Germany will be allowing fully vaccinated travelers to enter for non-essential purposes, according to an announcement published by the German Ministry of Interior, Building, and Community.
The action will be in-force from Friday, 25 June 2021 forward.
From this point forward, vaccinated travelers will be following the rules as-usual for entry and residence. The new action allows for seemingly any reason for entry and could include travel and tourism, residence, employment, and business purposes.
“From 25 June 2021, the Federal Government will allow entry of fully vaccinated travellers from countries outside of the European Union. Fourteen days after they received their last required vaccine dose, they may enter Germany for any valid purpose – e.g. as a tourist or to visit family and friends – provided that they meet the general requirements of residence law,” the announcement reads.
Travelers will need to be fully vaccinated and have received their last dose of vaccination no later than 14 days before arriving in Germany. In addition, entrants will need to provide proof of vaccination written in English, German, French, Italian, or Spanish in digital or paper format.
Further, travelers will need to be vaccinated with a European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved vaccine. These include the BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Janssen-Cilag vaccines.
Entry into Germany from areas of particular epidemiological concern is still not permitted, however.
“Entering Germany from virus variant areas of concern is still not permitted. The rules of the Ordinance on Coronavirus Entry Regulations (Coronavirus-Einreiseverordnung), including the ban on transport from areas of variants of concern, continue to apply in full,” reads the announcement.
However, the “areas of variants of concern” are not specified in the Ministry’s announcement.
Germany’s actions towards finally opening their borders to third country nationals follows other Member State’s efforts to re-vamp the Schengen Area’s freedom of movement guarantee. Other Member States that have begun allowing third country nationals to enter include France, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, and others.
To read the Ministry of Interior, Building and Community’s announcement, click this link.
For more information from the Paul-Ehrlich-Institute and vaccinations, click this link.
