Uzbekistan travel restrictions/reopening Q&A

[bodesuri]

We are told from several car rental companys that crossing the border between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan (Dostyk/Dustlyk) with a rental car is not possible. I am unsure whether this is only an internal policy or whether tourists would really be denied to cross the border coming from Kyrgyzstan (wanting to enter Uzbekistan). Uzbek tourism confirmed 2 weeks ago that the border is open.
Could please somebody confirm that crossing the Dostyk/Dustlyk border from Kyrgyzstan with a rental car isn’t an issue.

[bwv812]

A quick search of the forums reveals it is normally possible.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2015&p=9748&hilit=r ... rder#p9748

[bodesuri]

A quick search of the forums reveals it is normally possible.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2015&p=9748&hilit=r ... rder#p9748

Thank you, but this is from 2017. Maybe my fault that I missed to mention that I am referring now to the partially closed borders and Covid measures. I read on the main article on the silk road travel/coronavirus that the Dostyk/Duslyk border is open but it doesn’t say explicitly, whether rental cars are allowed into Uzbekistan when coming from Kyrgyzstan. Has anybody recently had issues with that?

[bwv812]

Did the rental agencies you spoke with say that this is a new restriction, or are they just saying that they don't allow it? Have you spoken with agencies that have historically allowed cross-border travel with their vehicles? Certainly Iron Horse Nomads makes no suggestion that Uzbekistan is currently off limits for their rentals.

https://ironhorsenomads.com/uzbekistan/

I haven't seen anything suggesting that vehicles aren't allowed to cross borders, and I'm not sure why a rental car would be treated differently than any other car.

[bodesuri]

Did the rental agencies you spoke with say that this is a new restriction, or are they just saying that they don't allow it? Have you spoken with agencies that have historically allowed cross-border travel with their vehicles? Certainly Iron Horse Nomads makes no suggestion that Uzbekistan is currently off limits for their rentals.

https://ironhorsenomads.com/uzbekistan/

I haven't seen anything suggesting that vehicles aren't allowed to cross borders, and I'm not sure why a rental car would be treated differently than any other car.

Not all specified whether it is due to the current pandemic situation or whether this is normal. We were already in touch with some agencies last year (since our trip was actually planned for last year, but then postponed) and there it was possible to cross borders with those rental cars. What makes me so unsecure it that two agencies gave the same feedback, saying that rental cars wouldn't be allowed to cross. I don't understand the reason for distinguishing between normal cars and rental cars neither. Maybe they made the experience that people were not allowed to re-enter and then the car was stuck too at the border and therefore they don't want tourists to do cross-border tours. I would like to tell them that this is not true and give them a reliable source for this argument.

[sebhoff]

OK - there's a new announcement from the Uzbek MFA: https://mfa.uz/en/press/news/2021/infor ... ic---30087
They are again referring to red and yellow countries - a distinction that I thought had (at least in effect) been abolished?
There's also a Russian version, which is slightly different: https://mfa.uz/ru/press/news/2021/infor ... sa---30086
The most important difference seems to be the second-last paragraph:

В пунктах пропуска через государственную границу Республики Узбекистан, международных аэропортов и вокзалов, как правило, установлено, что туристы, въезжающие в Узбекистан из стран «желтых» и «красных» зон самостоятельно, без использования услуг туроператора или турагента, допускаются на территорию страны на общих условиях.

Deepl translates this as follows:

At checkpoints across the state border of the Republic of Uzbekistan, international airports and railway stations, as a rule, it is established that tourists who enter Uzbekistan from the "yellow" and "red" zones on their own, without the use of a tour operator or travel agent, are allowed into the country under general conditions.

So what does "under general conditions" ("на общих условиях") mean?
And now let's go to the Uzbek version... https://mfa.uz/uz/press/news/2021/koron ... ot---30088

O‘zbekiston Respublikasining Davlat chegaralari o‘tish punktlarida, xalqaro aeroport hamda vokzallardan O‘zbekistonga “sariq” va “qizil” davlatlardan turoperator yoki turagent xizmatlaridan foydalanmagan holda mustaqil tashrif buyurayotgan turistlar umumiy tartibda kirib kelishi belgilangan.

Google translates this as follows (Deepl doesn't do Uzbek...):

At the state border checkpoints of the Republic of Uzbekistan, from international airports and railway stations, tourists visiting Uzbekistan from "yellow" and "red" countries without the services of a tour operator or travel agent are allowed to enter independently.

So - huh??

Sebastian

[Iskandar]

I think the trips to Uzbekistan will be over. The list of red and yellow countries are very extensive.
https://www.garda.com/crisis24/news-ale ... -update-28

[sebhoff]

I think the trips to Uzbekistan will be over. The list of red and yellow countries are very extensive.
https://www.garda.com/crisis24/news-ale ... -update-28

Is this an updated list? It's kind of bizarre to see Malaysia and Georgia as green-list countries (7-day incidence rates of 351.4 and 451.3 per 100'000 people, respectively) and Germany (probably) as a yellow-list country (incidence rate 16.6).
Sebastian

[ccc]

May I ask, where to find a currant list of all countries have been designated as Red locations? Thanks in advance.

[Iskandar]

I think the trips to Uzbekistan will be over. The list of red and yellow countries are very extensive.
https://www.garda.com/crisis24/news-ale ... -update-28

Is this an updated list? It's kind of bizarre to see Malaysia and Georgia as green-list countries (7-day incidence rates of 351.4 and 451.3 per 100'000 people, respectively) and Germany (probably) as a yellow-list country (incidence rate 16.6).
Sebastian

Well, the link that I found is written 01 July 2021 and Update 28 July. I dont know is this info is true. On IATA site there is not anything of this restrictions yet-