This week has been filled with updates on travel restrictions and green lane arrangements between countries. Here are the highlights for this week’s Travel News Wrap:
Image Credit: Photo by Alex Shutin on Unsplash
Canada has extended the emergency orders that place restrictions on international travel and a mandatory 14-day quarantine for travelers entering the country during the pandemic. The arrangement has been set to be extended for at least one more month until further notice by the Canadian Government.
The restrictions prohibit all non-essential travel to Canada from all countries except for the United States. There some exemptions however to immediate family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents if they enter the country by air. This is on a case-to-case basis.
This travel restriction is separate from the Canada-US land border restriction which will remain closed until 21 September, for non-essential travel.
Image Source: Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash
Good news for those living in the United States as with immediate effect, United Airlines is permanently eliminating change fees on all Economy and Premium cabin tickets for domestic flights in the United States of America.
Image Source: Photo by Paweł Szymankiewicz on Unsplash
Malaysia has extended its Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) to the end of the year, 31 December 2020. When it started earlier this year, it was set to be lifted on 31 August 2020 but with the current pandemic situation, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and the local government decided to extend the order to curb the spread of Covid-19.
This announcement came in tandem with the ban on foreign travelers into Malaysia to prevent imported cases into the country. The countries under the ban are countries with 150,000 or more recorded cases of Covid-19 cases. The countries are the US, Britain, Brazil, France, Spain, France, Spain, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Bangladesh.
Image Source: Photo by Ping Onganankun on Unsplash
Similar to last week’s news, Singapore has been busy with setting up bilateral travel arrangements with other countries. This time, South Korea (ROK) and Singapore are set to launch a fast lane arrangement for essential business and official travel. The fast lane will open today (4 September). This arrangement was set up in hopes to restore connectivity and economic recovery while taking necessary health safeguards.
Under this arrangement, travelers will have to abide by health measures in both countries. With Covid-19 testing pre-departure and post-arrival while also required to adhere to a controlled itinerary for 14 days in the receiving country.
To learn more about the measures, protocols, and requirements, please check with the respective government agencies.
To read more about similar travel arrangements, check out our past blog on reciprocal green lane travel here.
Image Source: Photo by Edho Pratama on Unsplash
Following the Green Lane travel news, Brunei has also joined the list of countries to set up a green lane travel arrangement with Singapore. Applications for Singapore-Brunei travel opened on 1 September. This announcement means that travelers from both countries will enjoy the same convenience in both countries as it was announced last week where travelers from Brunei are considered under the reciprocal green lanes in Singapore.
Similar to the measures in Singapore, travelers are required to produce approved Entry Travel Pass, negative Covid-19 results from a test taken within 72 hours before departure amongst other requirements.
To learn more about the measures and requirements, please check with the respective government agencies.
To read more about similar travel arrangements, check out our past blog on reciprocal green lane travel here.
