Saudi Arabia released new guidelines for resident travelers who are vaccinated, allowing them to travel abroad and return if they do not enter or pass through certain countries.
Travellers and residents who have been inoculated must “ensure they have a valid visa before entering the kingdom and cannot be travelling indirectly or directly to places marked unsafe by the ministry,” a source from Jawazat (General Directorate of Passports) in Jeddah told the UAE-based publication, The National. Since the ban on travel last year, residents have been allowed to leave the country but not return, even though flights resumed from August 2020.
On May 17, the Ministry of Interior announced it will open land, sea, and air borders, allowing Saudi citizens to travel outside of the Kingdom.
The new rules published this week provide clarity on where Saudis and residents may go and return to the Kingdom without issues. The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) also issued Monday a guideline for travelers who are not Saudi citizens and those from exempted groups who are not immunized, and those coming from countries from which entry has not been suspended, including mechanisms and institutional quarantine procedures in both Arabic and English, the Saudi Gazette reports.
As Saudi residents begin to travel abroad, the Kingdom is also accepting returning residents and international arrivals traveling on essential purposes from approved countries into its borders.
According to the National, residents are choosing to travel to safer destinations such as Dubai and Bahrain, as opposed to countries on the list of suspended destinations, to avoid being banned from the kingdom.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s government is upping the pressure on residents and citizens who are skeptical of receiving the vaccine, according to a detailed report from the AFP.
The Kingdom is “barring them from pilgrimages and overseas travel, and blocking access to universities, malls and offices,” the report said, as it seeks to boost inoculations in order to return the economy to life. Riyadh is “accelerating a nationwide vaccination drive as it moves to revive tourism and host sports and entertainment extravaganzas, all pandemic-hit sectors that are a bedrock of the “Vision 2030″ program to diversify the oil-reliant economy,” the AFP reports.
Earlier this month, several outlets reported that Saudi authorities would also mandate that all public and private sector workers wishing to attend a workplace in Saudi Arabia will be required to have taken a COVID-19 vaccination.
