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UPDATE: Italy to lift quarantine on vaccinated arrivals from UK

Fully-vaccinated travellers arriving in Italy from the UK with a negative Covid-19 test will no longer have to undertake a 5-day quarantine from Tuesday, the health minister said.

UPDATE: Italy to lift quarantine on vaccinated arrivals from UK
Photo by ANDREAS SOLARO / AFP

Roberto Speranza tweeted Saturday that he had signed a new ordinance ending the “mini-quarantine of five days” for vaccinated arrivals from the UK.

Rome had re-imposed the quarantine for those arriving from Britain from June 21st as the Delta variant spread rapidly through the United Kingdom.

But from Tuesday all arrivals from the UK, no matter what their nationality is, won’t have to quarantine as long as they as they can produce certifications confirming that they are fully vaccinated and have tested negative, in either digital or paper format.

Gibraltar, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, and British bases on the island of of Cyprus are all considered parts of the UK for the purposes of the new travel guidelines. 

There was some confusion about when the rule change would come into place with the Italian embassy in the UK initially tweeting that the relaxed rule of vaccinated travellers would start on September 1st, before making the correction to August 31st.

Arrivals from the UK will need to have taken either a molecular PCR test or a rapid antigenic test in the 48 hours before arriving in Italy, according to the ordinance.

Arrivals from all other “List D” countries can produce a test taken within the 72 hours prior to their arrival in the country. All arrivals must fill out a digital passenger locator form.

List D countries include the United States of America, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and Singapore; the full list is provided on the Italian Foreign Ministry’s Viaggiare Sicuri or ‘Travel Safe’ website.

The latest Viaggiare Sicuri update highlights that passengers arriving from Canada, Japan or the United States are still required to take a PCR or antigen test in the 72 hours before arriving in Italy, even if they have a Covid green pass or equivalent certification.

The new decree will remain in force until October 25, 2021.

Some coronavirus restrictions were reinstated for the region of Sicily again from Monday as the spread of the Delta variant caused concern — the first time such measures have been re-imposed on a regional level since the start of summer.

Member comments

  1. How do you think this works if you arrive on the 30 of august ? You would have to just do one day of quarantine or all five ?

    1. Unfortunately Milan health authority stating quarantine still applies for full 5 days if you have already arrived (even though wording of the decree doesn’t appear to depend upon the date you arrived, just that you showed your vaccination documents to officials when travelling).

  2. The article says that the decree is “ending “the mini-quarantine of five days” for arrivals from the UK”.
    The tweet says he is extending the restrictive measures for arrivals.
    This looks like no change.
    Is the article wrong?
    There is still no official announcement on the website of the Ministero della Salute.
    Government by Twitter is bound to confuse!

      1. Also ‘disporre/dispone’ has many contextual meanings.

        However, the official statement has now been issued: https://www.trovanorme.salute.gov.it/norme/renderNormsanPdf?anno=2021&codLeg=82596&parte=1%20&serie=null

        It makes clear that the 5 days isolation is only required of those who do not present evidence of vaccination and a negative test:
        2. In caso di mancata presentazione delle certificazioni di cui al comma 1, lettere a) e b), è fatto
        obbligo di sottoporsi a isolamento fiduciario per cinque giorni presso l’indirizzo indicato nel
        Passenger Locator Form e a un test molecolare o antigenico, effettuato per mezzo di tampone,
        alla fine di detto periodo.

  3. This end to the quarantine is great new for us UK visitors. Has anyone filled in the still required eu passenger locator form? Even with the guidance notes it’s a bit confusing. Any tips?

  4. Anyone got a suggested rationale why UK stays on 48 hours whilst everywhere else is 72 hours before arrival to do the PCR test? 48 hours is very challenging and hugely more expensive as a result. Almost impossible for flights on a Monday. With little scientific logic. The virus is now basically the same everywhere. I note the UK asks for 72 hours from Italy….

    1. Flights from the UK to Italy take as little as 1.5 hours. Flights from the US to Italy on the other hand can take up to 13 hours. Ideally you take a test as close to the arrival date as feasible, as evidently a (PCR/antigen) test only proves that you don’t have covid in that particular moment.

  5. my wife and i who are fully vaccinated have booked a flight to venice towards the end of october this year. Our son who will be 17 by then has had the first pfizer jab but the second will not be available by then. will we have to self-isolate

  6. I arrived in Umbria yesterday, 31/8, so don’t need to quarantine for 5 days. However, I believe I need to inform the Health authority in Umbria that I have arrived. But I can only find a telephone number and my Italian is not good enough. When I arrived in December I found email address for USLUmbria1 but I can’t find it this time. Help!

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TRAVEL NEWS

What will Europe’s EES passport checks mean for dual nationals?

The EU's Entry & Exit System (EES) of enhanced passport checks will usher in big changes for travellers - here we answer readers' questions on the position for dual nationals.

What will Europe's EES passport checks mean for dual nationals?

The EU is preparing, after many delays, to introduce the EES system for travel in and out of Europe.

You can find a full explanation of how it works HERE, but in essence it is an enhanced passport check – registering biometric details such as fingerprints and facial scans and introducing an automatic calculation of how long you have stayed within the EU/Schengen zone in order to detect ‘over-stayers’.

And it’s already causing stress for travellers. We asked readers of The Local to share their questions here – and one of the biggest worries was how the system will work for dual nationals ie people who have a passport for both an EU country and a non-EU country.

EES: Your questions answered

EU passports 

One of the main purposes of EES is to detect ‘over-stayers’ – people who have either stayed in the EU longer than their visa allows or non-EU nationals who have over-stayed their allowance of 90 days in every 180.

As this does not apply to EU nationals, people travelling on an EU passport are not required to do EES pre-registration and will continue to travel in the same way once EES is introduced – going to the ‘EU passports queue’ at airports, ports and stations and having their passports scanned as normal.

Non-EU 

Non-EU travellers will, once EES is up and running, be required to complete EES pre-registration.

This means that the first time they cross an EU/Schengen zone external border they will have to go to a special zone of the airport/port/terminal and supply extra passport information including fingerprints and a facial scan.

This only needs to be done once and then lasts for three years.

Non-EU residents of the EU/Schengen zone

This does not apply to non-EU citizens who are permanent residents of an EU country or who have a long-stay visa for an EU/Schengen zone country – click HERE for full details.

Schengen zone passports/Irish passports 

EES applies within the Schengen zone, so people with Swiss, Norwegian and Icelandic passports are treated in the same way as citizens of EU countries.

Ireland and Cyprus are in the EU but not the Schengen zone – these countries will not be using the EES system at their borders, but their citizens are still EU citizens so can continue to use EU passport gates at airports and will be treated the same as all other EU citizens (ie they don’t have to do EES pre-registration).

OK, so what if you have both an EU and a non-EU passport?

They key thing to remember about EES is that it doesn’t actually change any of the rules on immigration – it’s just a way of better enforcing the rules that are already in place. 

Therefore the rules for dual nationals remain as they are – for most people which passport to travel on is a matter of personal choice, although Americans should be aware that if you have a US passport and you are entering the USA, you must use your American passport. 

But it’s also important to remember that the passports of dual nationals are not ‘linked’ – therefore if you present an American passport at the Italian border, you will be treated exactly the same as every other American, there is no way for the border guard to know that you are also Italian.

Likewise if you are a UK-Germany dual national and you travel back to the UK on your German passport, you can expect to be treated the same as every other German at the border, and might be asked for proof of where you are staying in UK, how long you intend to stay etc – the system has no way of knowing that you are also British. 

Therefore whether you have to complete EES pre-registration or not is entirely a matter of which passport you are travelling on – if you use your EU passport you won’t have to do it, if you use your non-EU passport you will.

It’s also possible to use two passports for the same trip – so let’s say you’re travelling from Spain to Canada – you enter Canada on your Canadian passport, and show your Canadian passport again when you leave. However, once you re-enter Spain you show your Spanish passport in order to benefit from the unlimited length of stay.

If you’re travelling between France and the UK via the Eurostar, Channel Tunnel or cross-Channel ferry, you need to remember that the Le Touquet agreement means that French passport checks take place in the UK and vice versa. You can still use both passports, but you just need to keep your wits about you and remember to hand the French one to the French border guards and the British one to British guards.

In terms of avoiding immigration formalities using two passports is the most efficient way for dual nationals to travel, but some people prefer to stick to one passport for simplicity, or don’t want to keep both passports together in case of theft.

Basically it’s a personal choice, but you just need to remember that you will be treated according to the passport that you show – which includes completing EES pre-registration if you’re showing a non-EU passport.

It’s also worth remembering that if the changes do cause border delays (and there are fears that they might especially at the UK-France border), then these will affect all travellers – regardless of their passport. 

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