Posted on Friday, 24 September 2021

International travel rules for people arriving in England will change from 4am on Monday 4 October 2021.

From this date international travellers arriving into England will be subject to a simplified system which will replace the current red, amber, green traffic light system.

There will be a single red list of countries and simplified travel measures for arrivals from the rest of the world, meaning less requirements for fully vaccinated Brits returning from their holidays abroad.

Travel from the rest of the world to England if you are fully vaccinated

From 4am on Monday 4 October, you will qualify as fully vaccinated if you are vaccinated:

• under an approved vaccination programme in the UK, Europe, USA or UK vaccine programme overseas
• with a full course of the Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna or Janssen vaccines from a relevant public health body in Australia, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Bahrain, Brunei, Canada, Dominica, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan or the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Formulations of the 4 listed vaccines, such as AstraZeneca Covishield, AstraZeneca Vaxzevria and Moderna Takeda, qualify as approved vaccines.

You must have had a complete course of an approved vaccine at least 14 days before you arrive in England.

Where 2 doses of a vaccine are required for a full course, you will be able to:

• mix 2 different types of vaccine, for example Oxford/AstraZeneca and Moderna
• have the 2 vaccinations under 2 different approved programmes, for example Australia and Japan, UK and USA, EU and Canada

Until 4 October, mixed vaccines are only permitted if you are vaccinated under Europe, USA or UK overseas vaccination programme.

The rules for fully vaccinated people will also apply if you are either:

• under 18 and resident in the UK or one of the listed countries or territories with approved vaccination programmes
• taking part in an approved COVID-19 vaccine trial in the UK, Australia, Canada or the USA

If you qualify as fully vaccinated you will have to:

• book and pay for a day 2 COVID-19 test – to be taken after arrival in England
• complete your passenger locator form – any time in the 48 hours before you arrive in England
• take a COVID-19 test on or before day 2 after you arrive in England

Under the new rules, you will not need to:

• take a pre-departure test
• take a day 8 COVID-19 test
• quarantine at home or in the place you are staying for 10 days after you arrive in England

You must be able to prove that you have been fully vaccinated (14 days or more beforehand) with a document (digital or paper-based) from a national or state-level public health body that includes, as a minimum:

• forename and surname(s)
• date of birth
• vaccine brand and manufacturer
• date of vaccination for every dose
• country or territory of vaccination and/or certificate issuer

If your document from a public health body does not include all of these, you must follow the non-vaccinated rules.

If you are fully vaccinated, but do not qualify under these fully vaccinated rules, you must follow the non-vaccinated rules.

 

Travel from the rest of the world to England if you are not fully vaccinated

From 4am Monday 4 October, you must follow these rules if you:

• do not qualify under the fully vaccinated rules
• are partially vaccinated
• are not vaccinated

Before you travel to England you must:

• take a pre-departure COVID-19 test – to be taken in the 3 days before you travel to England
• book and pay for day 2 and day 8 COVID-19 tests – to be taken after arrival in England
• complete your passenger locator form – any time in the 48 hours before you arrive in England

After you arrive in England you must:

• quarantine at home or in the place you are staying for 10 days
• take a COVID-19 test on or before day 2 and on or after day 8
• You may be able to end quarantine early if you pay for a private COVID-19 test through the Test to Release scheme.

Travel into England from Ireland, the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man

If you’re travelling to England from within the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, as long as you have not been outside of these countries in the past 10 days before you arrive in England you do not need to take any COVID-19 tests or complete a passenger locator Form.

Travel into England from red list countries

If you have been in a country or territory on the red list in the last 10 days, you will only be allowed to enter the UK if you are a British or Irish national or you have residence rights in the UK.

Before you travel to England, you must:

• take a pre-departure COVID-19 test – to be taken in the 3 days before you travel to England
• book a quarantine hotel package, including 2 COVID-19 tests
• complete your passenger locator form – any time in the 48 hours before you arrive in England

When you arrive in England, you must quarantine in a managed hotel, including 2 COVID-19 tests.

The rules for entry into England from red list countries apply even if you are fully vaccinated.

A full list of countries and territories on England’s travel red list can be found at: Red, amber, green lists: check the rules for travel to England from abroad - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Travelling abroad from England

Before you travel abroad, you need to check the entry rules for the country you want to go to.

You should check foreign travel advice to find out if the country you want to go to will allow people from England to enter

Foreign travel advice will also tell you if you will need to:

• show proof of a negative COVID-19 test or proof of vaccination status to enter a country
• quarantine when you arrive there

What are the international travel rules into the rest of the UK?

Scotland and Northern Ireland Governments have announced that their current entry rules relating to international travel will also change from 4 October, in line with the new rules set out for England.

As of yet, there has been no announced changes from the Welsh Government on entry rules for international travellers heading to Wales

Entry rules into Wales are currently much stricter than if you are entering any of the other UK nations. For example, you must take a test even if you are a UK citizen.in the 3 days before you start your journey to Wales and you will need to present the proof of your negative test before you board to travel to Wales.

Arriving in Wales without proof of a negative test result could land you with a fine of £500.

Full details of travel rules for visitors to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can be found at:

Scotland: Coronavirus (COVID-19): international travel and managed isolation (quarantine) - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Wales: Travel to Wales: COVID-19 testing and isolation | GOV.WALES
Northern Ireland: Coronavirus (COVID-19): changes to international travel rules from 4 October | nidirect

Green list change: What does it mean for unvaccinated people?

Previously and up until 4 October, unvaccinated people coming from Green List countries to the UK could skip quarantine.

After 4 October anyone who is not fully vaccinated and entering England from any of the countries that were previously on the Green List will need to:

• will need to quarantine for 10 days
• take a pre-departure Covid-19 test – to be taken in the 3 days before you travel to England
• book and pay for day 2 and day 8 Covid-19 tests – to be taken after arrival in England
• complete a passenger locator form

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