Opens for more European travel – VG

The government believes that the risk of import infection is now at an acceptable level and thus eases the travel restrictions and rules that apply when returning to Norway.

This will take place on Saturday 19 June

• Exceptions for fully vaccinated Danes: On Saturday at 12 it opens for the use of Danish corona passes. Then people living in Denmark can be released from entry quarantine in Norway if they have been fully vaccinated or have undergone covid-19 in the last six months.

This will take place on Monday 21 June

Night to Monday, in practice there will no longer be quarantine hotels for travelers from the EU / EEA, because then this will be introduced:

• New limit: Only the hotel quarantine for countries and areas in the EU / EEA will have over 500 infected per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days. No country or area in the EU / EEA has such a high infection pressure now – and therefore quarantine hotels are lifted for everyone. As before, you must be quarantined if you come from a red country.
• Exceptions for the United Kingdom: However, the government points out that hotel quarantine can still be introduced at short notice for travelers from countries where any new mutations of covid-19 spread rapidly. For this reason, they introduce quarantine hotels for travelers from Great Britain night to Monday.
• More yellow countries: In addition, it is open for quarantine-free travel from Poland, Romania and several Finnish regions.

New rules will come into force soon! Are you going to a wedding, party or meet a girlfriend you have not seen in a long time? Get in touch with VG’s journalists here.

This happens on June 24

• Fully vaccinated release border test: Fully vaccinated and people who have undergone covid-19 in the last six months will not be tested at the Norwegian border from Thursday 24 June. They also do not have to show an entry registration form before entering the country.

This happens on July 5th

Until 5 July, the travel advice from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) is to advise against all travel abroad. But then there will be a great liberalization for European travel, because then they will no longer discourage unnecessary travel to the EEA countries, Great Britain and Switzerland.

From 5 July, Norway will follow the EU’s borders for what are green and red countries.

These are the biggest changes:

• Raises the threshold for when you have to be quarantined: The new border will be 50 infected per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days. Today’s limit is 25.
• Can become separate travel advice for islands in the Mediterranean: Today, only regions in the Nordic region receive their own travel advice. In other words, travelers from a red region in Sweden can end up in quarantine, while travelers from another region in Sweden can escape. Because they make an assessment of each region. The EU wants Norway to do the same all Europe, so each region of Spain gets its own travel advice. Like this:

• But Norway will not follow this. Norway will continue to provide regional advice for the Nordic region – as we do today – but not for countries such as Spain. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms to VG that it is considering giving its own advice for certain islands and archipelagos in the Mediterranean.

Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide (H) says that the situation and the infection picture are still unpredictable, and that changes can occur quickly:

– Depending on the development of infection in these areas, new travel advice may come at short notice. This can make it demanding for Norwegians to be traveling, she says.

How does the new infection limit work out?

Several countries that are red today would have been given a different color if we had introduced the new borders already now. All these countries meet the new requirements for a green country – and had been exempt from quarantine:

Italy, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, Liechtenstein, Bulgaria and Hungary.

But the changes will not happen until 5 July.

So this applies right now:

Monday night, when several new changes take effect, this map will be updated. A map with current requirements can always be found in VG’s travel advice overview.

Wisdom of rules

People with Norwegian social security numbers who have been fully vaccinated are already released from quarantine when returning from the EEA countries plus the United Kingdom and Switzerland. But they risk encountering obstacles when they leave Norway.

There is still a huge variety of different rules that apply in other European countries, which must be taken into account.

June 24 Norway joins the European vaccine certificate scheme.

Then the corona certificate can be used for travelers to Norway from the EU / EEA countries. It is true that not all countries at that time will have a solution ready for their citizens, but those who have it can use their certificate in connection with entry into Norway.

Danes are admitted

Denmark has its corona certificate in place. So already from Saturday 19 June at 12 noon, the borders to Norway will be opened for people living in Denmark to be released from entry quarantine in Norway – if they have been fully vaccinated or have undergone covid-19 in the last six months.

When the European vaccine certificate is used at the turn of the month June-July, the plan is for the European certificate to be valid in Norway, and the Norwegian certificate will be part of the EU’s common system.

– Finally!

Director Astrid Bergmål of Virke Reiseliv says that this is long-awaited news, also for Norwegian tourism companies:

– Finally, the tourism industries get a date to deal with, more predictability and sensible relief. We are particularly pleased that the threshold for entry quarantine has been raised to the same level as the EU from 5 July. This is an important first step for the reopening of international travel, she writes in an email to VG.

Correction: An earlier version of this case stated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had confirmed that regional assessments would now be made for the entire EU / EEA. The right thing is for Norway to comply with the EU’s travel map, but not to make such regional assessments. The error was corrected 13.32 18 June 2021.

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