ISLAMABAD: Pakistan welcomes a decision by Saudi Arabia to allow direct travel to the kingdom, banned since February this year to stem the spread of the coronavirus, the South Asian country’s embassy in Riyadh said.
Saudi Arabia on Tuesday lifted a direct entry ban on expats from 20 countries, including Pakistan, with its Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ agency for consular affairs saying the decision only applied to expats who had been fully vaccinated in Saudi Arabia before they departed for their home country.
“The Embassy of Pakistan in Riyadh welcomes the decision of the Govt of the KSA to allow direct travel from Pakistan to KSA, for those having valid Saudi residency permits, and who have received 2 doses of Covid-19 vaccine inside KSA, before their departure from the Kingdom,” the embassy said in a tweet.
The Embassy of Pakistan in Riyadh welcomes the decision of the Govt of the KSA to allow direct travel from Pakistan to KSA, for those having valid Saudi residency permits, and who have received 2 doses of Covid-19 vaccine inside KSA, before their departure from the Kingdom.
— Pakistan Embassy Saudi Arabia (@PakinSaudiArab) August 24, 2021
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.
The ban 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.
Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis visit Saudi Arabia annually, mostly for pilgrimage. The kingdom is also home to over 2.5 Pakistani overseas Pakistanis who make the largest contribution to the country’s incoming remittances each year.
