Saudi Arabia ends ban on entry from 20 countries

Decision only applies to expats who were fully vaccinated in KSA before they departed for their home country

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday lifted a direct entry ban on expats from 20 countries, a decision taken in February to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ agency for consular affairs said the decision only applied to expats who were fully vaccinated in Saudi Arabia before they departed for their home country.

The ban exempted Saudi citizens, foreign diplomats, health practitioners, and their families.

Expats wanting to return to the Kingdom should undergo all health measures to ensure they were free from infection, the agency added.

The direct entry ban was imposed due to a global surge in cases linked to variants detected in England, South Africa and Brazil and fears that vaccines being rolled out worldwide might be less effective against them.

It covered the UAE, Egypt, Lebanon,

Turkey, the US, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, Switzerland, Sweden, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Japan.

It also applied to travelers who had transited through any of the 20 countries in the 14 days before a planned visit to the Kingdom.

Many passengers had been using Dubai as a transit hub from countries where there were no direct flights to Saudi Arabia, an option that was no longer available after the ban came into effect. In addition to the February ban, Saudi health officials warned that stricter measures would be necessary to curb the spread of the virus if the public continued to flout regulations on social distancing and the ban on large gatherings.

Flights to and from the Kingdom were first suspended on March 14, 2020, two weeks after the World Health Organization declared that the coronavirus outbreak was a pandemic.

Entry to Saudi Arabia by air, land and sea resumed on Jan. 3.