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COVID-19

What to expect if you are travelling to Norway this New Year

Plenty will be returning to Norway after spending Christmas abroad with their family and many will be travelling into the country for New Year's Eve. These are the rules you need to know about.

Published: 2 December 2021 13:01 CET
Updated: 27 December 2021 15:15 CET
Christmas wreath on a plane.
Here's what to know if you are travelling to Norway this Christmas. Pictured is a reef on a long haul flight. Photo by Bao Menglong on Unsplash

Travelling out of Norway

If you’re leaving Scandinavia this Christmas, the most important thing is to keep yourself updated with your destination’s travel rules and restrictions. 

Furthermore, you’ll need to be up to date on which health passes are and aren’t accessible to foreigners in order to go to bars and restaurant as the situation varies country to country. 

Currently, the Norwegian Government is only advising against travel to South Africa. 

Travelling to Norway 

For those coming to and returning to Norway then there are several travel rules to be aware of.

We are sure you will likely have heard by now, but Norway has lifted all bans on who can enter the country. Still, testing, quarantine and entry registration rules remain, even for fully vaccinated residents and citizens. 

For starters, all travellers to the country will need to register their journey into Norway. This applies to everyone over the age of 16. 

Travellers who are not fully vaccinated or haven’t recovered from the coronavirus within the previous six months, or do not have an approved health pass will need to provide a negative Covid-19 test to enter Norway. This won’t apply to those under-18.

Fully vaccinated travellers with an approved health pass do not need to test before departure.

The test can be either a PCR or rapid antigen test and must be taken within 24 hours of arriving in Norway. 

Norway currently only recognises health passes compatible with the EU scheme and digital certificates from the United Kingdom and a handful of other non-EEA countries as proof of vaccination or having recovered from the disease. Furthermore, you will only be considered fully vaccinated one week after your final jab. 

All travellers, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated or recovered from the virus, will be required to test for Covid-19 after arriving. In most cases, especially if travelling by air, this will be done at the border itself. However, in instances where testing at the border is unavailable then arrivals will need to test within 24 hours. When there are long queues, residents will be sent home with self-test kits. If the test result is positive, it must be confirmed with a PCR test as soon as possible, and no later than within 24 hours.

There’s also quarantine to consider. Currently those who are fully vaccinated or have recovered from the virus in the previous six months aren’t required to quarantine, provided they have an approved health pass and aren’t arriving from one of the eight African countries that requires a quarantine hotel stay. 

Those who aren’t vaccinated, haven’t recovered from the virus or don’t have an approved health pass will need to quarantine if arriving from a country that is classified as red, dark red or light grey under Norway’s colour coded classification system.

Almost all countries outside the European Economic Area (EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway), apart from the UK, will be listed as light grey.

The NIPH's colour coded travel map
Pictured is the Norwegian Institute of Public Health’s colour coded travel map.

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health has a webpage and travel map to help travellers stay up to date. Rule changes are typically announced on Friday and come into effect on the following Monday. However, in certain circumstances rules can be announced and come into effect outside of these days. 

Travellers may wish to enter a quarantine hotel if they do not have another suitable place to carry out the quarantine period, but they do not have to. 

What Covid measures are there in Norway? 

Currently, there are several measures in place that will impact people visiting the country. You will need to social distance and wear a face mask in shops, restaurants and other venues, on public transport, in taxis and shopping centres.

Furthermore, the sale of alcohol in bars and restaurants is prohibited nationwide, meaning you won’t be able to have a glass of wine while eating out, for example. A more significant knock-on effect of this is that several businesses may choose to close their doors entirely as the company is not profitable without the sale of alcohol.

This will make it harder to find a place to eat, especially during the week. Restaurants also have to register guests’ contact information in case there is a Covid outbreak, meaning there is a possibility you may need to isolate after being identified as a close contact by contact tracers. This could throw a spanner in the works of any plans to travel home.

Being contact traced could present a problem for visitors, even if they are vaccinated, as there are no exemptions for being jabbed.

READ ALSO: What are the current rules for Covid-19 self-isolation in Norway?

There is also a recommendation that gatherings are limited to 10 guests (20 are allowed on Christmas Eve or one party), although this isn’t legally binding.

Covid-19 health passes certificates aren’t currently being used, but municipalities have the power to implement them. Ski lifts and winter sports activities remain open.

The measures will be in place until mid-January but could be tightened further if the situation requires.

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For members

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.

Published: 22 April 2024 17:10 CEST
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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