Spain weekly update on entry requirements from third countries [31 January 2022 – 6 February 2022]

The list of third countries exempt from travel restrictions to Spain has been updated on January 31st, 2022. Concretely, the list of third countries that are not considered at risk has been reduced to only 9 territories.

From the end of January, the Ministry of Health of Spain considers that all third countries are at risk except for Chile, Indonesia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Rwanda, South Korea, and China (including the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, and the territorial authority of Taiwan).

Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates have been removed from the list.  This means that from now on, these countries will be affected by Spain’s temporary restrictions on international travel.

In the European continent, the countries that are considered at risk are Austria, Belgium, Portugal, Czech Republic, Italy, Latvia, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ireland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Iceland, Cyprus, Malta, Luxembourg, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. These are all red, dark red, orange, and grey risk areas as established by the Council Recommendation 2020/1475.

As for the third countries, Spain follows the criteria specified in the EU Council’s Recommendation (EU) 2020/912 on the temporary restriction of non-essential travel to the EU and the possible lifting of said restriction.

All people coming to Spain from risk countries or areas must present at least one of these:

• A certificate of vaccination showing that they have completed the immunization plan with a vaccine approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) and/or the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
  From February 1st, 2022, the vaccination schedule will only be considered complete if the travelers had a booster shot at least two weeks before their travel date. If they had the first two doses of a non-approved vaccine but a booster shot of an approved vaccine, their vaccination certificate will be considered valid.
  People with an EU COVID Digital Certificate must reissue it in order to reflect the administration of the third dose or booster shot.
• A COVID-19 diagnostic test showing that travelers don’t have an active infection. Nucleic acid amplification tests (including PCR, SDA, TMA, etc.) must be taken up to 3 days before they arrive in Spain, while approved rapid antigen tests should be taken within the previous 24 hours before arrival.
• A COVID-19 recovery certificate issued at least 11 days after a positive COVID-19 test. The recovery certificate will be valid for 180 days from that date.

Additionally, all travelers must bring a Health Control Form and the QR code that results from its completion. Although children under 12 years old are exempt from the certificates, they’re not exempt from filling out this form and obtaining a QR code.

As always, the Health Control Form is different if you travel by plane than if you travel by ferry, and it’s not necessary if you travel to Spain by land.