Travel update to China, Korea & India

Country

Entry Requirements

Flights

Notes

China

China banned visa holder entry on March 27^th however, since June 3^rd , there was more clarity on a special arrangement for “Fast Track” visa entry.

Any non-Chinese, including current Chinese visa holders, will need to reapply for a new visa to enter China.

Fast track visa entry link.

There are currently no direct flights from the UK to China.

BA suspended its daily flights to and from China back in Jan 31 ’20. It has converted passenger planes to cargo planes to transport PPE.

There are no indications when direct flights will resume.

China is NOT on the EU / UK travel list to exempt 14-day quarantine. Arrivals from China will still require the quarantine. 

Flight resumptions can be predicted if the country shows low infection and / or well-controlled and monitored spread. This is the case for the resumption between China – Korea flights news link.

South Korea

No Visa required for short-stay from UK.

There are now limited exemptions from the self-quarantine system for important –primarily COVID-19 related – business, humanitarian or academic purposes. You must receive approval before you travel from the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the UK. Those with an exemption will still be tested for COVID-19 on arrival, and will need to participate with an active monitoring system via regular calls with a health expert and a specialised mobile App.

Only direct flights from the UK at the moment are with Korean Air flying once a day.

Other carriers are going but require stop offs: AirFrance from Paris, KLM from Amsterdam and Etihad from Dubai.

All arrivals – regardless of nationality and length of stay – are required to undergo testing and subsequent quarantine for 14 days. Testing requirements for arrivals from the US and Europe have been harmonised and travellers from these regions will be tested on entry before transferring to the government’s quarantine facility. 

Individuals are required to pay a daily charge of around 100,000KRW (approximately £66) while in government quarantine facilities. There is currently no charge for hospital/community centre treatment for those testing positive. It is worth noting that individuals testing positive on arrival may spend over a month in hospital/community treatment centres before successfully testing negative and being discharged.

South Korea is now part of the FCO exemption list, so travel from South Korea to the UK will not require quarantine when entering the UK.

India

India banned visa holders from March 13th 2020, there has been no relaxation since then.

Foreign nationals holding a valid long term multiple entry visa of appropriate category issued by the Indian missions and posts abroad will have to get the visa re-validated from the relevant Indian Mission

No International commercial flights are operating to/from India currently –DGCA has extended flight ban till Jul 31 2020.

Domestic airlines have resumed , air traffic is less than 25% of the daily normal.

India has indicated that it is in discussions with several countries including US, Canada, United Kingdom and Europe to resume commercial flights.

India along with US, Brazil and several other countries is also not in the “safe list of countries” agreed by European Union. The UK’s safe list ( of 59 countries) also does not include India which means passengers coming from India would have to undergo a 14 day quarantine in the UK.

Indian nationals can return however they have to compulsorily undergo a 14 day period of quarantine.

Special flights (repatriation) have been operated by  UK and number of other European countries, Australia and US to bring back their nationals stuck in India. Similarly Air India is also operating repatriation flights to bring Indian passport holders and OCI (Overseas citizen of India) card holders back.