UAE and Qatar suspends the issuance of visas

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UAE and Qatar suspends the issuance of visas from 17 March 2020.

The United Arab Emirates and Qatar have announced restrictions on visas, as part of measures to contain the new coronavirus outbreak. The UAE will suspend visa issuance starting March 17, foreign diplomats would be exempted. Qatar will on Sunday stop issuing visas on arrival to several European nationalities. The decision does not apply to persons who have already been issued visas before the effective date.

The USA adds the United Kingdom and Ireland to the European travel ban.

The USA made the decision to ban travel from the European Schengen States from midnight on 13 March, for a period of 30 days. Initially, restrictions applied only to the 26 countries within the bloc’s Schengen free-travel zone and did not appear tied to the severity of outbreaks in individual countries. On Saturday, the USA made the decision to include the United Kingdom and Ireland as part of the European travel ban.

The 26 Schengen countries are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. In addition, the United Kingdom and Ireland have been included as part of the European travel ban. This ban has been implemented with the aim of containing the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID19).  

Australia requires all travellers to self-isolate on arrival

From 12:00 am on 16 March, Australia requires that all travellers arriving self-isolate for a period of 14 days. This will also include Australian citizens. Any cruise ships that have sailed from a foreign port have been banned from entering Australia for a period of 30 days. 

We understand that these are challenging times and we are here to support you in any way possible. We are proactively contacting our customers to assist with changes to their immediate travel. Should you have any questions, please contact your dedicated Travel Expert. 

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