fco travel advice kurdistan

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Iraq (Middle East)

Advice for all destinations, vaccinations and malaria risk.

Review both the Vaccination and Malaria sections on this page to find out if you may need vaccines and/or a malaria risk assessment before you travel to this country.

If you think you require vaccines and/or malaria risk assessment, you should make an appointment with a travel health professional:

• How to make an appointment with a travel health professional

A travel health risk assessment is also advisable for some people, even when vaccines or malaria tablets are not required.

• Do I need a travel health risk assessment?

Risk prevention advice 

Many of the health risks experienced by travellers cannot be prevented by vaccines and other measures need to be taken.

Always make sure you understand the wider risks at your destination and take precautions, including:

• food and water safety
• accident prevention
• avoiding insect bites
• preventing and treating animal bites
• respiratory hygiene
• hand hygiene

Our advice section gives detailed information on minimising specific health risks abroad:

• Travel Health Advice A-Z

Other health considerations

Make sure you have travel insurance before travel to cover healthcare abroad.

Find out if there are any restrictions you need to consider if you are travelling with medicines .

Know how to access healthcare at your destination: see the GOV.UK English speaking doctors and medical facilities: worldwide list

If you feel unwell on your return home from travelling abroad, always seek advice from a healthcare professional and let them know your travel history.

Vaccinations

• Confirm primary courses and boosters are up to date as recommended for life in Britain - including for example, seasonal flu vaccine and COVID-19 (if eligible), MMR , vaccines required for occupational risk of exposure, lifestyle risks and underlying medical conditions.
• Courses or boosters usually advised: Diphtheria; Tetanus.
• Other vaccines to consider: Hepatitis A; Hepatitis B; Rabies; Typhoid.
• Selectively advised vaccines - only for those individuals at highest risk: none.

No yellow fever vaccination certificate required for this country. 

Notes on the diseases mentioned above

• Diphtheria :  spread person to person through respiratory droplets. Risk is higher if mixing with locals in poor, overcrowded living conditions.

Risk is higher if travelling to countries where there hepatitis A is circulating in the local population, or to areas where personal hygiene and sanitation is poor.

Risk is higher for those visiting more frequently, staying longer, visiting friends and relatives, children through bites, cuts and scratches and those who may require medical treatment during travel.

• Tetanus :  spread through contamination of cuts, burns and wounds with tetanus spores. Spores are found in soil worldwide. A total of 5 doses of tetanus vaccine are recommended for life in the UK. Boosters are usually recommended in a country or situation where the correct treatment of an injury may not be readily available.
• Typhoid :  spread mainly through consumption of contaminated food and drink. Risk is higher where access to adequate sanitation and safe water is limited.
• Malaria not normally present unless the illness was contracted abroad.

Other Health Risks

Altitude and travel, schistosomiasis.

• 50 additional items in the news archive for this country

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NOTICE September 28, 2024

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Iraq Travel Advisory

Travel advisory april 24, 2024, iraq - level 4: do not travel.

Updated to reflect the termination of Ordered Departure of non-emergency U.S. government employees and eligible family members.

Do not travel to Iraq due to terrorism, kidnapping, armed conflict, civil unrest, and Mission Iraq’s limited capacity to provide support to U.S. citizens.

On April 1, 2024, the Department terminated the Ordered Departure status for U.S. Embassy Baghdad and U.S. Consulate General Erbil. However, the Travel Advisory level for Iraq remains at Level 4, advising that U.S. citizens not travel to Iraq.

Country Summary:  U.S. citizens in Iraq face high risks to their safety and security, including the potential for violence and kidnapping. Terrorist and insurgent groups regularly attack Iraqi security forces and civilians. Anti-U.S. militias threaten U.S. citizens and international companies throughout Iraq. Attacks using improvised explosive devices, indirect fire, and unmanned aerial vehicles occur in many areas of the country, including Baghdad and other major cities. In an emergency, consular services to U.S. citizens in Iraq are limited due to severe restrictions on the movements of U.S. government personnel.

Demonstrations, protests, and strikes occur frequently throughout the country. These events can develop quickly without prior notice, often interrupting traffic, transportation, and other services, and sometimes turning violent.

Do not travel near Iraq’s northern borders due to the continued threat of attacks by terrorist groups, armed conflict, aerial bombardment, and civil unrest. U.S. citizens should especially avoid areas near armed groups in northern Iraq, which have been targeted with aerial strikes by neighboring countries’ militaries.

U.S. citizens should not travel through Iraq to engage in armed conflict in Syria, where they would face extreme personal risks (kidnapping, injury, or death) and legal risks (arrest, fines, and expulsion). The Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq has stated that it will impose prison sentences of up to ten years on individuals who illegally cross the Iraq-Syria border. Additionally, fighting on behalf of or supporting designated terrorist organizations is a crime under U.S. law that can result in prison sentences and large fines in the United States.

Because of security concerns, U.S. government personnel in Baghdad are instructed not to use Baghdad International Airport. Due to risks to civil aviation operating in the Baghdad Flight Information Region, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has extended its Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) prohibiting certain flights at altitudes below 32,000 feet for an additional two years. For more information, U.S. citizens should consult the   Federal Aviation Administration’s Prohibitions, Restrictions, and Notices.

Read the country information page for additional information on travel to Iraq.

If you decide to travel to Iraq:

• Establish your own personal security plan in coordination with your employer or host organization or consider consulting with a professional security organization.
• Draft a will and designate appropriate insurance beneficiaries and/or power of attorney.
• Discuss a plan with loved ones regarding care/custody of children, pets, property, belongings, non-liquid assets (collections, artwork, etc.), funeral wishes, etc.
• Share important documents, login information, and points of contact with loved ones so that they can manage your affairs if you are unable to return as planned to the United States.
• Visit our website for Travel to High-Risk Areas .
• Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive alerts and make it easier to locate you in an emergency.
• Follow the Department of State on Facebook and Twitter .
• Review the Country Security Report for Iraq.
• Visit the CDC website for the latest Travel Health Information related to your travel.
• Prepare a contingency plan for emergency situations. Review the Traveler’s Checklist

Travel Advisory Levels

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Information

Coronavirus (covid-19), information for travellers.

Negative PCR test require for all of those people coming from the Republic of China within (72) hours before entering the Kurdistan Region, the decision will be implemented from January 15, 2023

Emergency Hotline Number

If you have symptoms of coronavirus call 122. the line operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week..

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The Foreign and Commonwealth Office Updates Travel Advice

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has updated its advice for British nationals, warning against all travel to Iraq and all but essential travel to Iran

It has also told travellers to 13 countries in the region, including the UAE, Turkey, Israel, to be extra vigilant.

The updated information came on Saturday following the US attack in Baghdad on Friday, which killed Iran’s ‘second most powerful man’ General Qasem Soleimani.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the updated advice was issued amid ‘heightened tensions in the region’ and would be kept under review: “The first job of any government is to keep British people safe.”

The Foreign Office advice says: “The FCO now advise against all travel to Iraq, except for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, where the FCO continue to advise against all but essential travel; updated information and advice on the security situation.

“The FCO now advise against all but essential travel to Iran. Advice against all travel for British-Iranian dual nationals remains unchanged.”

Dual British-Iranian nationals had already been advised not to travel to Iran because they face ‘significantly greater risks of arrest, questioning by security services or arbitrary detention’.

The FCO has also updated its advice to travellers to UAE, Turkey, Israel, Palestine, Qatar, Oman, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Syria and Afghanistan: “Following the death of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in a US strike in Baghdad on 3 January, British nationals in the region should remain vigilant and keep up to date with the latest developments, including via the media and this travel advice.”

28 September 2024

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British FCO Takes a Stance on Iraqi Kurdistan

Via Rudaw—The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) published an official reply to the report of the foreign affairs committee (FAC) on UK policy towards the Iraqi Kurdistan Region . Its answer to the FAC’s recommendation that Britain should accept Kurdish independence in certain conditions is terse – ‘The Government notes the Committee’s conclusion.’

A Supportive Stance

The British FCO argues that the Kurds have an important role to play in a stable, united, democratic and prosperous Iraq, and that the benefits of remaining in Iraq far outweigh independence. The FCO backs the Erbil-Baghdad agreement on oil exports and budget payments – its diplomats ‘worked behind the scenes in support of the agreement’ – and does ‘not think that the Kurdistan Regional Government  is currently arguing for a move towards full independence.’

The FCO emphasises the KRG’s ‘substantial’ military contribution to international efforts to counter the so-called Islamic State . When the assessment that the KRG was not likely to be a ISIS target was proved incorrect last year, the UK and others quickly reinforced Kurdish forces. The FAC report asked whether Britain could supply arms directly to the KRG or whether the federal government can insist that arms go via Baghdad. The FCO says that gifting or selling military equipment to the KRG must be certified by Baghdad but there are no restrictions on where it is inspected.

On the Humanitarian Crisis

As for the humanitarian crisis in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, the FCO agrees that the KRG has been ‘extremely generous with their hospitality’ but fears that a ‘long war’ risks a prolonged and economically debilitating humanitarian crisis, with hundreds of thousands unable to return to their homes, and the possibility of increased tensions between displaced people and the host community.

FCO on the PYD

On the FAC’s request to clarify British policy on the PYD in Syria , the FCO reiterated that Britian has ‘consistently made it clear that it will be very difficult to provide any support to the PYD while they maintain links to the Assad regime and refuse to co-operate fully with the moderate Syrian opposition. “We are also concerned that the PYD maintains some links with the PKK . The PYD also needs to demonstrate a greater commitment to pluralism, human rights and respect for other political forces within Kurdish controlled areas.”

The FCO took the stance that all Syrians should decide the exact nature of the political settlement in Syria as part of a transition process, including whether an autonomous Kurdish region is created in Syria. But the UK will engage with the PYD to encourage a more constructive approach.

“Fortunate to Partner with KRG”

The FCO also notes the FAC’s conclusion that the ‘The UK is fortunate to have in such a volatile part of the world a partner as relatively moderate, pragmatic, stable, democratic, secular and reflexively pro-Western as the KRG.’ The FCO notes that the first meeting of the new UK-KRG Bilateral Forum was delayed because ‘the KRG’s senior leadership had, understandably, been focused on tackling ISIL’ and they are now working to organise the forum for early 2015.

Remembering the Anfal Victims

The UK Government will also continue to look for ways to mark Anfal day and honour the victims of Saddam Hussein’s horrific genocide  but reiterates its position that recognising genocide or similar crimes is primarily a matter for judicial decision. The UK is also helping document evidence of ISIS and Assad regime atrocities.

The FCO position will clearly disappoint some but it praises the ‘strong and vibrant relationship’ with the KRG in many areas and as a strategic partner. And the FAC report provides a substantial menu of analysis and action to build Anglo-Kurdish links. It is up to Kurds and their British friends to run with these after the election.

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Warnings and insurance

Before you travel.

No travel can be guaranteed safe. Read all the advice in this guide. You may also find it helpful to: 

• see  general advice for women travellers
• read our guide on disability and travel abroad
• see  general advice for LGBT+ travellers
• read about  safety for solo and independent travel
• see advice on volunteering and adventure travel abroad

Travel insurance

If you choose to travel, research your destinations and get appropriate travel insurance . Insurance should cover your itinerary, planned activities and expenses in an emergency.

About FCDO travel advice

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office ( FCDO ) provides advice about risks of travel to help you make informed decisions. Find out more about FCDO travel advice .

Follow and contact FCDO travel on Twitter , Facebook and Instagram . You can also sign up to get email notifications when this advice is updated.

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