OBSOLETE COVID THREAD News from the USA Embassy in Madrid regarding June 7 (for USA citizens)

[Marbe2]

@Albertagirl you will have to show/have your vaccine card, but
I would not be concerned about the lack of Country ID on it.
My Card does not say USA (country designation either). It names my health organization where I received the shots and has CDC logo. It was never meant to be an international document.

 

[Kathor1]

The relevant Spanish websites do not provide information about the content of the online SpTH form that every traveller on a flight to Spain must fill in.

Even when you start filling in the form, there is barely any additional information other than the labels of the boxes you must fill.

Out of curiosity, I filled in such a SpTH form (in its current version) and made screenshots so that I know what I am talking about.

Filling in the form is quite simple, and as we can conclude from recent reports of people who arrived in Spain, actual control of your vaccination documents at the Spanish airport is rather limited ... if they look at your vaccination documents at all.

It would be interesting to hear what American travellers currently have to show at the gate in the USA to be allowed boarding.

 

[Marbe2]

Agree! If anyone from the USA iis going to Spain can you tell us what is actually being looked at before boarding the plane besides the normal passport? Redundancy is not a problem. The more feedback the
better!

 

[Albertagirl]

When travelling from Spain to Frankfurt and then to Canada, you need to be tested and show proof of a negative Covid-19 test before departure.

Thank you for this information. At the moment, when travelling from just about anywhere to Canada, including Spain, Canadians need to be tested and show proof of a negative Covid-19 test in order to be admitted back into Canada. I already knew that I would have to provide a 72 hour negative PCR test when arriving back in Canada, although I shall be fully vaccinated. And getting such a test in Santiago before heading for the Madrid airport will be much simpler than trying to find somewhere in Barcelona to get the test, as would have been necessary with my previous flight bookings. But in any case, this may change at any point in time between now and my flight back to Canada on Nov. 29.

 

[yolanda Mejia]

Please help me clarify, I’m flying from Miami to Pamplona June 21 I’m vaccinated and I just spoke to Iberia airline and they told me that only the European Union people are allowed to travel to Spain, that I am not allowed to enter Spain. In another note as a vaccinated person do I still need the PCR/ antigen test?

 

[karenfromcali]

The next challenge to my travel arrangements was totally unexpected. Late this morning, Air Canada cancelled all my reservations, blaming unidentified official compulsion. The new reservations which they sent me did not work for me. There was no available booking that did not necessitate at least one transfer in Europe, outside Spanish territory. Finally, I managed to contact an Air Canada reservations worker, who listened to what I wanted, and gave me most of it, at no additional cost. So now I am flying to Valencia, with one stop in London Heathrow, and home to Calgary from Madrid, with one stop in Frankfurt. No travel through or to Barcelona. I have decided to accept landing in countries which might have unknown versions of pandemic regulations. But I feel confident to manage whatever comes and relieved that expensive and challenging quarantine regulations seem to be lessening. Maybe testing requirements will fade away too. It will be good to be able to focus on walking my camino.

I just read this on USA Today news network
‘Americans and many other non-EU nationalities cannot come to Spain for tourism for now.’ So I think you have to have a ‘compelling’ reason if you are not vaccinated.

 

[trecile]

I just read this on USA Today news network
‘Americans and many other non-EU nationalities cannot come to Spain for tourism for now.’ So I think you have to have a ‘compelling’ reason if you are not vaccinated.

Yes, that's exactly what the Spanish government bulletins, and the US Embassy has stated.

 

[Mycroft]

This is a question I’m trying to answer too. I want to fly to the UK first to see family but things are kind of up in the air there right now with the Indian variant. Debating whether to do Camino first then go home to the UK.

Karenfromcali,
I am getting mixed messages but what I think is correct at the moment is UK is still requiring quarantining unless one is coming from certain 'green' countries. Friends who work ambulance services say things have been quite bad in Wales. Scotland of course has its own regulations.
Something is telling me do the pilgrimage first and then see what the policy is for UK. Of course things seem to be changing second by second and there are many entries added over the week that may be more helpful.

 

[Mycroft]

You'll need the forms to travel from the UK in those circumstances, i.e. you'll have stayed in that country for 2-3 weeks -- but no proof of vaccination is currently required of travellers from the UK to Spain, by exemption from the norm.

By contrast, if you travel from US to UK, stay for 2-3 days, and then travel to Spain, you will need such proof, as you would not in that case be considered as travelling from the UK, but from the US. Only after a long enough stay in a country (can't remember/don't know if that's 10 or 14 days) are you considered for these particular purposes as travelling "from" that country if you then go to another.

The only real exception to these complicated rules is if, having travelled to a country in the EU, you then travel across a land border with another country by land travel (not air or sea), where no particular measures have been implemented for such travel. In that case, then you will only need the papers and stuff to enter the first country, but not the other.

Thanks, Jabbapappa, this helps my little brain understand things a bit more--my hang up had been definitions (I am coming from US and after a visit to UK would go to Spain, so do they mean in their regulations me as 'American' or me as having been in UK for for several weeks), which you have helped answer.
Much appreciated. We will see what develops next week!!! And the week after, and the week after, and....

 

[Mycroft]

The next challenge to my travel arrangements was totally unexpected. Late this morning, Air Canada cancelled all my reservations, blaming unidentified official compulsion. The new reservations which they sent me did not work for me. There was no available booking that did not necessitate at least one transfer in Europe, outside Spanish territory. Finally, I managed to contact an Air Canada reservations worker, who listened to what I wanted, and gave me most of it, at no additional cost. So now I am flying to Valencia, with one stop in London Heathrow, and home to Calgary from Madrid, with one stop in Frankfurt. No travel through or to Barcelona. I have decided to accept landing in countries which might have unknown versions of pandemic regulations. But I feel confident to manage whatever comes and relieved that expensive and challenging quarantine regulations seem to be lessening. Maybe testing requirements will fade away too. It will be good to be able to focus on walking my camino.

OMG, Albertagirl, what is unidentified official compulsion? I want that embroidered on my pillow.
Anyway I am glad you got flights sorted. Buen camino.

 

[Prentiss Riddle]

SpTH tip: as of this morning, the SpTH iPhone app was not working for me. At the last step it displayed a spinning circle that never concluded.

So at the suggestion of several people above I went to https://www.spth.gob.es/create on my laptop instead. Success! It took a few minutes to work through all the questions but the server responded immediately at every step, including the email validation.

I hope they fix the problem in the app soon. Otherwise there will be a lot of frustrated travelers, since the official materials are all pushing the app and it's easy to miss that the website is equally valid.

 

[karenfromcali]

Karenfromcali,
I am getting mixed messages but what I think is correct at the moment is UK is still requiring quarantining unless one is coming from certain 'green' countries. Friends who work ambulance services say things have been quite bad in Wales. Scotland of course has its own regulations.
Something is telling me do the pilgrimage first and then see what the policy is for UK. Of course things seem to be changing second by second and there are many entries added over the week that may be more helpful.

So disappointed to hear, UK just announced they are staying closed until approx July 19th. So you are right, I think Camino first is the right, and maybe only way to go right now. My brother is in Wales and I had really hoped to see him. Will see how things look at a later date. Thank you for your reply! Blessings.

 

[JabbaPapa]

So if we are NOT vaccinated we are not allowed in?

The "vaxx passport" is somewhat misnomered, as it covers :

a) vaccinated persons

b) persons with proof of having recovered from Covid19 in the past 6 months

c) those with a negative test within the past 72 hours

Apart from which, there are individual exceptions, such as travellers from the UK, plus some other countries including Israel, needing to provide no Covid proofs, but only the Covid travel document.

Remember these are entry requirements into Spain (and in future, every EU country), saying nothing about exit requirements from your country of residence. These will need to be consulted separately.

 

[JabbaPapa]

In case there's any confusion regarding Americans traveling to Spain, this still stands:

* Unvaccinated U.S. citizens are still not permitted to enter Spain unless they meet very specific requirements or have already obtained special permission from the Government of Spain. Please check the Spanish regulations carefully before attempting to travel. *

The main "specific requirement" where the above is not true, is if the US citizen is travelling not from the US but from a EU or Schengen travel area country.

The regulations concern not the nationality of the traveller, but the country that the travel is from. So that UK citizens travelling to Spain from the US would need to follow the above, not being able to travel to Spain without Covid proofs as they could from the UK.

Though Spanish and EU nationals/residents can travel to Spain from the US with fewer restrictions, i.e. negative test should be sufficient.

 

[JabbaPapa]

I enjoy researching and sharing accurate reliable information.

This is interesting -- my own motivation is an obsession with truth, which can sometimes transcend or sidestep information. Sometimes via intuition ; other times via meta-analyses.

Usually it does no such thing of course, as typically they are the same. Usually, accurate reliable information = truth.

But the differences that there are between the two might well explain the differences that we've had ourselves, occasionally. And to my own regret, at least.

 

[Prentiss Riddle]

I'm happy to say that we flew DFW > Madrid > Pamplona today and it was completely smooth, one week after Spain's reopening to Americans. We of course had our QR codes in hand from the SpTH site and several people along the way wanted to know that we had them but no one scanned them until one desk well through the arrival process in Madrid - beep! green light and we were in.

No one ever asked to see the vaccination card, so my previous worries about the lack of an ID number on the card were moot. Anticlimax, hooray!

 

[Kathor1]

the chosen label BioNTech Manufacturing GmbH surprised me. Many people will not know that Pfizer and BioNTech denotes the same vaccine.

The drop down menu in the SpTH app (mobile or web) has been modified. It now shows the following list of vaccines that vaccinated travellers use to pick the vaccine they had received when applying for the SpTH QR code:

 

[VNwalking]

Yay. I see mine is now on the list.


Many more options than before...things are changing so fast that if you are not travelling immediately tuning out a bit will help maintain sanity. Besides, we have @Kathar1na to keep track. Seriously, it is a huge help to have someone doing this who knows their way around official sources, and who can discern what is BS and what is accurate information.
Gracias, @Kathar1na !

 

[Kathor1]

Breaking news says that the EU will allow non-essential trips from the USA soon, also for non-vaccinated travellers. Bear in mind that this is only a recommendation issued by the EU. Every EU country needs to put this explicitly into their national law for it to be valid.

 

[JabbaPapa]

It's more of a requirement linked to the "vaxx passports", but yes, each country will need to implement its own version of the EU mandate thereto.

And there can always be exceptions, where these or those EU countries could maintain restrictions on travel into their territories supplemental to or more restrictive than the EU norm -- but I would not expect France, Spain, Portugal, or Italy to be among such countries.

Particularly not France, which has just announced the end of outdoor masking tomorrow, the end of curfews on Sunday.

 

[Kathor1]

Just to avoid confusion: The EU vaccination certificates do not concern travellers from the USA to the EU. The law is already in force (since yesterday). It will automatically apply from 1 July 2021 in every EU country. It concerns people who live in the EU and are vaccinated in the EU.

The EU "white" or "safe" country list is separate. According to news reports, not yet officially confirmed, the USA will be put on the same list as currently Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Japan, and a few other countries.

 

[JabbaPapa]

The "vaxx passports" do however concern internal travel in the EU by non-EU citizens, so for example someone travelling from France to Spain on a Camino.

And as to the present scope of the "passport", well it's currently the Spanish trial rollout only, so that the full scope of the incoming common EU policies is not yet clear in detail.

But I would be frankly astonished if the scheme were reserved exclusively for travel by
EU citizens exclusively and from the EU and to the EU only ...

 

[Kathor1]

The "vaxx passports" do however concern internal travel in the EU by non-EU citizens, so for example someone travelling from France to Spain on a Camino.

Non-EU citizens who do not live in the EU and did not get vaccinated in the EU cannot obtain an EU Digital COVID Certificat as proof of their vaccination, which is, btw, the proper and official name - see partial photo of my own certificate below. The only exception are citizens/residents of Iceland, Norway, Lichtenstein and Switzerland. Claiming otherwise will cause confusion and invite questions of "How can I get this" by non-EU people who cannot get it. USA citizens (topic of this thread) will carry their CDC cards as proof of their vaccination while in the EU.

 

[JabbaPapa]

Emmanuel Macron has clearly stated that the intention includes making it available to US citizens -- furthermore, the digital certificate has been made mandatory for ALL persons above 11 years of age for travel to or from Corsica.

i.e. regardless of nationality.

Other countries may implement things differently, but the discrimination by nationality that you suggest for obtaining the "vaxx passport" would be blatantly illegal in France.

 

[JabbaPapa]

One small detail regarding the list of acceptable vaccines -- individual EU/EEA countries will be able to accept vaccines that are not on the EU-approved list. So that some Eastern or Northern countries might accept the Russian Sputnik V, even though it would not be acceptable in the EU generally.

 

[VNwalking]

the discrimination by nationality that you suggest for obtaining the "vaxx passport" would be blatantly illegal in France

I fail to see how a specifically EU initiative for EU citizens would be illegal. And what's with calling it a "vaxx passport"? It is not that but a EU Digital COVID Certificate. That's all.
As @Katharina said very clearly, with a source citation higher up in the thread.

The only exception are citizens/residents of Iceland, Norway, Lichtenstein and Switzerland. Claiming otherwise will cause confusion and invite questions of "How can I get this" by non-EU people who cannot get it. USA citizens (topic of this thread) will carry their CDC cards as proof of their vaccination while in the EU.

 

[Kathor1]

with a source citation higher up in the thread

Just to add: there's a lot of speculation about which options will be available in the future. I stick to what is available at present, especially as regards information for visitors from abroad who are less familiar with current situations in EU countries.

 

[JabbaPapa]

I fail to see how a specifically EU initiative for EU citizens would be illegal.

To provide advantages to travel plus events access to these nationalities but not those would be directly contrary to the Equality principles of the French Constitution.

And I cannot see in official descriptions of the scheme that it is for certain nationalities only, but that the scheme itself shall operate only within the EU and the other named countries.

 

[natefaith]

Let's take this to a new thread.