Spain Reopens Borders to 12 Third-Countries, Denmark Reopens to 6

Spanish authorities have decided to open their borders to residents of 12 third-countries for tourism and other purposes.

The decision comes in line with the European Council’s recommendations published on 30 June.

From the date of 4 July, legal residents of Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, and Uruguay are officially being permitted to enter Spain for short-term purposes. This is assuming that the traveler holds the required documents, such as passports and Schengen visas.

Spanish authorities have also decided to open their borders to legal residents of Algeria, China, and Morocco, given that reciprocity is shown between Spain and the three countries. This is because Spain usually shares a high volume of travelers entering and exiting any of the three other countries.

“The Government has decided to gradually lift restrictions on passenger access across Spain’s external borders to residents of the fifteen non-EU countries recommended by the Council of the European Union (EU) on June 30. In the case of China, Morocco and Algeria, the reopening of borders is contingent on these countries acting reciprocally and in turn reopening their borders to residents of Spain,” reads a press release published by the Spanish Prime Minister’s office.

The action to reopen Spain’s borders to the selected countries became active at 00:00 on 4 July 2020 after being signed by the Spanish Minister of the Interior Fernando Grande-Marlaska.

At the same time, Denmark has begun to open its borders to legal residents of 6 third-countries from 1 July 2020.

Residents of Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and Thailand can now travel to and enjoy Denmark with short-term Schengen Visas for non-essential purposes.

Denmark’s border opening also come in line with the same list of the European Council’s recommendations for whom can enter Schengen and EU Member States from 30 June. However, Danish authorities have narrowed the list down even further than Spain.

According to Danish authorities, although Denmark supports a common EU approach to reopening, Denmark needs to remain sure that they will not “suddenly lose control of COVID-19 at home.” They intend to do this by enacting certain “national safety valves” to keep the virus at bay while still being able to open to some tourists, travelers, business people, etc.

“On the Danish side, we support a common EU approach based on objective criteria. But of course, we need to make sure that we do not suddenly lose control of COVID-19 at home. Some countries outside the EU do not want the same reliable data on testing and infection that we know in Denmark and the EU. Therefore, some national safety valves are needed, so we are sure the infection will not run smoothly,” Danish Justice Minister Nick Hekkeru said.

It is still unclear exactly when other Schengen Member States will be opening their borders, to whom they will be open, or when Spain and Denmark will be back to business-as-usual in border operations.  

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