Source::APN
AP/RSS
Europe is opening up to Americans and other visitors after more than a year of COVID-induced restrictions. But travelers will need patience to figure out who’s allowed into which country, how and when.
Meanwhile, the welcoming mood isn’t always mutual. U.S. borders, for example, remain largely closed to non-Americans. Here’s a look at current entry rules in some popular European tourist destinations. One caveat: While these are the regulations as written by governments, travelers may meet hiccups as airlines or railway officials try to make sense of them.
FRANCE
ITALY
GREECE
SPAIN
BRITAIN
EUROPEAN UNION
The European Union has recommended that its 27 member countries start lifting restrictions on tourists from the United States, along with a handful of other countries including North Macedonia, Albania, Serbia, Lebanon and Taiwan.
But the recommendation is non-binding, and national governments have authority to require test results or vaccination records and to set other entry conditions. The EU has been working for months on a joint digital travel certificate for those vaccinated, freshly tested, or recently recovered from the virus.
The free certificates, which will contain a QR code with advanced security features, will allow people to move between European countries without having to quarantine or undergo extra coronavirus tests upon arrival. Several EU countries have already begun using the system, including Spain, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Poland. The rest are expected to start using it July 1.
It’s mainly meant for EU citizens but Americans and others can obtain the certificate too — if they can convince authorities in an EU country they’re entering that they qualify for one. And the lack of an official U.S. vaccination certification system may complicate matters.
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