Qatar Relaxes Entry Requirements For Travelers

March 1, 2022 Tokyo

Qatar Relaxes Entry Requirements For Travelers, relaxing and simplifying its border controls. Qatar has changed its entry requirements, effective today, February 28th. They chose a basic “Standard List and Red List” instead than having separate guidelines for each arriving foreigner based on their origin. Vaccinated and unvaccinated tourists are still separated on these listings.

The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and most other nations across the world are not on the red list and are subject to standard entry requirements.

These include:

For Vaccinated Travelers:

Pre-travel PCR lab result with validity of 48 hours from departure time at the country of origin.
Proof of vaccination, valid for 9 months after the latest dose of one of the approved vaccines. The Approved vaccines are Pfizer, Moderna, Atra-Zeneca, Johnson & Johnson.
Or Proof of vaccination, valid for 6 months with any of the “Conditionally Approved Vaccines”. These include: Sinopharm, Sinovac, Sputnik V, Covaxin.

For Unvaccinated Travelers:

Pre-travel PCR lab result with validity of 48 hours from departure time at the country origin

5-day Hotel, or Home quarantine for those with first-degree relatives (on condition that proof of relationship and residence is provided)

Rapid Antigen test on fifth day

Additionally, all travelers need to download and activate the Ehteraz app on their mobile devices upon arrival at Qatar’s entry ports. To do so, the traveler must have the following:

SIM card from one of Qatar’s service providers (Ooredoo or Vodafone) or an international SIM card.
Mobile internet connection.
The smartphone should support Android 6, newer versions or IOS 13.5 and later versions.
Download and install the app on the mobile phone either via Google Play, Apple App Store or from any online search engines.

Male Traveler Checking Phone For Directions

SIM cards and smartphones are available for purchase at Hamad International Airport and Abu Samra border crossing if the passenger does not own them before arrival.

It’s undoubtedly a slow start toward easing the country’s entry requirements, but it’s a start nonetheless. Qatar will want to keep relaxing these limits in the future because it is expecting a major tourism boom this year.

World Cup 2022

This year, Qatar will host the FIFA World Cup 2022, one of the world’s most prestigious sporting events. The Cup, which will begin in November 2022, will give Qatar the opportunity to display its potential as a global tourism destination. I can’t fathom the government enforcing such tight travel restrictions at this time. Over 3 million people attended the last World Cup, which was held in Russia! The tourism industry benefited greatly as a result of the large number of attendees.