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LATEST: What are the rules for travelling to Spain from all countries?

Here's the latest information regarding the rules and requirements for travelling to Spain from overseas in May 2021.

Published: 22 January 2021 14:29 CET
Updated: 22 May 2021 18:11 CEST
LATEST: What are the rules for travelling to Spain from all countries?
Photo: Jaime Reina/AFP

On Friday, May 21st, Spain announced that it would allow all vaccinated travellers to enter the country from June 7th. 

 “From June 7th, all vaccinated people and their families will be welcome in
our country, Spain, regardless of their country of origin,” Prime Minister Sánchez said at an international tourism fair in Madrid.

The Spanish government also announced that British travellers would be able to enter Spain from Monday May 24th. Sánchez said they will be allowed in “without restriction”.

The Spanish government website confirmed that British travellers will not need to present negative PCR test, but that they would still need to fill out a health control form. 

Japanese travellers will also be allowed to enter Spain again from May 24th. 

However, travellers from some countries with low infection rates are still able to enter the EU and Spain, including those from Australia, Israel, New Zealand, Rwanda, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, China (subject to reciprocity) and the regions of Hong Kong and Macao.

Restrictions on arrivals from Brazil and South Africa will continue however, until at least May 25th.

This travel ban was increased in early March to include to arrivals from another 10 countries: Colombia and Peru, where there is community transmission of the Brazilian strain; and Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe where there is transmission of the South African strain. 

According to the Spanish government’s website, as of March 8th, “coming from the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Republic of South Africa, Republic of Botswana, Union of Comoros, Republic of Ghana, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Mozambique, United Republic of Tanzania, Republic of Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe, Republic of Peru and Republic of Colombia, must remain in quarantine for 10 days after their arrival in Spain, or for the duration of their stay if it is shorter than that. This period may end earlier, if on the seventh day the person is tested for acute infection with negative results.”

On April 28th, Spain announced that travellers arriving from India will have to now undergo a 10-day quarantine as well to prevent the potential spread of the Asian country’s coronavirus variant within the Spanish territory.

The border between Spain and Portugal was finally opened again on May 1st 2021 after remaining closed for three months.

Portuguese authorities announced in late April that police checks at the border with Spain would be lifted from Saturday May 1st, allowing for travel without justified reasons between both countries for the first time since late January. 

However, there has been plenty of confusion over whether this meant people in Spain could travel to Portugal for a ‘non-essential’ holiday and vice versa, because Portuguese border authorities also said in early May that just because there weren’t border checks by police anymore, it didn’t mean Spaniards could come on holiday to Portugal.

READ ALSO: Reader question: Is it possible to travel to Portugal from Spain for a holiday?

Spain has adopted measures in line with EU recommendations which means there are effectively no restrictions on those travellers arriving in Spain from EU/ EEA countries providing that those who travel from a country classified as high-risk country present a negative PCR , TMA or LAMP test. 

We will keep this page as updated as possible but if you wish to double-check information here is the Spanish government’s website on international travel requirements. 

Travellers from outside of the EU

For other travellers coming from countries outside of the EU, Spain is following the guidelines set by the EU which has opened up its external borders only to places on its regularly revised ‘safe’ list. 

Countries with high Covid-19 rates such as the USA, India and Russia are not on the list as well as most central and South American countries. Residents of these and most other countries can only travel to the EU for essential, urgent reasons. 

However those who have been vaccinated are in luck.

Spain is  making an exception for those who have been vaccinated and will welcome all those who have been from June 7th 2021. 

But Spain will make an exception for those with student visas who can arrive within two weeks of their study commencing and who have valid health insurance and can present a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours prior to arrival.

If you travel to, or transit, Spain and are not admitted, you will be placed in immigration detention for up to several days, until a flight on the same airline becomes available to take you back to your point of origin.

Other conditions:

There is no mandatory quarantine in place for new arrivals in Spain but all passengers travelling by air or sea to Spain must fill out and sign an online Health Control Form 48 hours prior to travel, providing the Spanish Ministry of Health with:

  • Contact information
  • Details of any known history of exposure to COVID-19
  • Confirmation that you are able to provide evidence (electronically or hardcopy) that you have undertaken a PCR, TMA or LAMP test taken no more than 72 hours prior to arrival and have tested negative for COVID-19.

You can do this on the Spain Travel Health website or downloadable app.

On completion, you will be issued a personal and non-transferable QR code which you must show (electronically or hardcopy) at airport health controls on arrival, where you may be asked to undergo a temperature check and visual health assessment

Since the state of alarm ended on May 9th, travel within Spain itself has become a lot easier because the regions have reopened their borders. 

READ MORE: UPDATED: What are the post state of alarm restrictions in each region in Spain?

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

Published: 26 March 2024 09:55 CET
German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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