EU Travel Restrictions – Travel Guidelines Between India and Europe

Posted on Thursday, December 30th, 2021 by Navneet Kaur Leave a Comment

The emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has prompted countries to reimpose travel restrictions to prevent its impact. Also, currently, there are some European countries where travel to and from India is open with certain EU travel restrictions and guidelines.

The new variant, described as highly mutated, transmissible and dangerous, has more than 50 mutations, 30 of which are located on its spike protein. The variant has been confirmed to be found in more than 10 countries and there are suspected cases of the variant in many other countries as well.

Countries in Europe halted air travel from southern Africa due to growing concern about the new COVID-19 variant, but travel to Europe from India and other parts of the world still continues. Some European countries, including Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Israel, and Austria, have already imposed partial lockdowns due to rising COVID-19 cases.

The criteria when travelling in European countries are broadly classified into three groups namely safe countries, high-risk areas and very high-risk areas. India is classified as a high-risk area by countries in the Schengen Area and the United Kingdom.

A Schengen area is a group of 26 European countries that have mutually abolished passports and all other types of border controls at their mutual borders. The UK is not included in the Schengen area, but the UK travel restrictions enforced when travelling to the country are similar.

Travelling from India to European countries

1. As per the EU travel restrictions and guidelines, only fully vaccinated Indian travellers are allowed to enter the Schengen country with a copy of the Covid-19 PCR test done 48 hours before arrival.
2. Travellers will also need a health declaration and a history of the countries they have travelled to in the past 14 days. Upon arrival in any country in the Schengen area, travellers must apply for a “Coronavirus Entry Pass” to travel across the country. 
3. Only fully vaccinated Indian travellers are allowed to enter the country for the purpose of joining the university, visiting a critically ill family member, to work, or performing a funeral. 
4. While travelling during covid, it is necessary for passengers to fill out a Passenger Locator Form at the time of arrival, as per European Union travel restrictions.

Traveling from European countries to India

1. Passengers arriving from the UK will have to undergo an RT-PCR test upon arrival in India and wait for the results before leaving the airport or taking a connecting flight.
2. Passengers will have to wait for their test results at the arrival airport before departure or boarding.
3. If the covid report is negative, they will have to quarantine for seven days. The second test will be done on the 8th day and if the test comes negative, the passengers will have to do self-monitoring for 7 days.
4. The guidelines state that passengers who test positive will be managed in a separate isolation facility and their samples should be sent to INSACOG.
5. From December 1, all passengers travelling to India will have to submit a self-declaration form on the online Air Suvidha Portal before their scheduled journey. This includes details of travel in the last 14 days. They will also have to upload a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR report on the portal, which should have been conducted within 72 hours of the commencement of the journey.

Passenger with layovers in Europe

• Passengers who are in a Schengen country as part of a transit/transfer must have proof that they have a connecting flight to a country outside the Schengen area.
• Passengers must not leave any international transit area of ​​the airport during this period.

Air bubble arrangement with European countries

India has signed an air bubble arrangement with European countries. Indian carriers are now permitted to operate services between India and France, Germany, Netherlands, UK and carry the following categories of persons on such flights:

Important Guidelines: India To European countries

• Foreign nationals destined for European Union/Schengen area, Stranded citizens/residents, South America or Africa only and transiting through the country or the spouses of these persons, whether accompanied or otherwise.
• Any Indian citizen or citizen of Nepal or Bhutan destined for any country in the European Union/Schengen area, South America or Africa and holds a valid visa of the destination country. 

Note: The airlines concerned must ensure that there are no travel restrictions for Indian/Nepali/Bhutani nationals to enter the destination country before issuing tickets/boarding passes to Indian/Nepali/Bhutani passengers.

• Sailors of foreign nationalities and holding Indian passports will be allowed subject to clearance from the Ministry of Shipping. A sailor may only travel to the European Union/Schengen area, South America or Africa.

Important Guidelines – European countries To India

• Indian citizens or citizens of Nepal or Bhutan stranded in any country in the European Union/Schengen Area, South America or Africa.
• OI cardholders and PIO cardholders hold passports of any country.
• All foreign nationals (only from any country in the European Union/Schengen area, South America or Africa) intending to come to India for any purpose (including their dependents on the appropriate category of dependent visa) except those on a tourist visa.
• Sailors from the EU/Schengen Area, South America or Africa only. Passengers travelling on flights from India destined for countries in the European Union/Schengen Area, South America or Africa only. Similarly, only passengers arriving from countries in the EU/Schengen area, South America or Africa are allowed to travel on flights from the Netherlands, Germany, France and the UK.

The Indian government has issued a new regulation for visitors from countries that fall under India’s “at-risk” category. If travellers are from one of these countries, they will need to have a negative RT-PCR test result 72 hours before departure to India, as well as fill out the Air Suvidha online declaration form.

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Our experts provide our clients with the best guidance on flight tickets from India to UK or other European countries. At the same time, we ensure that our customers have the best possible experience with us. Contact us on +91 800 023 5865 to learn about EU travel restrictions and related travel guidelines and make your plans accordingly.