All passengers travelling to Dubai from any point of origin (GCC countries included) must hold a negative Covid‑19 RT‑PCR test certificate for a test taken no more than 72 hours before departure.

What sort of test?

Note that other test certificates including antibody tests, NHS Covid test certificates, Rapid PCR tests and home testing kits are not accepted in Dubai.

The certificate must be a Reverse Transcription‑Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT‑PCR) test.

Travellers must bring an official printed or digital certificate in English or Arabic to check in – SMS certificates are not accepted. PCR certificates in other languages are acceptable if they can be validated at the originating station.

It seems you need a QR code to be generated for your test – it is not enough just to have a negative certificate.

When does 72 hours before start?

If you are flying a multi-leg journey, you need to ensure that the test is within 72 hours of your flight to Dubai, not when you start a journey which might then take you through other cities on the way to Dubai. Since it can take quite a few hours (or even more than 24 hours) to get your result, you have to balance choosing a reliable testing provider in your home country that can turn around the result quickly so that you get the result, but not taking the test too early so that it runs out before you fly on the final leg of your journey to Dubai.

Passengers travelling from India and other restricted countries

Passengers who have been in or transited through a restricted country  (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Liberia, Nepal, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka and Sudan) in the last 14 days will be allowed to travel to Dubai if they hold any type of visa and/or entry permission (granted by the appropriate authority in the UAE) and can meet the following entry requirements:

  • passengers holding a Dubai-issued UAE resident visa must have an approval granted by the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs (GDRFA) to return to the UAE, and passengers holding a UAE resident visa issued by any other emirate must have an approval (with a QR code) granted by the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship (ICA) to return to the UAE (this does not apply to passengers travelling from Afghanistan, Ethiopia or Sudan);
  • passengers must be able to present a printed copy of a negative COVID-19 PCR test result (displaying a QR code) in English or Arabic from a test taken in the country of departure by an approved health service no more than 48 hours prior to the departure of their inbound flight to Dubai (or no more than 72 hours prior to the departure of inbound flights from Indonesia);
  • passengers (with the exception of those travelling from Indonesia) must undergo a rapid PCR test (based on molecular diagnostic testing intended for the qualitative detection of nucleic acid for SARS-COV-2 viral RNA) at the departure airport within 6 hours of boarding the aircraft and the test report must display a QR code (passengers travelling from Ethiopia must report to check-in 7 hours prior to the departure of their flight and carry ETB 1,500 to pay for the rapid PCR test);
  • passengers must undergo a PCR test on arrival in Dubai.

Passengers departing from any of the countries listed above via one of these restricted countries must undergo a rapid PCR test at the transit point within 6 hours of the departure of the inbound flight to Dubai or at the originating point within 6 hours of departure if they don’t enter the transit point.

Passengers departing from a country not listed above via a restricted country must undergo a rapid PCR test at the transit point within 6 hours of the departure of the inbound flight to Dubai (unless they don’t enter the transit point).

Passengers who are unable to meet all of the entry requirements above must complete 14 days in a non-restricted country before travelling to Dubai.

Passengers travelling from African countries

From 23:59 (GMT+4) on 15 December 2021 until further notice passengers who have travelled from or transited through Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania (including Zanzibar), Uganda or Zambia in the last 14 days will only be allowed to travel to Dubai if they:

  • present a printed copy of a negative COVID-19 PCR test result (displaying a QR code) in English or Arabic from a test taken in the country of departure by an approved health service no more than 48 hours prior to the departure of their inbound flight to Dubai;
  • take a rapid PCR test (mandatory if the testing facility is available at the departure airport) within 6 hours of boarding the aircraft;
  • undergo a PCR test on arrival in Dubai and self-quarantine until a negative test result is received.

Passengers who want to transit via a third country to Dubai from:

Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania (including Zanzibar), Uganda or Zambia

must take the rapid PCR test at the last point of departure within 6 hours of boarding the aircraft. The test must be based on molecular diagnostic testing intended for the qualitative detection of nucleic acid for SARS-COV-2 viral RNA and the test report must display a QR code.

Until further notice passengers who have travelled from or transited through:

Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa or Zimbabwe in the last 14 days will not be allowed to enter or transit through Dubai.

This does not apply to:

  • employees of official missions between the UAE and the countries mentioned above;
  • UAE nationals;
  • members of diplomatic missions between the UAE and the countries mentioned above;
  • UAE Golden Visa holders.

These exempted passengers must meet the following requirements:

  • exempted passengers must be able to present a printed copy of a negative COVID-19 PCR test result (displaying a QR code) in English or Arabic from a test taken in the country of departure by an approved health service no more than 48 hours prior to the departure of their inbound flight to Dubai;
  • exempted passengers must undergo a rapid PCR test (mandatory if the testing facility is available at the departure airport) within 6 hours of boarding the aircraft;
  • exempted passengers must undergo a PCR test on arrival in Dubai and self-quarantine until a negative test result is received.

Outbound travel from Dubai to … Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe is permitted. However, UAE nationals are banned from travelling to these countries with the following exceptions:

  • UAE officials;
  • UAE nationals exempted and/or granted permission to travel by the appropriate authorities for emergency purposes;
  • UAE nationals belonging to educational/study missions who need to travel to these countries.

Test on arrival

In addition to needing the PCR test detailed above, visitors from a list of other countries then need to be PCR tested again on arrival at Dubai International airport:

Afghanistan, Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, Ghana, Guinea, India, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Liberia, Morocco, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania, Rwanda, Russia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, Somaliland, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

If the test result is positive, you will be required to undergo isolation and follow the Dubai Health Authority guidelines.

How long does the PCR test on arrival take?

The times are pretty quick, with reports of an average of 6 hours, but this means that connection times at Dubai have to be longer, and the Emirates booking system is currently not allowing quick connections for that reason.