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COVID-19

Sweden’s Covid recommendations for Easter this year

Although the times of pandemic rules and regulations may seem a distant memory, Sweden's Public Health Agency still has some advice for how to avoid spreading illness over the Easter weekend.

Published: 14 April 2022 14:47 CEST
Sweden's Covid recommendations for Easter this year
Daffodills, known as "påskliljor" or "Easter lilies" in Swedish. Photo: Fotograferna Holmberg/TT

Be aware of symptoms

Even though the spread of infection is currently low in Sweden, some degree of infection is still present in the country.

According to Britta Björkholm, head of department at the Public Health Agency, you should still be wary of any symptoms if you’re planning on meeting up with family and friends over Easter, especially if there will be any elderly people attending the celebrations.

“But you have to decide that yourself,” Björkholm told newswire TT. “It’s not as strict as previously, with even the most minimal of symptoms, rather you need to assess that yourself.”

One piece of advice the agency underlines is the recommendation to get vaccinated against Covid-19 – four doses for those over 65 and three doses for everyone else.

“If you’ve been vaccinated in line with existing recommendations, we don’t see any reason to limit travel or Easter celebrations,” she continued. The unvaccinated are, however, still subject to recommendations on avoiding large groups and indoor crowding.

Covid-19 no longer a “danger to society”

Covid-19 is, since April 1st, no longer classed as a “danger to society”, although the Public Health Agency is still monitoring the spread of infection.

“We need to continue to work with the vaccination recommendations and follow immunity in the population, see if there are more people who need a further booster when Autumn arrives,” Björkholm told newswire TT.

“No matter the variant, all who have been vaccinated have good protection against serious illness and death for a long time after vaccination. The important thing is that as many as possible get vaccinated and take the recommended booster doses.”

Visiting Sweden over Easter

Sweden’s non-EU travel ban also expired on April 1st, meaning that there are no longer any Covid-19-related restrictions on travellers wishing to visit Sweden over Easter. Travellers do not need to show a vaccine certificate or evidence of a negative test, although other restrictions such as visa regulations may apply, depending on the country of origin.

If you start showing symptoms of Covid-19 on a visit to Sweden, you should stay home – or in your hotel or accommodation – and avoid meeting others until you begin to feel better. You cannot get a free test to confirm if you have Covid-19, so you may need to ask someone without symptoms to purchase a rapid test or LFT (snabbtest or antigentest in Swedish) for you in a supermarket or local pharmacy if you wish to check if you have the virus.

You may need a negative Covid-19 test for your return journey, depending on your destination and your method of travel.

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TRAVEL NEWS

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

As European travellers prepare for the introduction of enhanced passport checks known as the Entry & Exit System (EES), many readers have asked us what this means for the '90-day rule' for non-EU citizens.

Published: 1 May 2024 07:18 CEST
Reader question: How do the EU's new EES passport checks affect the 90-day rule?

From the start date to the situation for dual nationals and non-EU residents living in the EU, it’s fair to say that readers of The Local have a lot of questions about the EU’s new biometric passport check system known as EES.

You can find our full Q&A on how the new system will work HERE, or leave us your questions HERE.

And one of the most commonly-asked questions was what the new system changes with regards to the 90-day rule – the rule that allows citizens of certain non-EU countries (including the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) to spend up to 90 days in every 180 in the EU without needing a visa.

And the short answer is – nothing. The key thing to remember about EES is that it doesn’t actually change any rules on immigration, visas etc.

Therefore the 90-day rule continues as it is – but what EES does change is the enforcement of the rule.

90 days 

The 90-day rule applies to citizens of a select group of non-EU countries;

Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, El Salvador, Georgia, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Kiribati, Kosovo, Macau, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, New Zealand, Nicaragua, North Macedonia, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Taiwan, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City and Venezuela.

Citizens of these countries can spend up to 90 days in every 180 within the EU or Schengen zone without needing a visa or residency permit.

People who are citizens of neither the EU/Schengen zone nor the above listed countries need a visa even for short trips into the EU – eg an Indian or Chinese tourist coming for a two-week holiday would require a visa. 

In total, beneficiaries of the 90-day rule can spend up to six months in the EU, but not all in one go. They must limit their visits so that in any 180-day (six month) period they have spent less than 90 days (three months) in the Bloc.

READ ALSO How does the 90-day rule work?

The 90 days are calculated according to a rolling calendar so that at any point in the year you must be able to count backwards to the last 180 days, and show that you have spent less than 90 of them in the EU/Schengen zone.

You can find full details on how to count your days HERE.

If you wish to spend more than 90 days at a time you will have to leave the EU and apply for a visa for a longer stay. Applications must be done from your home country, or via the consulate of your home country if you are living abroad.

Under EES 90-day rule beneficiaries will still be able to travel visa free (although ETIAS will introduce extra changes, more on that below).

EES does not change either the rule or how the days are calculated, but what it does change is the enforcement.

Enforcement

One of the stated aims of the new system is to tighten up enforcement of ‘over-stayers’ – that is people who have either overstayed the time allowed on their visa or over-stayed their visa-free 90 day period.

At present border officials keep track of your time within the Bloc via manually stamping passports with the date of each entry and exit to the Bloc. These stamps can then be examined and the days counted up to ensure that you have not over-stayed.

The system works up to a point – stamps are frequently not checked, sometimes border guards incorrectly stamp a passport or forget to stamp it as you leave the EU, and the stamps themselves are not always easy to read.

What EES does is computerise this, so that each time your passport is scanned as you enter or leave the EU/Schengen zone, the number of days you have spent in the Bloc is automatically tallied – and over-stayers will be flagged.

For people who stick to the limits the system should – if it works correctly – actually be better, as it will replace the sometimes haphazard manual stamping system.

But it will make it virtually impossible to over-stay your 90-day limit without being detected.

The penalties for overstaying remain as they are now – a fine, a warning or a ban on re-entering the EU for a specified period. The penalties are at the discretion of each EU member state and will vary depending on your personal circumstances (eg how long you over-stayed for and whether you were working or claiming benefits during that time).

ETIAS 

It’s worth mentioning ETIAS at this point, even though it is a completely separate system to EES, because it will have a bigger impact on travel for many people.

ETIAS is a different EU rule change, due to be introduced some time after EES has gone live (probably in 2025, but the timetable for ETIAS is still somewhat unclear).

It will have a big impact on beneficiaries of the 90-day rule, effectively ending the days of paperwork-free travel for them.

Under ETIAS, beneficiaries of the 90-rule will need to apply online for a visa waiver before they travel. Technically this is a visa waiver rather than a visa, but it still spells the end of an era when 90-day beneficiaries can travel without doing any kind of immigration paperwork.

If you have travelled to the US in recent years you will find the ETIAS system very similar to the ESTA visa waiver – you apply online in advance, fill in a form and answer some questions and are sent your visa waiver within a couple of days.

ETIAS will cost €7 (with an exemption for under 18s and over 70s) and will last for three years.

Find full details HERE. 

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