Recently, there have been several significant changes to the travel rules between the UK and Norway, with changes to the quarantine rules when travelling to Britain from Norway and for NHS and Northern Irish Covid pass users travelling the other way. Here’s everything you need to know about travel between the two countries.
Travel to the UK
Currently, Norway is on the UK’s green travel list, meaning travellers arriving into England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland will not be required to quarantine on their arrival, regardless of their vaccination status.
However, travellers will still need to take two tests when planning a trip to the UK from Norway. One within 72 hours of your departure flight and the second two days after arriving in the UK; the day you land in the UK counts as day zero.
In most cases, the test that’s taken within three days of your flight will probably have to be from a private provider as not all municipalities offer travel testing and even less offer fit-to-fly certificates.
The test from Norway can be either a PCR or rapid antigen test and will cost around £100 depending on the provider and how quickly you need the result.
You can take the test at most major airports, but we recommend booking one in advance to be on the safe side.
The day two test must be booked before travelling, and prices start as low as £20. However, it’s worth forking out a bit more for a day two test, as many have reported problems with some of the cheaper day two tests.
If you’re travelling with children, kids over ten have to take the pre-departure test and kids over four are obliged to take the day two test.
Before you leave, you’ll also need to fill out the passenger locator form and the day two test will need to have been booked to complete the paperwork.
You can click here to look at the passenger locator form and here to look at day two test providers.
Once you’ve landed in the UK you will not need to quarantine or isolate unless you test positive for Covid-19.
As Norway is currently on the UK’s green list, the travel rules are the same whether you have a vaccine pass or not. If you make a stopover in an amber country such as the Netherlands or Denmark then you will need to undergo a ten-day quarantine and pay for an additional test on day eight if you are not fully vaccinated. If you’ve had all your jabs then the rules are the same as if you are coming from a green country.
One last caveat is the UK doesn’t class people who have mixed vaccine doses as fully vaccinated so bear this in mind if making a stopover.
While broadly similar, Covid-19 travel, quarantine and testing rules are slightly different if you’re heading to Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland.
READ MORE: What does Norway being on the UK’s green list mean for travellers?
Travel to Norway
This is where things can get a bit more confusing as the entry rules and requirements are very different depending on whether you are vaccinated or not.
Firstly, we’ll cover the rules for if you are not vaccinated.
Rules for unvaccinated
Entry from the UK for unvaccinated arrivals into Norway is currently restricted to residents and citizens and the close family and partners of those living in Norway.
There are some exceptions that you can read about here.
Partners will need to complete a free application with the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) and have it accepted before they travel. You can look at the application here.
Close family in Norway is classed as children and stepchildren (regardless of age), parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Family members coming to Norway are asked to provide proof of relation, such as a birth certificate and evidence the person they’re visiting lives in Norway.
Residents will need to provide proof they live in Norway also. A residence card or certificate is sufficient
You will need to provide a negative PCR or antigen test taken within 24 hours of your arrival in Norway for those who can enter. In most cases, an antigen test, sometimes called a lateral flow test, is the most practical solution.
You will also need to complete the Norwegian entry registration form before you travel and get tested for Covid at the border after you’ve landed.
After that, you’ll need to enter quarantine. Unfortunately, the UK is currently dark red on the Norwegian Institute of Public Health’s travel map, so if you haven’t had a jab of any sort or Covid, you will need to enter a quarantine hotel for a minimum of three days.
On day three of quarantine, you’ll be tested for Covid, and if the test comes back negative, you will be able to complete the rest of quarantine at home or somewhere else with a private bedroom and bathroom. After that you can end quarantine after returning another negative test taken on day seven.
The hotel costs 500 kroner per night for adults and 250 for children between 10 and 17.
If you have received one jab between three and fifteen weeks since arriving in Norway, then you can quarantine at home or somewhere with your own room and toilet for three days before taking a PCR test.
You will need to be able to prove you’ve received a jab with either a Norwegian, EU, NHS or Northern Irish Covid certificate.
Rules for fully vaccinated
Norway has begun accepting Covid passes from travellers from England, Wales and Northern Ireland as proof of vaccination, meaning quarantine-free and unrestricted entry for fully jabbed arrivals.
Travellers will coming from England and Wales can use the NHS Covid app, and the CovidCertNI App if they are arriving from Northern Ireland.
Vaccine certificates from Scotland are not currently accepted.Covid-19 certificates from Scotland will not be accepted until it has a digital and verifiable solution for documenting vaccination status.
A spokesperson for the Scottish government has said that it expects to get a digital Covid pass up and running within the next month.
“We are developing an app to make it easier to show Covid status for international travel. This will include vaccinations records, and we aim to release this next month,” the spokesperson told the BBC.
To be classed as fully vaccinated when travelling to Norway, a week will need to have passed since your second jab, or three if you received the single-use Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Furthermore, if you have recovered from Covid-19 in the previous six months and can prove so via a valid Covid-19 certificate, then you fall under the same rules as being fully vaccinated.
Fully vaccinated travellers arriving, or those who have had Covid in the past six months, from the UK with an EU or Norwegian Covid certificate aren’t subject to any entry restrictions provided a week has passed since their final shot.
This means any vaccine pass holders can travel for whatever reason they wish but won’t need to undergo quarantine, testing or entry registration. In addition, the children of vaccine pass holders are exempt from the same rules as their parents, too, meaning quarantine-free entry for them too.
Please whitelist us to continue reading.
iam trying to fly to scotland this passenger locater form is for people traveling to england and wales at gardermoen last thursday 12 august i could not complete this online form before depature as only for england travel not scotland also the app requests covid negitive reference number from provider in norway my test paper did not have any reference number again could not complete locater form as app would not let me complete this form without this number shocking and discraceful behavier from checkin staff from widerow and sas i was told it was not there problem when told the system was clearly broken with 1 hour before my flight to delay my flight until next day as i was overwelmed i was told i could not i was to late and i would loose my flight and could book a new flight ticket my flight ticket cost 6000 kroner with the knock on effect of cancelled flight it has cost me about 10000 kroner this is alot of money for me as i have a disability pension a english woman in her 70s come at the same time i was discusted and very angry at the treatment she recieved from checkin desk sas no support offered to complete locater form this poor woman clearly overwelmed and shaking and very upset the staff seemed to take plesure in her distress and clearly a rutine and bad practice they use every day the locater form says to upload documents iam 59 years old i have never uploaded anything in my life also clearly the woman in her 70s was the same so my point is no support service for people with disabilities or elderly people who are not tec savy iam very unlikey to see any money for my loses and will not be able to do anything about that but what i can and will persue is a disability discrimination case against widerow and sas airlines are there to surve the public not for the people to be used a a tool to maximise profits in a brutal uncareing manner these airlines are not user friendly and that is simply wrong
Can anyone explaine this policy in the Norweigan Governments Travel page:
“Protected people who have received their first dose within the past 3–15 weeks and children under the age of 18 must complete travel quarantine if they come from a red or dark red country.”
and here on the Public Health Agency site:
“Fully vaccinated and those who have had covid-19 in the last six months have exceptions from the entry quarantine. Protected persons who have received the first vaccine dose between 3 and 15 weeks ago and children under the age of 18 must be in the entry quarantine, but can terminate the quarantine if they test negative no earlier than three days after arrival. ”
I see in the article it may be refering to those with a single dose. I am fully vaccinated and am planning to travel to Norway first week of September but by first dose was within the 15 weeks. My second dose was in mid August. can I travel without quarantine?
Hello,
You will be classed as fully vaccinated when you travel so you will be exempt from quarantine if you have a valid vaccine certificate. These are the NHS Covid app for England and Wales, the Northern Irish digital pass and the EU and Norwegian Covid certificates. Currently no other vaccine certificates are accepted as proof.
Thank You so much.
I have also been in contact with Helsedirektoratet who have said the same. I was only concerned after a travel restriction page on Norwegian Air and an insurance company, seemingly using the same system, said fully vaccinated would have to quarantine. Also, wondering who was considered Protected Persons threw me off. But now reading many info pages through on the government sites I can see it refers to single doses.