COVID-19 FAQs for British Nationals in Bangladesh

In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic the UK government advised on 17 March against non-essential travel overseas.

Please note, we are working with the Bangladesh authorities and airlines to support British nationals who want to leave Bangladesh and return to the UK. If you are unable to leave at this time, you should follow the advice of the local authorities, keep in contact with friends and family, and continue to follow our travel advice.

If you are a British national in Bangladesh, you should be prepared to stay in the country until commercial flights resume. You will need to be ready to comply with local isolation, testing or quarantine requirements, and to rely on the local health system. Given that many restrictions remain in place, and continue to be introduced, moving within Bangladesh may become more difficult than normal for British nationals. Unless you have an urgent reason to travel within Bangladesh, you may have to stay where you are whilst the flight ban and lockdowns remain in place.

Please sign up for alerts on our travel advice page and follow our social media channels Facebook, Twitter for the latest information.

Urgent Consular Assistance

If you require urgent consular assistance and your question is not covered in the FAQs below, please contact our consular helpline on:

+88 02 55668700

Alternatively contact us via web messenger:

www.gov.uk/contact-consulate-dhaka

FAQs

Why did the British Government not inform us that flights were being cancelled?

Decisions taken by airlines to suspend and/or alter their operations were commercially driven and/or in response to restrictions imposed by the Bangladesh Government. These decisions were often taken with little or no notice. We have been updating our travel advice regularly throughout this period with information likely to affect British travellers. As a result of the global travel restrictions being introduced at short notice the UK Foreign Secretary took an unprecedented decision on 17 March to advise all British travellers against all non-essential travel. Since then we have been encouraging British travellers to return to the UK while commercial options were available. We are continuously updating our travel advice page with the latest information.

Why has Biman decided to cancel its flights?

This is a decision taken by the Bangladesh government to suspend flights to the UK for 7 days from 31 March. We recognise that this will disrupt the plans of British citizens currently in Bangladesh who intended to return to the UK between 31 March – 7 April. We are in regular contact with Biman airlines and the Bangladesh Government to ensure flights can resume from 7 April and that existing customers can be rebooked on flights as soon as possible. We also recognise that capacity constraints may involve people remaining in Bangladesh for longer than they had anticipated.

We have seen other airlines suspend their flights only to cancel at a later date. What guarantees are there that Biman won’t do the same?

Decisions taken by Biman airlines or any other carrier are out of our control and we cannot therefore guarantee that flights will resume or operate when they are scheduled. However, resuming flights is a top priority for the British Government and the British High Commission is in regular contact with the Bangladesh authorities to ensure British travellers in Bangladesh are able to return to the UK as soon as possible. We will update our travel advice with the latest information as soon as it becomes available.

I had flights booked with another airline, such as Emirates, who are no longer operating flights. How can I change my booking to Biman?

You are advised to contact Biman Bangladesh Airlines for all flight bookings.