Indians holding a valid UAE visa can now travel to the country. Pavan Kapoor, the Indian Ambassador to UAE, announced this in a recent Twitter post.

Indian citizens who have visitor or tourist visas were earlier prohibited from travelling to UAE. The COVID-19 pandemic forced flight operations to be shut off for five months between the two countries.

This is welcome news for many since the country has close economic bonds to UAE along with other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. These include Kwuait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman.

This news will provide some relief to the families who have been tweeting incessantly asking the Indian missions to allow their family members and children stranded in India to travel to UAE on visitor or tourist visas.

This initiative is a part of the Vande Bharat Mission by the Central government wherein India has established &lsquoair bubbles&rsquo with UAE which is valid till August 31. Booking of tickets for flights from UAE to 18 locations in India has started. The flights are available from August 16 to 31. Some of these 18 locations include Delhi to Dubai, Delhi to Abu Dhabi, Lucknow to Dubai, Abu Dhabi to Gaya, Dubai to Mumbai and Sharjah to Mangaluru.

Meanwhile Indigo has listed the detailed guidelines to be maintained by travellers for going to and from India and UAE on their website. They have also tweeted about the same.