September 3rd 2021

Monday 17^th May 2021 saw the recommencement of international travel after months of being told it is illegal to take a holiday, with only absolute essential travel being granted.

The transport secretary Grant Shapps announced that overseas travel would work on a traffic light system which would be reviewed every 3 weeks from the restart date above.

So, what has happened since then?

The traffic light system meant countries were categorised into red, amber and green, based on the number of Covid-19 positive cases and the rate at which, the country in question, and its residents are being vaccinated. Also, the threat of transmission of any new variants.

Ok, makes sense on principle? To compliment this though, you would think that there must be a transparent set of guidelines issued; that the Government must be making their decisions by, giving the travel industry some idea of how to second guess how countries will be categorised (prior to the reviews happening). This would allow those wishing to book holidays to have the confidence to know they can go and come back without there being a significant change to the categorisation of their destination country, resulting in chaos for travellers involved.

The Government had other ideas in the beginning of the process as we watched Portugal be placed on the UK’s green list on day 1 of the international travel restart, only to be switched 3 weeks later to an Amber Country categorisation. At the time of this change it was advised against travelling to an amber country and therefore would have resulted in a 10-day isolation period for all passengers regardless of their vaccination status, who did not make it back before the 4am deadline on June 8^th 2021.

While Portugal was the first major European tourist destination to be affected by this, others have suffered the same fate. The Balearics followed suit with their short-lived ‘green status’ back in July. However, when you hear of personal experience of those who have travelled to these places, there is an argument that you are safer there than being in the UK. Watch out for future blog articles where our own members of staff talk about what they encountered when travelling to countries during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Only but last week we read a statistic posted on thatstheticket that there have been 50 changes to the rules of international travel from the UK, since March 2020. There is no wonder that so many people are confused when it comes to travelling overseas.

What do I need to do to travel overseas?

We must remember that the ‘traffic light system’ country list has been compiled by the UK Government and gives the signal to those countries it deems safe for us to visit. However, you must check the entry requirements for each country to be sure that at this time you fit the criteria to cross those borders, with their own rules currently in place. Lots of people are getting confused and thinking if the UK say it is safe for us to go then that is giving us the green light to do so.

For example, the US is currently on the UK’s amber list which would mean all those double-vaccinated passengers could travel and avoid isolation on return.

Hooray! …. we can visit the USA again… apparently not …. the USA, at present, is not allowing entry to those travellers from the UK.

For more information as to the entry requirements per country then visit the UK Government’s Foreign Travel Advice. For further advice per country on what restrictions may be in place once you enter those permitted countries, on personal experience try and search for each individual country’s tourist board website (if they have one).

What does each traffic light category mean?

Here we look at the requirements of each category of the traffic light system.

Green List Countries

Those passengers travelling to a ‘green list’ country will be required to:

·       Check the entry requirements of the country before departure of the UK

·       Take a Covid-19 test within 72 hours of arrival into the UK (for example if you are arriving on a Friday the test must be taken on the Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday)

·       Book and pay for a futher Covid-19 test to be taken on day 2 after arrival into the UK

·       Fill in a passenger locator form

Amber List Countries 

July 19^th 2021 saw the rules for travelling to amber countries updated. The UK Government removed the sanction that only essential travel was permitted to this category of country.

There was also a major change for those who had been fully-vaccinated and effectively split the rules in two based on your vaccination status. As at 6th September 2021 the rules for those returning from an amber country are as follows:

Those passengers fully-vaccinated (the 2^nd dose has been administered 14 days prior to travel):

·       Check the entry requirements of the country before departure of the UK

·       Take a Covid-19 test within 72 hours of arrival into the UK (for example if you are arriving on a Friday the test must be taken on the Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday)

·       Book and pay for a futher Covid-19 test to be taken on day 2 after arrival into the UK

·       Fill in a passenger locator form

You will be required to prove your vaccination status prior to departure which can be done either via the NHS App or via an NHS Covid Pass Letter which can be obtained by calling 119 for travelling overseas. (Please allow 5 days for this to arrive)

Those passengers who are not fully-vaccinated

·       Check the entry requirements of the country before departure of the UK

·       Take a Covid-19 test within 72 hours of arrival into the UK (for example if you are arriving on a Friday the test must be taken on the Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday)

·       Book and pay for a further 2 Covid-19 tests to be taken on day 2 and day 8 after arrival into the UK

·       Fill in a passenger locator form

You may be able to reduce your self-isolation period if you enter the ‘test to release’ system, which requires you to pay for a private covid-19 on day 5 and produce a negative result.

Children under the age of 18 are exempt from quarantine on returning to England from amber countries

Red List Countries

At this time travel to red countries is seen as ‘essential only’, with the UK Government advising against all leisure visits to these destinations.

Those passengers travelling to a ‘red list’ country will be required to:

·       Check the entry requirements of the country before departure of the UK

·       Book a quarantine hotel and 2 Covid-19 test package, which will require you to quarantine in such hotel for 10 days

·       Fill in a passenger locator form

Unlike the amber list countries, you cannot enter the test to release scheme and have to complete the full 10 days quarantine in the hotel at a cost to the passenger.

So which list did your destination country make?

For the full list of green, amber and red list countries CLICK HERE

© CURRENCY ONLINE GROUP

6th September 2021