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Spain remains on UK’s quarantine-free amber list for travel

The UK government announced on Thursday evening that all of Spain including its islands will stay on the amber list, allowing fully vaccinated people to continue to avoid quarantine when travelling to the UK.

Published: 27 August 2021 10:05 CEST
Spain remains on UK's quarantine-free amber list for travel
Tourists in Madrid in June 2021. Photo: Gabriel Buoys/AFP

Spain will continue on the UK’s amber list from Monday August 30th following the latest review by the British government and the UK’s Global Travel Taskforce, the agency responsible for helping to set out the travel rules for the country.

Reports in the British press had previously hinted Spain was unlikely to go on the UK’s red list, as the falling fortnightly infection rate (277 cases per 100,000 people) during the past weeks and high vaccination rate (67,9 percent fully vaccinated) means it has put the worst of its fifth coronavirus wave behind it. 

However, the fact that in mid-August one in 35 travellers arriving in the UK from Spain were found to have Covid-19 caused fears Spain would be included in the UK’s red list.

READ ALSO: What happens when tourists get Covid-19 while on holiday in Spain?

This would have meant travellers arriving from Spain had to stay at a government-run quarantine hotel for ten days and pay £1,750 (€2,046) per person.

But finally Spain – including the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands – remains on the UK’s amber list as it has been for most of 2021. 

Overall there were few changes to this latest update of the UK’s travel rules.

Switzerland, Denmark, Portugal’s Azores, Finland and Canada are among the countries joining the green list following the government’s latest review of its traffic light system for travel abroad.

READ ALSO:

According to the UK government website, all travellers heading to England from Spain have to take a Covid test (PCR recommended) in the 3 days before travel, book and pay for Covid tests to be taken on arrival in the UK and complete a passenger locator form.  

After arriving in England, fully vaccinated travellers must take a COVID-19 test on or before day 2.

This applies if you’re fully vaccinated under either “the UK vaccination programme, the UK vaccine programme overseas, an approved vaccination programme in Europe or the USA – not all are recognised in England”.

READ MORE: UK changes travel rules again to impose quarantine on European arrivals who had mixed vaccine doses

Travellers who aren’t fully vaccinated travelling to England from Spain have to quarantine at home or at their chosen accommodation for 10 days, take a COVID-19 test on or before day 2 and on or after day 8. 

If you’re in England for less than 10 days, you need to quarantine for your whole stay but you may be able to end quarantine early if you pay for a private COVID-19 test through the Test to Release scheme.

The UK updates its traffic light travel list approximately every three weeks.

The travel-traffic light changes announced by Scotland are virtually the same as are the travel requirements, which you can check here. For the rules for travel from an amber country to Wales click here and for Northern Ireland here. 

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TRAVEL NEWS

Reader question: What will EES mean for foreigners living in Europe?

The EU's new Entry & Exit System (EES) of enhanced passport controls is due to come into force later this year, but among many questions that remain is the situation for non-EU nationals who live in the EU or Schengen zone.

Published: 27 April 2024 07:59 CEST
Reader question: What will EES mean for foreigners living in Europe?

Currently scheduled to start in autumn 2024 (unless it’s delayed again, which is not unlikely) the EU’s new Entry & Exit System is basically an enhanced passport check at external EU borders, including a facial scan and fingerprinting.

You can find a full explanation of the new system HERE.

Travellers crossing an external EU or Schengen border for the first time will be required to complete EES ‘pre-registration’ formalities including that facial scan and fingerprinting.

There are, however, several groups exempt from EES and one of them is non-EU nationals who have a residency permit or long-stay visa for an EU country.

So if you’re a foreigner living in the EU or Schengen zone, here’s what you need to know.

Exempt

One of the stated aims of EES is to tighten up enforcement of over-staying – IE, people who stay longer than 90 days in every 180 without a visa, or those who overstay the limits of their visa.

Obviously these limits do not apply to non-EU nationals who are resident in the EU or Schengen zone, which is why this group is exempt from EES checks. They will instead be required to show their passport and residency permit/visa when crossing a border, just as they do now.

In its explanations of how EES will work, the European Commission is clear – exempt groups include non-EU residents of the Bloc.

A Commission spokesman told The Local: “Non-EU citizens residing in the EU are not in the scope of the EES and will not be subject to pre-enrollment of data in the EES via self-service systems. The use of automation remains under the responsibility of the Member States and its availability in border crossing points is not mandatory.

“When crossing the borders, holders of EU residence permits should be able to present to the border authorities their valid travel documents and residence permits.”

How this will work

How this will work on the ground, however, is a lot less clear.

Most ports/airports/terminals have two passport queues – EU and non-EU. It remains unclear whether the non-EU queue will have a separate section for those who are exempt from EES.

It does seem clear that exempt groups will not be able to use the automated passport scanners – since those cannot scan additional documents like residency permits – but should instead use manned passport booths. However it is not clear whether these will be available at all airports/ports/terminals or how non-EU residents of the EU will be directed to those services.

There’s also the issue that individual border guards are not always clear on the processes and rules for non-EU residents of the EU – even under the current system it’s relatively commonly for EU residents to have their passports incorrectly stamped or be given incorrect information about passport stamping by border guards.

Brits in particular will remember the immediate post-Brexit period when the processes as described by the EU and national authorities frequently did not match what was happening on the ground.

The Local will continue to try and get answers on these questions. 

READ ALSO What will EES mean for dual nationals

What if I live in the EU but I don’t have a visa/residency permit?

For most non-EU citizens, having either a visa or a residency permit is obligatory in order to be legally resident.

However, there is one exception: UK citizens who were legally resident in the EU prior to the end of the Brexit transition period and who live in one of the “declaratory” countries where getting a post-Brexit residency card was optional, rather than compulsory. Declaratory countries include Germany and Italy.

Although it is legal for people in this situation to live in those countries without a residency permit, authorities already advise people to get one in order to avoid confusion/hassle/delays at the border. Although EES does not change any rules relating to residency or travel, it seems likely that it will be more hassle to travel without a residency card than it is now.

Our advice? Things are going to be chaotic enough, getting a residency permit seems likely to save you a considerable amount of hassle.

Delays 

Although residents of the EU do not need to complete EES formalities, they will be affected if the new system causes long queues or delays at the border.

Several countries have expressed worries about this, with the UK-France border a particular cause for concern.

READ ALSO Travellers could face ’14 hours queues’ at UK-France border

Where does it apply?

EES is about external EU/Schengen borders, so does not apply if you are travelling within the Schengen zone – eg taking the train from France to Germany or flying from Spain to Sweden.

Ireland and Cyprus, despite being in the EU, are not in the Schengen zone so will not be using EES, they will continue to stamp passports manually.

Norway, Switzerland and Iceland – countries that are in the Schengen zone but not in the EU – will be using EES.

The full list of countries using EES is: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Therefore a journey between any of the countries listed above will not be covered by EES.

However a journey in or out of any of those countries from a country not listed above will be covered by EES.

You can find our full Q&A on EES HERE.

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