Qatar to reopen family and visit visas with new traffic light system

The latest travel policies come a year after Qatar imposed strict entry measures to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

Family and visitor visas will be reinstated from 12 July, Qatar’s Ministry of Interior [MOI] announced on Thursday.

The latest move is part of an updated travel policy by Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health [MOPH] which outlines details for quarantine regulations for travellers based on countries they are coming from, all of which fall under three categories: green, yellow and red.

Per the latest policies, fully vaccinated citizens and residents [QID holder] are exempted from quarantining, only if 14 days have passed since the completion of their required Covid-19 doses. These must be one of the vaccines approved by Qatar’s MOPH.

The same exemption applies to citizens and residents who have recovered from a previous Covid-19 infection in Qatar over the past 12 months, only if they were asymptomatic and their PCR result is negative.

Children aged 0-17 will follow the same policies as their parents, while unvaccinated minors aged 0-17 are subject to home quarantine for seven days, according to an updated amendment from the MOPH on Friday.

Both vaccinated and non-vaccinated travellers are required to present a negative PCR test that is valid within 72 hours prior to their arrival from approved health centres from the countries they are coming from.

As for visitors who do not hold the QID, entry without quarantining is restricted to those who have recovered or are fully vaccinated with vaccines approved by Qatar’s MOPH.

This also applies to GCC citizens, though the validity of the quarantine exemption for those who are vaccinated is 12 months starting from the 14th day since the completion of their vaccination.

All non-QID holders will also be subject to a PCR test on arrival and exempted from quarantine if antibodies are found. If the exemption requirements are non applicable, they must quarantine based on the classification of the country of departure.

Travellers must also provide an official vaccination certificate with a valid QR Code that includes their name, vaccination dates depending on the doses, type of vaccine, vaccine lot number and official logo and stamp of the vaccination authority.

Recovered individuals must also provide a certificate of recovery with a valid QR code.

Children (aged 0-11) of non-QID holders will also follow the same entry rules as their parents. If the latter is vaccinated, the children will also be considered vaccinated.

Traffic system

Green list

Unvaccinated citizens and residents coming from countries under the green list – including pregnant women, lactating mothers, people aged 75 and above – will have to home quarantine for five days.

The countries of the green classification include: Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, China, Czechia, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, and South Korea.

Yellow list

Unvaccinated citizens and residents coming from countries under the yellow list – including pregnant women, lactating mothers, people aged 75 and above – must quarantine at a hotel for seven days.

Among the countries on MOPH’s yellow list are Algeria, Armenia, Bahrain, Egypt, Greece, Jordan, Grenada, Kuwait, Latvia, Mexico.

Red list

Unvaccinated citizens and residents coming from countries under the red list – including pregnant women, lactating mothers, people aged 75 and above – must also quarantine at a hotel for an extended period of 10 days.

Among the countries on MOPH’s red list are Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Benin, Maldives, Yemen, the UK.

All passengers entering Qatar must pre-register on the “Ehteraz” website and attach all the required documents before arriving at a period no less than 12 hours.

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