Spain weekly update on entry requirements from third countries [22-28 November 2021]

The Ministry of Health of Spain has published a new list of risk countries, which will be valid from 22 November 2021 to 28 November 2021.

This week, the Spanish authorities have decided to apply the latest EU Council recommendation to suspend non-essential travel restrictions for Indonesia.

The EU Council recommendation, which was published on 18 November 2021, modified the Recommendation (EU) 2020/912 on the temporary restriction on non-essential travel into the EU to add Indonesia to the list of countries for which travel restrictions should be lifted.

Spain’s ministry of health has updated the list of risk countries

Because inclusion criteria for Spain’s list of risk countries are based on this other list, the Spanish government now considers that all third countries are at risk except for Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Chile, China (including special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao and the territorial authority of Taiwan), Colombia, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Namibia, New Zealand, Peru, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, and Uruguay.

European countries considered at risk are Austria, Germany, Belgium, France, Croatia, Denmark, Iceland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Sweden, Norway, Slovenia, Slovakia, The Netherlands, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Ireland, Poland, Romania, Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, Hungary, Malta, and 4 regions of Finland (Etelä-Suomi, Helsinki-Uusimaa, Länsi-Suomi, and Pohjois-ja Itä-Suomi),

and 20 regions of Italy (Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano/Bozen, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Marche, Veneto, Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardia, Molise, Piemonte, Provincia Autonoma di Trento, Puglia, Sicilia, Toscana, Umbria, and Valle d’Aosta/Vallée d’Aoste). These are all dark red, red, orange, and grey risk areas, according to the Council Recommendation 2020/1475.

Travelers coming to Spain from other European countries considered at risk must present the EU Digital COVID Certificate (DCC) as evidence of recent COVID-19 recovery, a negative diagnostic test of any kind (PCR and other nucleic acid amplification tests must be taken 72 hours before arrival, and rapid antigen test must be taken 48 hours before arrival), and/or full immunization against COVID-19 with any vaccine approved by the European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization.

The vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency are Cominarty, Janssen, Spikevax (previously Moderna), and Vaxzevria (previously AstraZeneca).

Travelers from third countries are subject to the same entry requirements as long as they’re not coming from a risk country. But given that they can’t obtain an EU Digital COVID Certificate as this is only for EU citizens, they must present an equivalent certificate documenting recovery or negative test and a complete vaccination regimen fulfilled at least 14 days before arriving in Spain. Full vaccination against COVID-19 is always required.

People coming to Spain from the UK, which is not part of the European Union after the Brexit, will be required to provide proof of vaccination and a nucleic acid amplification test with a negative result in order to enter into Spanish territory.

Additionally, every traveler must present a Health Control Form that they can complete on a mobile app, the Spain Travel Health web if they’ll be arriving by plane, or the Maritime Spain Travel Health web if they’ll be arriving by ferry.