Latest update on COVID-19 travel restrictions to Schengen area for June 2021

If you are planning a trip to Europe this summer, you should be aware of the most recent travel restrictions to Schengen area for COVID-19 affecting travel to the European Union (EU) and Schengen zone. As the 26-Schengen states prepare to reduce entry requirements for vaccinated travelers, in the meantime, most foreigners looking to enter the Schengen area immediately will find themselves restricted from doing so without an urgent reason. Those who are allowed entry are subject to a variety of tightened COVID-19 entry measures meant to reduce the spread of the infection. Read on to find out the latest travel restrictions to the Schengen area for COVID-19, the latest COVID-19 vaccination information for the Schengen area, and to see how you should proceed with your trip. 

Summary:

• All signs indicate that the Schengen area will soon open up to vaccinated travelers. After months of development, the Digital Green Certificate has finally gone into effect in several EU countries. Known informally as the EU vaccine passport, the certificate will highlight COVID-19 vaccination information and allow EU residents and citizens to digitally display their vaccination status and/or immunity to COVID, smoothing travel for EU citizens throughout the Schengen area. It is anticipated that this document will ultimately be made available to foreigners, who will be allowed to display their vaccinated status through it. 
• Until the EU officially approves the unrestricted entry of vaccinated travelers (and provides a mechanism for their arrival) access to the zone will remain restricted for many third-country arrivals (i.e. non Schengen, non-EU) who are currently banned from entering in the absence of an urgent reason for doing so. 
• If you are trying to enter the Schengen area from a third country (non-EU/non-Schengen), depending on what country you are arriving from, you may be denied entry to the Schengen area unless you can prove that your reason for travel is urgent or essential. 
• If you are allowed to travel to the Schengen area, your entry will likely be conditional on your acceptance and performance of a variety of pre-and post-arrival requirements, which tend to include pre and post-arrival COVID-19 testing, the submission of passenger-locator forms, self-isolations, and quarantine requirements.
• If you are planning on travelling to the Schengen area, before traveling, check what the specific entry requirements are in place upon arrival in the specific country you plan on entering. Contact us here for more help in planning an upcoming trip.

Schengen area travel

• In general, the Schengen states have, since the pandemic began, agreed to allow relatively unrestricted travel to, within and across the zone for citizens and residents. 
• While foreigners have historically been subjected to entry restrictions and travel bans from the start of the crisis (effectively prohibiting the entry of those traveling for non-urgent purposes) Schengen citizens and residents have generally been exempt from those bans, meaning they have been allowed to travel to the Schengen zone even if they are arriving from a country on the banned list. In addition, many citizens and residents have not been subject to the post-arrival travel requirements due to COVID-19 which are in place for non-residents (although this is country specific, for example, certain states require that their citizens who have recently arrived from foreign countries quarantine, while others exempt them from that requirement—which they only subject non-citizens/residents to). 
• The Schengen area has imposed restrictions on the entry of non-resident foreigners since the pandemic began. These have included travel requirements due to COVID-19, including travel bans for people arriving from certain countries, as well as mandatory before traveling and after entry COVID-19 testing, self-isolations, and quarantine requirements for those allowed entry. 
• Whether (and under what conditions) travelers are allowed entry into the Schengen area (and what restrictions they are subjected to in the event that they are granted access) continues to depend on your nationality and where you are arriving from. 

Current rules

• Having historically tightened COVID-19 entry conditions for travelers generally, at the moment, the Schengen area continues to broadly restrict the entry of non-citizens and residents.  
• The majority of Schengen states follow the general Schengen policy (recommended by the European Council governing body) of allowing the entry of travelers from an ever-changing list of third-countries deemed relatively safe. At the moment, this list includes the following states: Australia, New Zealand, Rwanda, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, China, and Israel.
• While most Schengen countries allow unrestricted travel for those arriving from the above locations, the individual Schengen states can choose whether to include some or all of those states (or whether to add states not on the EC’s list). 
• For example, at the moment, France allows the relatively unrestricted entry of arrivals from six of the eight countries on the EC’s list, including Australia, Israel, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea. France does not, however, follow the EC’s recommendations when it comes to Rwanda, Thailand, and China, restricting the entry of arrivals from those countries). Finally, France, added Japan to its list of countries allowed entry. 
• Please note, anyone arriving from one of the six countries France deems safe will nevertheless continue to be subject to post-entry restrictions, such as the requirement to self-isolate for a week upon-arrival.  
• The majority of Schengen states therefore continue to restrict the entry of travelers from states not on their own lists of third-countries deemed low risk. Many Schengen countries will therefore only allow the entry of third country travelers who are arriving for urgent or essential reasons. 
• For example, if you are trying to travel to France from a third country (i.e. a non-EU, non-Schengen, country not on France’s safe county list) you will not be allowed to travel from that country unless you have either “pressing grounds for travel” or an exemption.