An important piece of news slipped under our radar last week, when Spain’s Ministry of Tourism announced that negative Covid tests will now be accepted as a condition of entry for all non-EU travellers. The test can be a PCR test or a cheaper, faster antigen test.
This means that non-vaccinated UK travellers will now be able to enter Spain. Previously, all non-EU entrants had to provide a certificate of vaccination or recovery. The only exception applied to British visitors under the age of 16, who were granted this exception at Christmas owing to the schedule of the UK’s vaccine programme.
Visitors with a vaccination or recovery certificate will still be permitted to use them, and will not be required to provide an additional negative test result. The rules for entry to Spain are now identical to those for citizens of EU countries.
To summarise: All visitors entering Spain must provide ONE of the following:
- Authorised vaccination certificate
- Authorised certificate of recovery from Covid-19 in the 180 days before entry.
- Negative test result: either PCR test that has been issued 72 hours before travel or an antigen test in the 24 hours before travel.
The future of the vaccination certificate is another issue that remains to be resolved. The European Commission has recommended extending its use until June 2023, but the 9-month expiry date since the last jab is getting closer for millions of potential travellers.
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