Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, many exceptional measures have been taken globally with regards to travel procedures between countries.
The State of Qatar has provided a flexible and practical solution to this procedure by allowing travel to Qatar and ensuring adherence to health procedures through Ehteraz – the pre-registration platform for those coming to the country.
Major Abdullah Al Jasmi, Head of the Administrative Affairs Section at the Airport Passports Department and a member of the Quarantine Unit, explained the key factors on the pre-registration portal, including its most prominent advantages, registration and data requirement.
He said that the portal allows pre-registration for travellers before arriving at Qatari ports, facilitating entry procedures at Abu Samra Port and Hamad International Airport (HIA).
Registration and activation
Registration is done electronically on the website. Once the personal number is registered, the person’s status appears – including vaccinations or cases of COVID-19 and recovery. Submission through the platform for citizens and residents is optional. After submission of application, the applicant will be able to follow up and know the status of his application. Applicants can also register through the Ehteraz app.
Major Al Jasmi added that the platform provides information to the traveller in an easy and convenient way, and the applicants including citizens and residents vaccinated within Qatar will immediately receive a message stating the approval without attaching any documents.
Citizens and residents benefit from the platform by getting first hand the latest developments in the travel policy system, like changes to the quarantine guidelines. They can also use the specified path at HIA and need not go through a series of traditional procedures and instead use the E-gate service.
The head of the family can register all his family members in one application. Certain paths have been defined for each class of travellers, which are determined according to the traveller’s category.
Visitors
For visitors, registration is mandatory. He/she has to upload the attachments, including a copy of their passport, a copy of their certificate of vaccination, copy of the hotel quarantine (for those who are not vaccinated or coming from countries classified as high risk).
Regarding the failure to get approval and the reasons for rejection, he said that in most cases, they are rejected because they are unable to upload the required documents or the copy of the documents they uploaded are not clear enough.
There is a full team from the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) working around the clock, communicating with people who apply for registration to inform them of reasons for non-approval, including the lack of clarity in the images of the documents and absence of QR code.
On hotel quarantine, he said that some travellers book a tourist hotel that was not on the list of approved quarantine hotels. In order to avoid this, the platform was also linked to Discover Qatar.
Citizens of GCC countries
Major Al Jasmi indicated that the hotel quarantine is a basic requirement for people coming from red list countries, including those within the GCC. If the visitor has a first-degree relative in Qatar, the home quarantine will be an alternative to the hotel quarantine, provided that the rest of the requirements are met.
To facilitate all travellers, some modifications have been made to the portal, including not requiring all travellers to upload a COVID-19 test certificate, as airlines wanted to ensure that the traveller holds this certificate.
The portal is also the best way to check if your vaccine is an approved vaccine in Qatar, for Qatari citizens who have received the vaccine outside the country, because once registration is done on the portal and attach proof of receiving approved vaccines, the data is entered into the MoPH system.
If their vaccine is not approved, the person is obliged to follow a series of procedures, visit a health centre and submit papers in order to have their vaccination approved. Holders of work visas who are vaccinated and did not register will need to book a hotel quarantine for seven days. If the individual registers on the portal and attaches the approved vaccination certificate, the platform will modify the hotel quarantine for two days, not seven days.
Major Abdullah Al Jasmi emphasised that the pre-registration platform is concerned only with approval and health procedures. The approval obtained by the traveller through the platform does not mean ‘legal approval’ to enter the State of Qatar. The traveller must meet the requirements of the law on entry and exit of expatriates and their residence.
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