EU to allow fully vaccinated US tourists to travel there

[Middleager]

BRUSSELS — American tourists who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will be able to visit the European Union over the summer, the head of the bloc’s executive body said in an interview with The New York Times on Sunday, more than a year after shutting down nonessential travel from most countries to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

 

“Because one thing is clear: All 27 member states will accept, unconditionally, all those who are vaccinated with vaccines that are approved by E.M.A.,” she added. The agency, the bloc’s drugs regulator, has approved all three vaccines being used in the United States, namely the Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson shots.

 

Until now, nonessential travel to the European Union has been officially banned with the exception of visitors from a short list of countries with very low caseloads of the virus, including Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.

link

Edited April 25, 2021 by Middleager

[BermudaBound2014]

Here is a link to the full article. Timeline is yet to be established and seems like there maybe other nuances to comply with, but this is the first real good news I’ve read regarding overseas travel.
 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2021/04/25/world/europe/american-travel-to-europe.amp.html

 

[ace2542]

28 minutes ago, Middleager said:

BRUSSELS — American tourists who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will be able to visit the European Union over the summer, the head of the bloc’s executive body said in an interview with The New York Times on Sunday, more than a year after shutting down nonessential travel from most countries to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

 

“Because one thing is clear: All 27 member states will accept, unconditionally, all those who are vaccinated with vaccines that are approved by E.M.A.,” she added. The agency, the bloc’s drugs regulator, has approved all three vaccines being used in the United States, namely the Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson shots.

 

Until now, nonessential travel to the European Union has been officially banned with the exception of visitors from a short list of countries with very low caseloads of the virus, including Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.

link

Interesting. Does not mean the U.S will reciprocate. I can see the U.S possibly scrapping the visa waiver program off the back of the executive order or removing certain nations from it especially those who may not embrace so called vaccine passports. 

Edited April 25, 2021 by ace2542

[milolii]

This is great news. Thank you for posting.  Will wait to see how the individual nations react. 
 

There are rumors that a U.K. /US  travel corridor my be announced in May as well. Not sure if the US will admit citizens of all EU nations or specify certain ones. 

[Seany527]

Awesome. Hopefully the Caribbean will follow shortly thereafter. The testing requirements to go to some of these islands is more complicated than visiting a local nursing home. 

[eileeshb]

I’d take that announcement with caution. The Irish authorities are currently having to explain their quarantine stance to the EU because it applies to some countries within the EU. It took a court case here in Ireland for the government to agree not to quarantine people coming in that had been fully vaccinated.  Also the Irish ministers are saying they won’t do the digital green certificate that’s been proposed at EU level. Ireland is a bit of an oddball on the cross border travel within the EU. We have a common travel area with the UK but we’re not part of the Schengen area which covers most of the countries on the main continent. 
There’s very definitely different approaches being taken by the different EU members. Quite a few suspended Schengen this time last year. Countries like Greece that rely heavily on tourism are already opening up to foreign tourists even though their own residents are still under restrictions. Meanwhile other countries are tightening restrictions... it’s a moving target at the moment. Remember most of the EU is running behind the UK and USA in their vaccine roll out so I’d expect there to be unpredictability until a significant % of the local populations are vaccinated. We’ve just reached 25% of adults having had at least one dose of vaccine here in Ireland. My over 70 mother is due to get her second dose this week, they’re only opening the booking portal for 60-65year olds this week. 

[SeaShark]

Interesting....

 

Now all we need to do is wait until the trolls show up to whine about how the EU is banning children. 🙄

[zdcatc12]

I'm happy for this, but it makes me wonder, if we can go, what are we going to be able to do and see? If our Epic cruise gets cancelled, we would still like to go to Europe---as long as it is worthwhile.

[milolii]

1 hour ago, eileeshb said:

I’d take that announcement with caution. The Irish authorities are currently having to explain their quarantine stance to the EU because it applies to some countries within the EU. It took a court case here in Ireland for the government to agree not to quarantine people coming in that had been fully vaccinated.  Also the Irish ministers are saying they won’t do the digital green certificate that’s been proposed at EU level. Ireland is a bit of an oddball on the cross border travel within the EU. We have a common travel area with the UK but we’re not part of the Schengen area which covers most of the countries on the main continent. 
There’s very definitely different approaches being taken by the different EU members. Quite a few suspended Schengen this time last year. Countries like Greece that rely heavily on tourism are already opening up to foreign tourists even though their own residents are still under restrictions. Meanwhile other countries are tightening restrictions... it’s a moving target at the moment. Remember most of the EU is running behind the UK and USA in their vaccine roll out so I’d expect there to be unpredictability until a significant % of the local populations are vaccinated. We’ve just reached 25% of adults having had at least one dose of vaccine here in Ireland. My over 70 mother is due to get her second dose this week, they’re only opening the booking portal for 60-65year olds this week. 

Thank you for your input.  We hope to visit this summer, if it works out.  We are following your news and are aware of the vaccine rollout challenges. I do hope it gets better for you and  good news about your Mother getting her second dose.  I also can see the significant sacrifices your citizens are making.  

 

 

 

[milolii]

20 minutes ago, zdcatc12 said:

I'm happy for this, but it makes me wonder, if we can go, what are we going to be able to do and see? If our Epic cruise gets cancelled, we would still like to go to Europe---as long as it is worthwhile.

You would need to determine what will(maybe) be open in the countries you plan to visit. Some countries have a plan with a calendar for openings.  Others aren’t really committing to dates.  It can change of course.  But things are happening now and announcement are being made.  I follow local news in the capitols of the countries we hope to visit.  As you can see from eilesshb comments things can be different in different member states. 

[Redtravel]

Open, but it may come with restrictions like testing, quarantine, and other limitations.  Wait for the full details before packing your bags.  It could be not the easiest way to vacation.

[harkinmr]

10 hours ago, zdcatc12 said:

I'm happy for this, but it makes me wonder, if we can go, what are we going to be able to do and see? If our Epic cruise gets cancelled, we would still like to go to Europe---as long as it is worthwhile.

Flexibility and patience will be the name of the game. Some countries may be open. Some may close from time to time.  Tourist attractions, restaurants, shops may not be open fully or may be closed entirely.  As others have suggested, just keep checking your countries of interest and go with an acceptance that things may change even when you’re there.  Its just a function of the times we’re living in. 

[WarfRatWA]

On 4/26/2021 at 3:20 AM, eileeshb said:

I’d take that announcement with caution. The Irish authorities are currently having to explain their quarantine stance to the EU because it applies to some countries within the EU. It took a court case here in Ireland for the government to agree not to quarantine people coming in that had been fully vaccinated.  Also the Irish ministers are saying they won’t do the digital green certificate that’s been proposed at EU level. Ireland is a bit of an oddball on the cross border travel within the EU. We have a common travel area with the UK but we’re not part of the Schengen area which covers most of the countries on the main continent. 
There’s very definitely different approaches being taken by the different EU members. Quite a few suspended Schengen this time last year. Countries like Greece that rely heavily on tourism are already opening up to foreign tourists even though their own residents are still under restrictions. Meanwhile other countries are tightening restrictions... it’s a moving target at the moment. Remember most of the EU is running behind the UK and USA in their vaccine roll out so I’d expect there to be unpredictability until a significant % of the local populations are vaccinated. We’ve just reached 25% of adults having had at least one dose of vaccine here in Ireland. My over 70 mother is due to get her second dose this week, they’re only opening the booking portal for 60-65year olds this week. 

I agree with you.  The vaccine roll out, at least in Germany is about on par with Ireland, maybe even a little bit behind.  They just passed a law here that tightens restrictions til 30 June 2021, so I would be very surprised if they allowed anyone to enter the country before then for leisure travel purposes.  We are Americans, and both my wife and I just got our first shot this month (from the US Govt).  We live in a neighborhood dominated by older Germans and I would say only about 1/3 are vaccinated (and they all want the shot).  Perhaps their roll out will pick up steam, but I would be very pessimistic about any travel to Germany before 30 June 2021.  

Edited April 29, 2021 by WarfRatWA

[eileeshb]

2 hours ago, WarfRatWA said:

I agree with you.  The vaccine roll out, at least in Germany is about on par with Ireland, maybe even a little bit behind.  They just passed a law here that tightens restrictions til 30 June 2021, so I would be very surprised if they allowed anyone to enter the country before then for leisure travel purposes.  We are Americans, and both my wife and I just got our first shot this month (from the US Govt).  We live in a neighborhood dominated by older Germans and I would say only about 1/3 are vaccinated (and they all want the shot).  Perhaps their roll out will pick up steam, but I would be very pessimistic about any travel to Germany before 30 June 2021.  

Oddly the Irish authorities just announced a relaxation of restrictions domestically.

from May 10th we’ll be allowed travel to other counties (international will be reviewed in June), shops can offer click & collect, and salons can open to appointments. 
on the 17th non essential retail can fully reopen. 
pubs and restaurants can reopen for outdoor service June 7th, accommodation from June 2nd. Hotels will be allowed serve their guests in their bars and restaurants so the restaurant association and publicans are kicking up that they should be allowed serve indoors too. 
At least one of the pubs in the village where I work has been serving take-away pints for the last week. There’s a small yard area beside the shop across from ours and a bunch of the locals have been hanging out there drinking every evening for the past week.