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Things to keep in mind for US citizens travelling to Europe

Saturday, September 11, 2021

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Travellers who postponed their trip to Europe for the end of summer and beyond may have to wait a little bit longer, in particular, if they have not been vaccinated yet as some European countries have started to ban non-essential travel for arrivals from the United States after the latter reported a surge in the number of COVID-19 infections.

Besides being profoundly affected by the Delta variant, the new COVID-19 variant known as Mu has been detected in 49 US States up to this point.

Therefore authorities in some European countries have decided to implement additional preventive measures in order to stop another COVID-19 epidemic wave. All travellers from the United States welcomed the Council of the European Union decision of June 18 when the US was included in the list of countries considered safe based on the rate of COVId-19 infections.

From June 18, travellers from the US were permitted to enter the majority of EU countries, restriction-free, even for non-essential purposes such as tourism. However, on August 30, the Council removed the United States together with five other countries from the safe list, urging its Member States to impose stricter entry rules for Americans and ban non-essential travel. Soon after the Council made its recommendation public, European countries started to make their position clear regarding the EU advice.

While some of them followed the Council’s advice, some other states clarified that they would not take such a step as the recommendation is not legally binding. Here are some of the do’s and don’ts for US travellers planning to arrive at Europe:

Before travelling to Europe, American travellers must know whether European countries implemented the EU Council recommendation or not.

Italy became the first country in the European Union that decided to follow the EU advice and tighten the rules for Americans.

On September 1, Bulgaria included the United States in its red list that consists of countries highly affected by the virus. Thus, regardless of their vaccination status, US travellers are banned from entering Bulgaria unless for specific exceptional cases.

Encouraged by the EU advice, authorities in Denmark also prohibited the entry for arrivals from the US as of September 6. However, authorities in Denmark emphasized that US travellers wishing to enter Denmark for essential purposes would be allowed to do so.

In an effort to stop the further spread of the virus, the Swedish government announced stringent entry requirements for Americans. However, authorities in Sweden announced that travellers wishing to enter the Scandinavian country for essential purposes would not be affected by the recent changes.

Regardless of their vaccination status, travellers from the US are also banned from entering Norway. As for the Netherlands, since September 6, Americans are required to present a recent negative result of the Coronavirus test and follow a ten-day self-isolation requirement upon their arrival in the Netherlands.

SchengenVisaInfo.com yesterday reported that Spain banned the entry of non-vaccinated travellers from the US, unless for emergency purposes, upon the recommendation of the Council of the EU to make such a step. The decision was confirmed by the Spanish Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare.

Due to the Coronavirus situation in the United States, Belgium and Germany imposed stricter entry rules for US arrivals before the Council recommendation.

However, other European countries, such as Greece, Croatia, Iceland, Portugal and Ireland, refused to impose stricter entry rules for arrivals from the US, despite the latter being profoundly affected by the virus, especially from the Delta variant.

Vaccinated travellers from the US are permitted to enter most of the European countries provided they have been fully vaccinated, except Bulgaria and Norway that have banned the entry even for vaccinated Americans.

Most European countries accept as valid proof of immunity vaccines that are approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), such as:

•           Pfizer/BioNTech (Comirnaty)

•           AstraZeneca EU (Vaxzevria)

•           Moderna (Spikevax)

•           Johnson & Johnson (Janssen)

However, European countries are permitted to individually decide whether they want to accept other vaccines that are not approved by EMA or not.

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