Which other countries ban their own citizens from leaving?

[Mattg]

As we all know, Australian citizens and permanent residents, including dual citizens, have been banned from leaving without an exemption - which many have struggled or failed to get - since 25 March 2020. (This no longer applies for travel to New Zealand, but does still for every other country.)

I was wondering, which other countries actually prevent their own citizens from leaving the country? I'm not aware of any other western democracies where this is currently the case. But I'm guessing there must be some others - North Korea comes to mind, for example.

Is there a complete list of countries somewhere? I've tried to find one online but so far haven't been successful.

 

[RooFlyer]

I don’t want to divert from the point of the thread, but I don’t think it’s that difficult to get an exemption. Business and weddings come readily to mind.

edit link not placed by me. Seems to be an auto insert

 

[mviy]

I don't know of other countries banning people from leaving.

Well it didn't seem easy to me, when I applied last year and told me that they'd ignore any future applications of mine made with pretty much the same reasons to travel. So hearing people can go overseas for such reasons when I was refused makes me feel there's a huge double standard going on.

 

[dajop]

The question should be “what other country bans residents from leaving ?” Citizens are not banned just residents!

Plenty of countries ban non-citizens and non residents from arriving, and make it difficult for citizens and residents to return - but it’s a good question.

 

[NSun]

The UAE did for a few months at the start of the pandemic but I think they lifted it some months ago.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

As we all know, Australian citizens and permanent residents, including dual citizens, have been banned from leaving without an exemption - which many have struggled or failed to get - since 25 March 2020. (This no longer applies for travel to New Zealand, but does still for every other country.)

I was wondering, which other countries actually prevent their own citizens from leaving the country? I'm not aware of any other western democracies where this is currently the case. But I'm guessing there must be some others - North Korea comes to mind, for example.

Is there a complete list of countries somewhere? I've tried to find one online but so far haven't been successful.

At various points, several it seems: COVID-19 Travel Bans: The Right to Seek Asylum When You Cannot Leave Your Homeland | Kaldor Centre

For some other countries, while there is no explicit ban on leaving, all flights have been suspended.

Outside of covid, China has a couple of methods to ban citizens... either en masse - for example banning all individual travel to Taiwan - or individually, through their social scoring policy. Score too low and you can't travel anywhere, let alone out of the country. Allegedly.

Then there's another tier... countries with passports so low on the world rankings that travel virtually anywhere would be difficult. Not a ban, but might have a similar effect.

 

[bcworld]

I don’t want to divert from the point of the thread, but I don’t think it’s that difficult to get an exemption. Business and weddings come readily to mind.

Edit: I didn’t put that link in. It seems to have done it itself from the particular phase I used.

It's actually not that easy...or it is certainly very random. I'm a member of a travel issues group on FB and people are regularly declined for things such as serious and life threatening illness of an immediate family member e.g. a parent. There was a time when saying you were going for 3 months was enough in itself, but that has not been the case for some time.

 

[JohnPhelan]

The UK banned all but "essential" international travel during their last lockdown - but who the arbiter of that was, or the process to be followed, I have no idea.

 

[roogirl]

It just meant you had to fill out a form and hand it to the airline - there was a check box on it that you ticked. In theory you could be fined but the police very explicitly came out and said they had no power to detain people at airports which made it entirely toothless as a policy. The U.K. has no outbound immigration so the only possible check point was airline check in. As it should be.

 

[Mattg]

The UAE did for a few months at the start of the pandemic but I think they lifted it some months ago.

Yes, I do recall that some countries (mostly in the Middle East) did ban citizens from leaving back in March 2020 as an emergency measure, but these measures were mostly lifted within 1-2 months.

At various points, several it seems: COVID-19 Travel Bans: The Right to Seek Asylum When You Cannot Leave Your Homeland | Kaldor Centre

For some other countries, while there is no explicit ban on leaving, all flights have been suspended.

Outside of covid, China has a couple of methods to ban citizens... either en masse - for example banning all individual travel to Taiwan - or individually, through their social scoring policy. Score too low and you can't travel anywhere, let alone out of the country. Allegedly.

Yeah, these kinds of implicit restrictions on leaving can make it hard to draw comparisons.

Then there's another tier... countries with passports so low on the world rankings that travel virtually anywhere would be difficult. Not a ban, but might have a similar effect.

That is also true. I am aware that citizens of some countries may find it difficult to be accepted into other countries and/or need to go through costly/lengthy visa application processes to be allowed into many places. This was a problem long before covid. But at least they aren't generally prevented from leaving by their own government.

 

[Seat0B]

Illegal emigration - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

...so maybe not the most authoritative source, but it mentions the countries listed. Note, this is not COVID bans, just general bans or restrictions.

illegal emigration:
Iran
Myanmar
Tunisia (?)

Countries with restrictive exit visas that may affect citizens, those on working visas etc:
Lebanon
Saudi Arabia
United Arab Emirates
Jordan
Iraq
Kuwait
Oman
Qatar
Nepal
Uzbekistan
Russia
Czech Republic

Historically:
Soviet Bloc and Eastern Europe
Cuba
Portugal

Child Support bans (exit banned if owing child support):
USA
Australia
NZ
Costa Rica

I notice that North Korea is not mentioned.

 

[Mattg]

@Seat0B I'm not sure how accurate that list is, as it doesn't mention countries like North Korea or Turkmenistan, but lists Czech Republic which is part of Schengen so I would imagine would be easy enough to leave if you really wanted to. But it's a starting point.

 

[Seat0B]

@Seat0B I'm not sure how accurate that list is, as it doesn't mention countries like North Korea or Turkmenistan, but lists Czech Republic which is part of Schengen so I would imagine would be easy enough to leave if you really wanted to. But it's a starting point.

Yes totally agree @Mattg - it is Wikipedia after all! But yes it is a starting point. I hope others can add to/correct this info that I found.

 

[sinophile888]

I understand that Bhutan has closed their borders in both directions. This was from an Bhutanese acquaintance who is studying in Australia.

 

[dvb2000]

Oh look at that, countries with travel bans have the lowest rates of covid-19!

 

[glasszon]

Oh look at that, countries with travel bans have the lowest rates of covid-19!

Why people always leave out NZ?

On a serious note, we only have to look across the pond to see you can freely allow outward travel without impacting the covid free status, for some reason the Australian government insists that they have to hold people inside the country against their will.

 

[webregs]

Oh look at that, countries with travel bans have the lowest rates of covid-19!

As indeed do many without travel bans.

 

[dajop]

Oh look at that, countries with travel bans have the lowest rates of covid-19!

You are partially correct, countries with strong inbound restrictions seem to have done well at minimising the spread of Covid. Not all of these have outbound restrictions anywhere near as tight as Australia.

Some do this by having higher per capita quarantine capacity (NZ, IIRC has 2x Australia’s capacity - per capita and Singapore about 5x).

 

[davistev]

The whole point was to not overwhelm Australia's medical system and quarantine hotels. Yet, it seemed to be ok to allow in tennis players en mass and now some States are allowing international students entry into Australia.

I think it is now time to lift the blanket ban on residents leaving. The 14 day quarantine requirement is in itself enough of a disincentive.

 

[justin23]

I think many countries have also relied on the fact their citizens can't get into to many countries. I know Americans seem to be travelling around the few countries that let them in with a test. Australians can get into just about every country they used to be able to, so that adds a risk factor. There are minimal inbound restrictions for Australians everywhere.

Personally, I think they need to fix/expand quarantine, I can see it being used for a few years now, especially for unvaccinated people or for countries outside the bubbles.