UAE residents and citizens who have been vaccinated in the UAE will soon be able to travel to the UK more easily, as the UK is to accept UAE vaccination certificates from the start of next month.
The new rules come into place on Monday October 4, the same date that England will be scrapping the amber list of countries.
The news was confirmed today (Wednesday September 22) by the UK’s Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps on Twitter.
“We will be accepting UAE vaccination certificates from 4th Oct following updates to their vaccination app,” he wrote. “As a major transport hub which is home to many British expats, this is great news for reopening international travel, boosting business & reuniting families.”
ð¨ | NEW âÂÂï¸ÂWe will be accepting UAE vaccination certificates from 4th Oct following updates to their vaccination app ð¦ðª. As a major transport hub which is home to many British expats, this is great news for reopening international travel, boosting business & reuniting families ð¡
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) September 22, 2021
Travellers who have been fully vaccinated for at least 14 days under an approved vaccination programme in the UK, Europe or US or a UK approved vaccination programme overseas won’t need a pre-departure PCR test to return to the UK. Those with two shots from different vaccine providers are also recognised as vaccinated.
Vaccines must be with a full course of Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna or Janssen from relevant public healthy bodies, which now includes the UAE. When the list was first announced on Friday (September 18), the UAE was absent from the line-up, which includes Australia, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Brunei, Canada, Dominica, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea or Taiwan.
Under the new rules, people who have had a full course under the approved programmes will not have to take a pre-departure test before leaving any country not on the red list – though PCR tests might be required for certain airlines. Airlines from the UAE have not confirmed whether they will still require one to board the plane. There will no longer be a need to take the day eight Covid test or home quarantine for ten days for fully vaccinated people on the approved programmes.
Later in October it is expected that the day two PCR test in the UK will be replaced with a rapid lateral flow test.
As part of the changes eight countries including the Maldives, Turkey, Oman and Pakistan will be removed from the UK’s red list from Wednesday (September 22). People travelling from a red list country will still need to quarantine for 11 nights in a quarantine hotel in the UK.
The UAE was put on the UK’s red list on January 29, but was moved to the amber list on August 8. Under current rules travellers from green and amber list countries – including the UAE – have to take a PCR test on the second day of arrival in the UK.
People who are unvaccinated will still need to take a pre-departure test, as well as PCR test on days two and eight after arrival, as well as self-isolating for ten days. Test to release will still be an option.
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