Saudi Arabia being considered for UK’s green watchlist

Fully vaccinated travellers from the UK could soon be allowed to visit the kingdom without having to quarantine upon return

An additional 17 countries should be added to the UK’s green list at the government’s next traffic light review. Data analysed by travel consultancy PC Agency suggests 12 countries have low enough infection rates and high enough vaccination rates to go straight to green, while five are eligible for the ‘green watchlist’ featuring countries that are green but at risk of turning amber.

According to PC Agency, Austria, Bosnia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia should be fully green, while Bhutan, French Polynesia, North Macedonia, Norway and Saudi Arabia are strong candidates for the green watchlist. Green watchlist status would allow fully vaccinated travellers to visit these countries without having to quarantine upon returning to the UK.

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The data also indicates that Bahrain, India, Kenya and Pakistan should move from the red to the amber list at the upcoming review due to falling infections.

The British government reviews its traffic travel system every three weeks. The next review is expected on 5 August 2021 with any changes coming into effect on 9 August.