Germany relaxes travel rules for vaccinated non-EU residents

Germany is now allowing people from countries outside the EU to visit if they have been vaccinated, although restrictions on some regions remain. Here’s what you need to know.

What’s changed?

There’s been big news recently for anyone who wants to plan a tourist trip to Germany from outside the EU: on Friday June 25th, Germany lifted entry restrictions for fully vaccinated people coming from many non-EU countries.

Travel had until this point been largely closed off to people from outside the EU since the pandemic hit in early 2020. Only those with exceptional reasons were allowed into the country.

“The federal government will allow entry from third countries for fully vaccinated individuals,” said the Interior Ministry when announcing the plans last week, adding that this move will open up the possibility of tourism once again. 

It comes after Germany put more countries on the ‘safe list’, opening up borders to a host of places including the US. For safe-list countries the restrictions are even more relaxed – travellers can provide proof of being fully vaccinated, a recent negative Covid-19 test or proof of recovery from Covid to enter Germany.

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