The European Union members agreed last week to add the United States to the list of countries for which they should gradually remove restrictions on non-essential travel.
EU lifts restrictions on non-essential travel for residents of the following countries: Albania, Australia, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, New Zealand, Republic of North Macedonia, Rwanda, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, USA, and China, subject to confirmation of reciprocity.
The United Kingdom (UK) was absent from the list, which is to be reviewed every two weeks.
The EU has no unified COVID-19 tourism or border policy but has been working for months on a joint digital travel certificate for those vaccinated, freshly tested, or recently recovered from the virus. On June 1, the EU Digital COVID Certificate went live.
The EU certificate will be free of charge, secure, and accessible to all. Available in digital format or on paper, it will be a proof that a person has been vaccinated against COVID-19, tested negative, or recovered from an infection.
The free certificates, which will contain a QR code with advanced security features, will allow people to move between European countries without having to quarantine or undergo extra coronavirus tests upon arrival.
Since 10 May, 22 countries have already tested the gateway successfully. And several EU countries have already begun using the system, including Belgium, Spain, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, and Poland. The rest are expected to start using it on July 1.
The EU certificate is mainly meant for EU citizens, but Americans and others can obtain the certificate too.
Some countries, such as Greece, Spain, and France are already permitting fully vaccinated US travelers and/or those who submit a negative PCR test, or meet other special requirements to enter, and soon Americans could be permitted to travel to all 27 EU member states.
