Overseas Situation Report Tuesday 21 September 2021
by Mike Evans
“As we are beginning to restart our world after being hit by a horrific global health crisis, our actions hold the key to a fast recovery for the entire humankind…”
– Abhijit Naskar
There have been a lot of recent changes to travel restrictions around Europe and as some countries relax their rules others tighten them and it can be a bit of a mindfield to find out the right answer. In this Overseas Report we are looking at what travel restrictions are in place within the Schengen area of the EU. Schengen refers to the EU passport-free zone that covers most of the European countries. It’s the largest free travel area in the world. The Schengen zone includes the 26 countries that have signed the Schengen agreement, which allows citizens of member countries to travel within the zone freely, without passing through passport and border control.
There are another 19 other countries that are not part of the Schengen Zone, yet they allow foreign citizens of other non-Schengen countries to enter and stay in their territories, only by showing a valid multiple-entry Schengen Visa.
Several European countries reintroduced temporary internal border control and extended the restriction due to Coronavirus concerns, terrorism attacks, and secondary movement, the European Commission has announced.
Coronavirus restrictions include Norway, whose measure will remain effective until October 7, and France, which was introduced from May 1 until October 31. These measures imposed by Norway and France apply to all of their internal borders
Denmark announced the border control due to Coronavirus risk on May 12, and the measure remains valid until November 11. However, the border control towards all internal borders is expected to be abolished soon. Although the reintroduction of travel border control must be the last alternative to be applied, the Schengen Borders Code (SBS) allows the Member States to reintroduce the measure in order to minimize threats of public policy or internal security. Norway’s border control is valid until November 9 and was introduced due to terrorist threats and secondary movements on May 10. The measure is applied to ports with ferry connections to Denmark, Germany, and Sweden.
Furthermore, Austria imposed the measure on May 12, which is directed to secondary movements, risk related to terrorists and organized crime, the situation at the external borders, and the land borders with Hungary and Slovenia. The measure will remain effective until November 11.
Germany has also extended the internal border restriction until November 11 due to secondary movements and the situation at the external borders. The restriction initially introduced on May 12 will apply to the land border with Austria. France’s restriction regarding internal borders will be extended until October 31 and is raised due to constant terrorist threats and secondary movements. Non-vaccinated and unrecovered travellers reaching Switzerland are required to present a negative test performed before arrival and another one, carried out four to seven days upon arriving in the country, starting from Monday, September 20, the country’s authorities have announced. The decision has been determined in a bid to halt the further spread of COVID-19 as the autumn season vacations are approaching.
Furthermore, regardless of the vaccination status, all travellers reaching Switzerland must complete SwissPLF, a Passenger Locator Form. The form allows the authorities to locate travellers residing in respective cantons and determine whether they have been tested on the fourth to seventh day upon arrival, as the law orders.
However, travellers administered one of the vaccines approved by the Swiss medical authorities, those who tested positive for the virus in the last 30 days, as well as the EU Digital COVID-19 Certificate holders are permitted to enter the country free of entry quarantine or testing requirements.
Travellers transiting through Switzerland, drivers transporting people or goods, cross-border commuters and people entering border areas are also exempted from testing requirements. Children under 16 are also excluded from the test requirement. On the other hand, since August 4, the Swiss authorities have imposed more stringent restrictions on travellers from India, Nepal and the United Kingdom due to the concerns of the virus variants in these areas. Moreover, all travellers reaching Switzerland from the EU/Schengen Area countries, and other third countries found in the EU’s list of epidemiologically safe countries, are permitted to enter the country. However, they need to present a valid vaccination or recovery certificate or be willing to undergo the double testing requirements.
Authorities in Slovakia have announced that starting from September 20, the border regime will be relaxed, and only police members will carry out checks, the country’s Ministry of the Interior has announced. Anyway, travellers who have been fully vaccinated and can prove their vaccination status by showing valid evidence are permitted to enter Slovakia without being subject to entry restrictions.
Still, authorities in Slovakia previously announced that all persons who have not entirely finished their immunization process would have to undergo a five-day mandatory quarantine rule upon their arrival.
Due to the current Coronavirus situation, authorities in Slovakia have placed other countries into different categories, taking into account their epidemiological situation, imposing additional requirements for travellers who plan to enter the Central European territory from countries that have recently been profoundly affected by the virus.
In this regard, Slovakia’s Ministry of the Interior has clarified that the riskiness of individual districts regarding the COVID-19 situation will be estimated in a new way.
“Less weight should be given to those infected among children under 18 years of age. This follows from the third update of the Covid Vending Machine, which was approved by the government on Thursday, September 16, 2021,” the statement reads.
The Ministry of Health has stressed that the new calculation methodology should be more focused on other factors that lead to the increase in the number of COVID-19 infections.
Two of the countries whose residents have faced some of the harshest travel restrictions since the beginning of 2021 – Brazil and South Africa – have finally been removed from Germany’s list of high-risk areas. In an announcement of the Robert Koch Institute, which is the German federal government agency and research institute, responsible for disease control and prevention located in Berlin and Wernigerode, the same has noted that Brazil and South Africa have been removed from the high-risk list, alongside Bangladesh, Botswana, Eswatini, India, Ireland’ the West Region, Lesotho, Malawi, Nepal, Portugal’s Algarve region, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Cyprus.
The decision means that travellers from these countries reaching Germany are no longer subject to strict entry requirements, in particular those who haven’t been vaccinated against COVID-19 with one of the vaccines accepted as proof of immunity, as well as those who haven’t recovered from the virus in the last 180 days. Vaccinated and recovered travellers from these countries no longer need to have a purpose of entry, as they can travel to Germany even for tourism purposes now.
Finally and further afield, The United States administration has finally taken concrete steps towards the removal of the entry ban on travellers who visited the United Kingdom, Ireland, the 26 Schengen Area countries, China, India, South Africa, Iran and Brazil, after the same have been banned from entering the country for over a year now.
The decision was announced by the White House on Monday, September 20, noting that air travellers from the countries listed above, including the EU countries and the UK, will be permitted to enter the US in November if they are vaccinated. The same travellers will also be exempt from the requirement of quarantine.
Children who aren’t eligible to get the vaccine yet will be exempt from the requirement to be vaccinated.
The decision does not cover land travel from Canada and Mexico.While the Coordinator did not specify the exact date when the ban would be removed, he noted that this would happen in early November. The US has been keeping their borders closed for travellers who have been in the Schengen Area countries, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Brazil, China, India, Iran and South Africa in the past 14 days, for almost a year and a half.
The ban has been criticized in particular in the past months, including by the European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas, who cancelled his trip to the US last month in protest against the entry ban imposed on Europeans, calling it “unfair”.
As the epidemic continues we shall endeavour to bring you the latest and accurate news on travelling overseas.
Until the next time stay safe.
Total Cases Worldwide – 229,847,462
Total Deaths Worldwide – 4,713,920
Total Recovered Worldwide – 205,526,020
Total Active Cases Worldwide – 18,607,522 (8.1 % of the total cases)
Total Closed Cases Worldwide – 211,239,940