Switzerland will no longer be recognizing third country vaccine passports, according to an announcement made on the country’s official tourism website MySwitzerland.com.
The new rule for vaccine passports states that only those issued by EU/Schengen/EFTA are recognized. This means that any vaccine passport issued by a third country, including the United States and Canada, are no longer recognized for travelers coming to Switzerland, Schengen-Visa.com reports.
The decision takes effect on Monday, 13 September 2021.
The new rules also states that vaccine passports are required for doing “any indoor activity” with the exception of visiting shops and using public transportation. Travelers from third countries holding a third country vaccine passport will not be allowed to participate in “any indoor activity” unless they hold the EU’s Digital Covid Certificate or a vaccine passport issued by a Member State.
“As per decision of the Federal Council, the extended COVID-19 certificate duty comes into effect as of Monday, Sep 13, 2021: for any “public indoor activity” (except visiting shops and commuting by public transportation), access will be granted upon a valid CoVid certificate (vaccinated, recovered or tested) only. As only Swiss as well as any other EU/EFTA/Schengen COVID-19 certificates are acknowledged, all our guests from all Non-European countries incl. USA and Canada will become subject to repeated testing during their stay in Switzerland,” the announcement reads.
Travelers to Switzerland will need to be tested repeatedly for Covid-19 during their stay, according to the announcement. This most likely means that guests will need to be tested every 3 days.
According to the announcement, free-of-charge Covid-19 antigen speed tests will be available to third country citizens until 30 September 2021.
The organization, Switzerland Tourism, is now lobbying for a more practical solution to the newest mess created by politicians trying to solve the Covid-19 problem. The new rules are likely just an oversight made by policymakers, creating unintended technicalities that make traveling to the country more complicated amongst Covid-19 than it already was.
One solution brought up by Switzerland Tourism is the possibility of allowing anyone vaccinated with a World Health Organization (WHO) vaccine to enter the country and continue to travel Switzerland without interference.
“Switzerland Tourism is lobbying strongly for a pragmatic and easy solution, so that oversees guest vaccinated with a vaccine listed in the WHO emergency listing can continue traveling in Switzerland with as little interference as possible,” the announcement reads.
No further actions have yet been announced.
To read Switzerland Tourism’s announcement, click this link.
