The Swedish government has published a press release containing information about the temporary entry ban to Sweden due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is regularly updated according to epidemiological circumstances in the EU/EEA zone and third countries.
This time, the Swedish authorities reinforced the necessity of extending the entry ban for other EU/EEA countries until January 31st, 2022. Only people coming from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Norway will be allowed to have free entry and movement into Swedish territory.
Travelers from all the other EU/EEA countries will still be required to present an EU Digital COVID Certificate (or similar) as proof of vaccination, recovery status (valid only if they had COVID-19 in the last six months), or negative testing within 72 hours prior to arrival in Sweden. As expressed in the press release, the Swedish authorities are concerned about the increased transmission of the virus in the EU/EEA area.
The entry ban will also be reintroduced for people coming from Ukraine and Singapore unless they’re able to present vaccination certificates of Ukrainian or Singaporean origin (which are considered valid now). At the same time, the entry ban will be lifted for people coming from Indonesia, meaning that free movement will be enabled for nationals of Indonesia or other people visiting Indonesia before arriving in Sweden.
With regards to other countries outside the EU/EEA, the Swedish authorities have announced that from 30 November 2021, they will be accepting vaccination certificates issued in Georgia, Moldova, New Zealand, Serbia, and Singapore. This is because these countries have been connected to the EU Digital COVID Certificate (EUDCC) gateway, which is used to verify certificate digital signatures in order to avoid falsifications.
All hospitals, test centers, and health authorities issuing valid COVID-19 certificates have their own digital signature key stored in a secure database in each country. The EUDCC gateway, which is hosted at the Commission’s data center in Luxembourg, is a digital infrastructure connecting these national databases for verification purposes.
The EUDCC gateway checks the digital signatures to detect fraudulent COVID-19 certificates and prevent further falsification. The technical infrastructure was tested by 20 Member States and Iceland before being officially activated on June 1st, 2021.
Recently, Norway became able to verify the authenticity of Serbia, Moldova, Georgia, and New Zealand’s local vaccination certificates. Now, it’s the turn for Sweden to be able to do it as well.
So from November 30th, 2021, vaccination certificates issued in Georgia, Moldova, New Zealand, Serbia, and Singapore will be as valid as the EU Digital COVID Certificate for the Swedish government. This means that people coming from these countries will not have to take a COVID-19 diagnostic test upon arrival in Sweden. They’ll be qualified for free movement in Sweden territory only with their local vaccination certificates.
Guidance on Required Docs