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Spain And France Are Opening Up To Americans This Week - Here's What You Need To Know

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This article is more than 2 years old.
Updated Jun 7, 2021, 07:14am EDT

Topline

Fully vaccinated Americans will be welcome in Spain and France this week as European countries continue to ease pandemic restrictions and kick start international tourism after a lengthy hiatus, making use of their own policies before an EU-wide vaccine passport scheme is rolled out in July. 

Key Facts

As of Monday, Spain is open to international tourists who have been fully immunized with a Covid-19 vaccine approved by either the World Health Organization or the European Medicines Agency at least 14 days before arriving. 

American travelers must present a certificate proving their vaccination status and a health monitoring form upon arrival, with minors above the age of 6 (those under 6 are exempt) traveling with vaccinated adults having to provide a negative Covid test or a certificate detailing recovery from the disease within the last 90 days.

France is also set to reopen for international tourism on Wednesday and American tourists not wishing to quarantine for seven days upon arrival will have to follow similar, though more onerous, rules to Spain.

As well as providing proof of vaccination—France stipulates a longer, four week period for the Johnson & Johnson shot—travelers must show a negative Covid test on boarding.

Once it rolls out at the start of July, Americans will also be able to use the EU-wide vaccine certificate program to prove their status, which will hopefully resolve ambiguities in what different countries consider acceptable proof of immunization.   

Key Background

International leisure travel has been slowly returning to Europe after more than a year of harsh restrictions shutting down the tourism sector. France and Spain are not alone in welcoming tourists back before the 27-strong bloc does so in concert, with Cyprus and Greece being two of several European countries heavily reliant on tourism that have been unwilling to wait while the bloc hashed out EU-wide rules. The rules imposed on Americans are harsher than on some other countries, with certain low risk countries like Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, as well as those traveling within Europe, often not needing to provide tests or be vaccinated.  

What To Watch For

New variants, both within Europe and for visiting countries, could lead to regulations being changed, possibly at short notice. Thousands of Brits rushed back home upon learning Portugal would be removed from the country’s “green list” exempting travelers from quarantine this week. Some countries, like Spain, are also enforcing quarantines on at risk countries, such as India, even if travelers have been vaccinated.  

What We Don’t Know

It’s unclear how countries around the world will regard different vaccines when it comes to international travel, especially some produced in Russia and China that do not have the same amount of public data available as many Western vaccines. Two Chinese-produced vaccines, by Sinopharm and Sinovac, are authorized on an emergency basis by the WHO, normally a benchmark regulator when it comes to international recognition. 

Further Reading

Vaccinated Americans Can Travel To Europe This Summer (Forbes)

Europe Is Opening: June EU Travel Restrictions, Covid-19 Test Requirements, Quarantine By Country (Forbes)

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