Coronavirus Travel Restrictions in the Middle East

Coronavirus Travel Restrictions in the Middle East: Middle Eastern countries are imposing the following restrictions and travel bans to combat the spread of COVID-19.

Egypt

All flights are suspended except the following: aircraft in states of emergency, cargo flights, technical landings, humanitarian, medevacs, and repatriation flights, UN flights, and domestic flights.

All except emergencies must seek pre-authorization from the CAA.

Iran

Passengers that hold a Chinese or SAR China passport are not visa exempt anymore  but must get a visa on arrival.

They will be required to clear a health check on arrival.

Iraq

There will be no entry through Baghdad (BGW) until March 24.

Chinese and Iranian nationals are prohibited from entering.

Passengers who have visited China, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Macao, Singapore, or Thailand in the past 14 days are not allowed entry.

These measures don’t apply at Erbil (EBL) and Sulaymaniyah (ISU) or to Iraqi nationals or residents who will be quarantined for 14 days.

Nationals of Bahrain, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Kuwait, Qatar, Singapore, Spain, and Thailand are not allowed to enter via Baghdad (BGW), Basra (BSR) and Najaf (NJF).

Anyone who has visited Bahrain, China, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Kuwait, Qatar, Singapore, Spain, or Thailand in the past 14 days are not allowed to enter via Baghdad (BGW), Basra (BSR) and Najaf (NJF).

Iranian, Kuwaiti, and Bahraini nationals are not allowed to enter via Erbil (EBL) and Sulaymaniyah (ISU).

Passengers who have visited Bahrain, China, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Kuwait, Macao, Singapore, Spain, or Thailand, in the past 30 days are not allowed entrance via Erbil (EBL) and Sulaymaniyah (ISU).

Passengers who have visited Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland or the United Kingdom in the last 30 days will be quarantined when arriving at Erbil (EBL) and Sulaymaniyah (ISU).

Iraqi nationals who visited Bahrain, China, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Kuwait, Macao, Singapore, or Thailand on or after 1 January 2020 will be quarantined at Erbil (EBL) and Sulaymaniyah (ISU).

Israel 

Only Israeli nationals and residents or those passengers that have Israeli government approval will be allowed to enter.

Lebanon

Passengers are not allowed to enter until March 29.

Jordan

All flights arriving or departing are suspended with the exemption of cargo flights and flights declaring emergencies until April 13.

Kuwait 

No visitors are allowed to enter unless they are nationals or residents of Kuwait and their immediate relatives or domestic workers.

Oman

No visitors are allowed to enter.

Operators must obtain diplomatic clearance for tech stops.

Ambulance flight after the airport closure on March 29 will still be allowed upon request and subject to approval.

Qatar 

No visitors are allowed to enter.

Saudi Arabia 

No visitors are allowed to enter.

United Arab Emirates

All visas (including visas on arrival) are suspended.

Those with diplomatic passports or UAE resident visas can enter.

Iranian nationals are not allowed to transit or enter the UAE. This doesn’t apply to passengers with a valid UAE resident visa and diplomatic passport holders. A prior ‘OK TO BOARD’ must be obtained from NAIC-UAE.

Anyone arriving from Italy (Fiumicino (FCO) or Ciampino (CIA)) and will be subject to a COVID-19 screening process.

Passengers arriving from China (Beijing (PEK)) will be subject to a COVID-19 screening process.

Passengers arriving from Lebanon and Syria will be subject to COVID-19 screening.

Bahraini, Kuwaiti, Omani, Qatari and Saudi nationals can no longer allowed enter with a national ID card but must have a passport.

UAE nationals are prohibited from traveling to Iran or Thailand.

Visa exempt or passengers who are eligible for visa on arrival and arriving from China, Iran, Italy or South Korea are required to be in quarantine for 4 days and will be re-examined after 4 days.

UAE residents arriving from Europe will be required to undergo a PCR test and self-quarantine for 14 days.

While the Information is considered to be true and correct at the date of publication, changes in circumstances after the time of publication may impact on the accuracy of the Information. The Information may change without notice and UAS is not in any way liable for the accuracy of any information printed and stored or in any way interpreted and used by a user.

For support with your flight operations, contact UAS 

Next, we’ll look at travel restrictions for Africa and Russia/CIS.