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TRAVEL: Do you still have to quarantine if you arrive in Italy after January 6th?

Italy says that everyone arriving from overseas between December 21st and January 6th has to quarantine. But what does that mean for people arriving from January 7th onwards?

Published: 14 December 2020 14:43 CET
Updated: 5 January 2021 14:24 CET
TRAVEL: Do you still have to quarantine if you arrive in Italy after January 6th?
Travellers at Rome's Fiumicino airport. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

Italy's government imposed extra travel restrictions over Christmas and New Year to discourage unnecessary holidays amid concerns that the coronavirus infection rate is not falling fast enough.

From December 21st to January 6th, anyone who arrives in Italy from overseas – no matter which country and no matter their nationality – must observe a 14-day quarantine.

With the rule about to expire on January 6th, what happens after that?

Could you potentially avoid quarantine by arriving in Italy just one day later?

The answer, the government has confirmed, is no. 

The latest emergency decree of December 3rd, which set Italy's Christmas travel rules, states that quarantine applies to everyone who has stayed or transited through another country at any point between December 21st and January 6th (full text here: see article 8, paragraph 7).

As the Interior Ministry subsequently clarified in a circular, that means that people who leave Italy before December 21st or return after January 6th must also quarantine.

In other words, if you return to Italy on or after January 7th having spent part or all of December 21st-January 6th abroad, you will still have to quarantine. 

The only exceptions are for people who had to leave Italy for essential reasons, including work, health, study or emergencies.

If you left Italy for any other purpose, such as tourism, you'll have to quarantine whatever your reasons for returning to Italy, the Health Ministry's website states. 

Translation: an Italian resident can't choose to go skiing in Switzerland or visit friends in Spain, for example, then return to Italy and hope to avoid quarantine by saying they need to be back here for work.

That's because the main purpose of the rule seems to be to make taking a vacation abroad as difficult as possibly without actually introducing a travel ban.

However, an Italian resident who has to go to France for work or urgent surgery, for example, would be allowed to return to Italy without quarantining – but they do have to get a coronavirus test 48 hours before they come back. (Find further example scenarios on the Foreign Ministry's website.) 

There are other exemptions from both quarantine or testing for cross-border workers, healthcare workers, diplomats and people transiting through Italy via their own transport: find more details here.

The rule primarily affects people entering Italy from another EU member state, a country in the Schengen zone or the UK, since travellers from these countries would not usually be subject to quarantine.

Arrivals from any other country have to quarantine for 14 days regardless, not only during the Christmas period. Travellers from the UK should also be prepared to find themselves subject to different rules after the Brexit transition period ends on December 31st.

REMINDER: What Brits in Europe need to know about travel after December 31st

The Local was alerted to the situation one of our readers, who was advised by an Interior Ministry representative that he would still have to quarantine if he returned to Italy after January 7th.

“I was originally planning on leaving Italy on the 19th of December and returning on the 9th of January but will now have to, unfortunately, return on the 27th of December in order to do the mandatory 14-day quarantine before starting work,” he told The Local.

It is not clear how long the rule will remain in place: Italy's current decree expires on January 15th, though the government may revise the rules at any point before then.

Find The Local's latest updates on Italy's travel rules here.

Member comments

  2. like this:
    Based on your answers, you can enter Italy. Read carefully the information provided below.

    You must fill out a self-declaration.

    Since you chose to enter/return to Italy starting from January 7 2021 onwards, kindly note that:

    1. If you enter/return to Italy after January 6 2021, after a stay or transit in a Country listed in List C between December 21 and January 6 (click on the blue button on top of the page to check the Lists of Countries and territories), for reasons other than those indicated in article 6 paragraph 1 letters a), b) or c) of Prime Ministerial Decree of December 3 2020 (i.e. proven work reasons, health, absolute urgency);

    You must self-isolate for 14 days.

    2a). If you enter/return to Italy after January 6 2021, after a stay or transit in a Country listed in List C between December 21 and January 6, for proven work reasons, health, absolute urgency (as an example, you went from Rome to Paris for a short business trip and now you are going back to your home in Italy, or you must enter Italy from Bulgaria due to a scheduled surgery for which you will have to stay in Italy for about 10 days);

    or

    2b). If you enter Italy after January 6, 2021 from a C-List Country where you reside, without further stays or transits in other Countries in the previous 14 days;

    You must prove that you have undergone a molecular or antigenic test carried out by means of a swab, in the 48 hours before you arrive, with a negative result.

    In either case, as soon as you enter the national territory, you must inform your Local Health Authority of reference. From December 10, if you are unable to undergo a molecular or antigenic test within 48 hours prior to entering Italy, once in Italy you must self-isolate for 14 days.

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EES PASSPORT CHECKS

EES border checks could undergo ‘soft launch’, UK says as app concerns mount

The UK government is preparing for a "soft launch" of the new EU border system – the Entry/Exit (EES) system - in October but authorities are still waiting for European Commission to confirm the start date, amid concerns over the delay of a new app.

Published: 4 May 2024 09:30 CEST
EES border checks could undergo 'soft launch', UK says as app concerns mount

The government is working on the assumption that the system will go live on October 6th, ministers told a hearing at the House of Commons European scrutiny committee this week.

But the European Commission is expected to confirm the exact launch date of the new biometric checks for non-EU travellers entering the Schengen area at some point this summer, they added.

“We are very much working on a basis whereby this policy will go live on the 6th of October. It is important that we plan for that eventuality. We are expecting to hear definitively from the European Union that ‘go live’ arrangement in the summer,” Tom Pursglove, UK Minister for Legal Migration and the Border told the committee.

The parliamentary committee is conducting an inquiry on the disruptions the system will cause in the UK.

Pursglove also said that “precautionary measures” have been agreed by the EU, that will be put in place in certain circumstances after the start of EES, for example if delays at the borders exceeded a certain length of time.

Guy Opperman, Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Transport, said that in practice this meant a “soft launch” of EES for 6 months before “a full go live”. During that soft launch EU member states and the UK could deploy flexibility measures should problems occur.

“The likelihood is, after multiple delays, that the 6th of October will proceed” and the implementation looks “very different” compared to previous scenarios considering the flexibility allowed in the first 6 months, he argued.

No details were given on what these “flexible” measures would involve however. 

READ ALSO: Your questions answered about Europe’s EES passport checks

He conceded that “a lot of work” still needs to be done but the UK “should be as ready as everybody” and “better be at front of the queue”.

App not ready

During the meeting, it also emerged that a much-anticipated app that would allow remote pre-registration of non-EU citizens subject to the checks will not be available for testing until August “at best”, prompting concerns about the EES launch date.

“You don’t need to be a sceptic about future projects to think that the provision of the app in August for going live in October is optimistic,” Opperman said.

Ministers confirmed that the app will not be ready in time for October and the committee previously stated it might be delayed until summer 2025.

The app will facilitate pre-registration, but photo and fingerprints will still have to be taken at the border in front of a guard, the committee heard.

READ ALSO: How do the EU’s new EES passport checks affect the 90-day rule?

Several MPs asked whether the entry into operation of the EES should be delayed again if technology is not ready. But Under-Secretary Opperman said the app “is not going to be a panacea to fix all problems”.

The main aim of EES is to increase security and to ensure that non-EU nationals visiting the Schengen area for a short-term do not stay more than 90 days in any 180-day period.

The entry into operation of the system has already been delayed several times and there have been calls from certain travel companies and national authorities to delay it again.

Under the new scheme, non-EU/EFTA travellers who do not need a visa will have to register their biometric data (finger prints and facial images) in a database that will also record each time they enter and exit the Schengen area.

Instead of having passports manually stamped, travellers will have to scan them at self-service kiosks before crossing the border. However, fingerprints and a photo will have to be registered in front of a guard at the first crossing and there are concerns the extra time needed will generate long queues, especially in Dover, Folkestone and St. Pancras station in London, where there are juxtaposed French and UK border checks.

Progress in preparations

Minister Pursglove also updated MPs on ongoing preparations. He said some testing of the system will take place within days, 5 kiosks have been installed at St. Pancras station and are available for testing. “You are beginning to see the physical infrastructure appear,” he said.

Kiosks and extra lanes are also being created at the port Dover and it was agreed with the EU passengers travelling by coach will be checked away from the Eastern dock, where controls usually take place, allowing to gain space. The vehicles will then sealed and drive on the ferries.

MPs also discussed the infrastructure cost linked to the introduction of the EES. Opperman said all EU countries will have to make “huge investments” in their ports. In the UK, he argued, this will help “address problems that have existed for some time”. Because of this “massive investment”, in a few years time “Dover will be totally transformed,” he said.

This article is published in cooperation with Europe Street News.

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