Saudi Arabia outlines rules for expats’ entry from banned countries

Cairo: Saudi aviation authorities have spelt out rules for allowing direct arrival of expatriates from countries with which flights have been suspended, including the mandatory full vaccination in the kingdom against COVID-19.

The Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation said in an update that expatriates from those countries are allowed direct arrival in the kingdom without going into quarantine or transit in countries other than their home countries, provided they have received the two doses of the vaccine in the kingdom.

That said, no entry will be allowed for expatriates of those countries who have received only one dose of the vaccine inside or outside the kingdom, or received the two doses outside the kingdom or got shots of a vaccine not approved in the kingdom, online newspaper Sabq reported.

The vaccines now recognised in Saudi Arabia are Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Sinopharm, and Sinovac.

Those fully inoculated with the Chinese-manufactured vaccines Sinopharm and Sinovac could be accepted in the kingdom provided the recipient has obtained a booster dose of one of the other vaccines approved in Saudi Arabia.

Earlier this week, the Saudi Interior Ministry announced allowing direct entry of fully vaccinated expatriates to the kingdom from countries with which flights had earlier been suspended.

The expatriate returnees must have taken two doses of vaccine against COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia before they left it.

The countries with which Saudi Arabia had earlier suspended flights due to COVID-19 concerns are India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Egypt, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, the UAE, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Lebanon.