As the Covid-19 cases across India continue to decline, a lot of countries have started easing the travel restrictions for Indians to revive tourism and business activities.
Last month few countries like the United Kingdom, UAE, and Canada also reopened their borders for Indians but with few restrictions.
Now recently, three major destinations for Indians namely, the United States (US), Singapore, and Australia have announced a reopening of international borders and also issued new Covid-19 guidelines for Indian travelers.
Here are the latest travel guidelines and rules which Indians should know if they are traveling to the US, Singapore, or Australia:
1. United States (US) Travel Guidelines
Starting from 08th Nov 2021 the United States is now planning to reopen its borders for fully vaccinated travelers from 33 countries including India.
Fully vaccinated travelers from India, Britain, Ireland, China, South Africa, Iran, and Brazil along with 26 countries in Europe, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and Greece would be allowed to travel to the US.
This means the will be open for non-essential travel for everyone even for those who are traveling from the banned countries, as long as they are fully vaccinated and produce the proof of vaccination on their arrival at the US and would also need to submit a negative Covid-19 test.
List of Vaccines Authorized For Travel to US
- Moderna mRNA-1273
- Pfizer/BioNTech BNT162b2
- Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) Ad26.COV2.S
- Oxford/AstraZeneca AZD1222
- Serum Institute of India Covishield (Oxford/AstraZeneca formulation)
- Sinopharm (Beijing) BBIBP-CorV (Vero Cells)
- Sinovac CoronaVac
It must be noted that passengers from India will have to show the result of a Covid-19 test taken no more than 3 days before the flight’s departure.
Moreover, passengers will be considered fully vaccinated 2 weeks after the second dose of an accepted 2-dose series COVID-19 vaccine.
2. Singapore Travel Guidelines
Recently, Singapore has also removed the travel restriction on passengers from India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka starting from 26th October 2021.
However, passengers who wish to travel to Singapore from the above-mentioned countries will have to serve a 10-day, stay-home notice period at a dedicated facility on their arrival in Singapore.
- Long-Term Pass holders or holders of In-Principle Approval (IPA) letters, with an Approval Letter of Entry (ALE) issued by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA), the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), or the Ministry of Education (MOE), or the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), or a Safe Travel Pass (STP) issued by the Safe Travel Office (STO); and
- Short-term visitors with an ALE issued by ICA or a STP issued by STO.
All passengers traveling from India must:
Present a valid Negative COVID-19 PCR Test report taken within 48 hours of departure. The PCR test memo must be in English from a laboratory that is internationally accredited or recognized by the Indian authorities.
The test memo must have the name, date of birth, nationality, and passport number of the passenger as indicated in his/ her passport, the date that the test was taken (sample/swab collection must be within the approved window of 48 hrs.) and the test result.
Register and make payment at https://safetravel.changiairport.com before departing for Singapore, to expedite the COVID-19 PCR test at the airport.
Must Read: Detailed Guidelines For Travelers From India
3. Australia Travel Guidelines
As Australia approaches the 80 percent vaccination rate, the government is preparing to remove the current international travel restrictions related to COVID-19 and plan to safely reopen the international border starting November.
When Can Indians Travel To Australia?
Australia has not yet announced the fixed date for opening the borders for Indians but Last week the flag carrier of Australia Qantas has announced that it will start operating direct flights between Delhi, India, and Sydney, Australia before Christmas.
Qantas said the Sydney-Delhi flight is its first commercial service between Australia and India in almost a decade.
The Sydney-Delhi flight will operate three times a week with its Airbus A330 aircraft.
Is Covishield Approved By Australia?
The TGA has announced that two additional vaccines Coronavac (Sinovac) and Covishield (AstraZeneca/Serum Institute of India) should be considered as ‘recognized vaccines’ for the purpose of determining incoming international travelers as being appropriately vaccinated.
The recognition of these vaccines is a major milestone towards more Australians vaccinated overseas getting home sooner.
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