended only once for a similar period. The Indian Passport, US visa, the green card, the U.K Resident Permit and the EU resident permit must be valid for at least six months,” UAE embassy wrote on its website.
Last week, the United States also eased the travel restrictions for India as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lowered India to “Level 2: Moderate,” from Level 4. This came amid the drop in daily Covid cases in India from June onwards. However, the possibility of a third wave of COVID-19 still remains in the country.