India-UAE flights: Updated travel guidelines issued

Dubai - Air India Express specifies documents eligible passengers to UAE must carry.

Air India Express has specified the documents passengers with UAE residency visas travelling from India to any airport in the Emirates must carry.

According to Air India’s latest guidelines, passengers can fly to the UAE if they carry the following documents:

>> For holders of residency visas issued in Dubai and travelling to Dubai, passengers must get ‘Return permit for residents outside UAE’ form from the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) through: https://smart.gdrfad.gov.ae/Smart_OTCServicesPortal/ReturnPermitService.aspx

>> For holders of residency visas issued in other Emirates, they must get the form from the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA) through https://smartservices.ica.gov.ae/echannels/web/client/guest/index.html#/registerArrivals

(Those with visas issued by organisers of Expo 2020 Dubai can travel to the UAE without GDRFA/ICA approvals.)

>> Passengers must have a negative Covid-19 test certificate with QR code linked to the original report. The test must have been done within 48 hours of departure at an ICMR-approved laboratory.

>> A rapid PCR test report that should be based on molecular diagnostic testing must be conducted at the Indian departure airport within four hours of departure.

The updated guidelines issued on Thursday, August 12, do not mention the requirement to furnish a Covid-19 vaccination certificate.

The vaccination certificate requirement was previously done away with for passengers to Dubai on August 10.

Residents fully vaccinated against Covid-19 are one of the 10 categories of expats allowed to fly to the UAE from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Nigeria, and Uganda starting August 5.

The latest update does not mean that vaccination is not mandatory. It merely suggests that airline representatives at points of departure will not check for passengers’ vaccination status. If a passenger is able to produce the documents mentioned above, including ICA/GDRFA approvals, he/she will be allowed to board.

>> PCR tests on days 4 and 8.