Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

COVID-19

Sweden tightens restrictions for tourists from six countries including the US

Sweden's entry restrictions today come back into force for travellers from the US and five other countries.

Published: 2 September 2021 09:04 CEST
Updated: 6 September 2021 07:48 CEST
a man in front of a plane at a US airport
Sweden has reintroduced the entry ban for US travellers. Photo: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

The Swedish government last week formally extended Sweden’s non-EU/EEA entry ban until October 31st, as The Local reported last week.

There are several exceptions to the ban including those travelling for specific reasons, as well as from certain countries, but six countries were on Thursday removed from the exempt list of “safe countries”: the United States, Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro and Northern Macedonia, based on a rise in Covid-19 infections in those countries. From September 6th, the entry ban applies to these countries, too.

EXPLAINED: Can non-EU travellers get to Sweden via Denmark?

That doesn’t necessarily mean all travel from those countries will be banned, as travellers may fall into another exempted category, such as travelling for urgent family reasons or if they have EU citizenship or a Swedish residence permit.

The decision to reimpose restrictions on these six countries came from an EU recommendation.

Q&A: Answers to your questions about Sweden’s latest travel rules

Sweden currently makes no distinction between vaccinated and unvaccinated travellers when it comes to travel from outside the European Union, but the government hinted that further exemptions for vaccinated travellers “resident in certain third countries” may be on the way.

“There are a number of countries with which Sweden has close relations. There, the government will now investigate the possibility of exempting fully vaccinated residents in certain third countries,” Interior Minister Mikael Damberg told the TT news agency on Thursday.

“I am thinking primarily of the United Kingdom, but also the United States, even though the United States is more complex and many states have very different rules.”

Neither he nor the government’s statement on Thursday gave any indication as to when such exemptions may be introduced.

Member comments

  2. I am confused because on Krisinfo, US is still in the exemption list and the website was updated on the 2nd. https://www.krisinformation.se/en/hazards-and-risks/disasters-and-incidents/2020/official-information-on-the-new-coronavirus/travel-restrictions

    This is what it says:

    “If you are a foreign national from a country outside the EU/EEA
    There is a ban on non-essential travel to Sweden from countries outside the EU/EEA. The ban applies to foreign nationals from countries outside the EU/EEA and will remain in effect until 31 October 2021. Certain individuals who have particularly urgent needs or who are going to carry out essential services in Sweden may be exempt.
    Foreign nationals who fulfil the requirements for an exemption are advised to get tested for Covid-19 when they arrive in Sweden.

    A number of countries are exempt from the entry ban. The decisive factor is whether you live in one of the countries, not if you are a citizen. Travellers to Sweden should therefore be prepared to provide documentation showing that they live in one of the aforementioned countries in order to be granted entry.
    Exempted travellers need to show results from a negative Covid-19 test no more than 48 hours old before entry.
    Currently exempt countries and terrirories: Australia, New Zealand, Rwanda, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Israel, Japan, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Macao, North Macedonia, Serbia, Taiwan, and the USA.”

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

EUROPEAN UNION

How many travellers are turned away at European borders because of 90 day limit?

Many Non-EU nationals, including Britons since Brexit, need to make sure they don't go over the 90-day rule in the EU/Schengen area. But how many people are turned away at European borders because they overstayed?

Published: 21 May 2023 12:19 CEST
How many travellers are turned away at European borders because of 90 day limit?

The 2021 Ironman 70.3 World Champion, UK’s Lucy Charles-Barclay, may not be able to participate in the next race of the season, on the 21st of May in Kraichgau, Germany.

The reason? She has already used 88 of the 90 days she could spend in the Schengen area over a 180-day period, the athlete said on Instagram.

Non-EU travellers, who since Brexit include Brits, have to be aware of the 90-day rule when it comes to visiting the EU and Schengen area.

People can travel without border checks within countries that have signed up to the Schengen Agreement. These include EU members except for Bulgaria, Cyprus, Ireland and Romania. Non-EU members Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland are also part of the Schengen zone.

Non-EU passport holders who are allowed to visit Schengen countries without a visa can stay for maximum 90 days in any 180-day period, regardless of the number of states they go to. This means frequent visitors to EU countries, such as those who own second homes there, need to keep a careful check on how many days they have built up.

READ ALSO: How does the 90-day rule work for the EU/Schengen area?

The 90-day limit is meant for visits only, so people who intend to become residents have to follow different procedures.

Anyone who wants to stay longer than 90 days in every 180 must apply for a national visa for the country they intend to visit.

Passengers wait under panels at Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport, in the northeastern outskirts of Paris, on March 4, 2023.(Photo by Geoffroy Van der Hasselt / AFP)

If overstayers are caught they will most likely be ordered to leave, fined or even banned from the Schengen zone for a period of time. Since Brexit, these rules also apply to UK citizens, to the frustration of many second home owners in France and Spain.

The European Union plans to introduce a new border system, the EU entry/exit system, that will require biometric data, including facial images and fingerprints of all passengers entering the EU, helping authorities to systematically identify overstayers.

Travellers refused entry over the 90-day rule

Overall, some 141,060 non-EU citizens were refused entry into the EU in 2022 for various reasons, which are explained below.

Overall the largest number of refusals were reported by Poland (23,330), Hungary (15,780), Croatia (11,800) and Ireland (9,240). Ukrainian citizens accounted for the largest number of refusals, as has been the case in recent years.

According to the latest data published by the EU statistical office Eurostat, in 2022 almost 20,000 people (19,290) were refused entry at the Schengen area’s external borders because they has already exceeded the 90-day limit on previous trips.

This figure was a slight rise on the 2019 figure of 17,695. In the 2020 and 2021 the number dropped to around 10,000 travellers refused entry for having passed the 90-day limit, but the drop can be explained by fewer people on the move due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Of the 20,000 refused entry in 2022 over the 90-day rule, more than two thirds were stopped at the Polish (7,570) and Hungarian (5,475) borders. Again most of them were from Ukraine as was the case in 2019. It is not clear whether these were recorded before Poland and Hungary opened their borders to the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian’s fleeing the Russian invasion in late February.

Among the countries covered by The Local, Italy refused entry to 695 non-EU citizens because of the 90/180 Schengen rule; Germany denied entry to 465; Spain 345; Switzerland 175; France 170; Austria 125; Sweden 40; and Denmark 30, according to data published recently.

Despite the confusion for Britons after Brexit it appears most travellers are at least aware of the 90 day rule given the small number that were refused entry.

Only 195 British citizens were refused entry into European countries in 2022 because of the 90 day rule. Of these, Switzerland rejected 25; Sweden, Austria and Denmark 10 each; France 5. The figure for Spain read “zero”, suggesting Spanish authorities had not made the data available.

For US citizens the number of travellers turned away at the EU borders last year for having already passed the 90-day limit was 90. The numbers were even smaller for Canadians and Australians but this will be likely linked not only to a low number of frequent travellers to the EU from distant countries. In other words if they have passed the 90 day limit they are unlikely to return within the 180 day period.

As for travellers from India, the 90-day rule does not apply to them because they need a visa to enter the Schengen area.

Other reasons non-EU citizens are turned away

Apart from the 90 day rule there are other reasons why non-EU travellers will be turned away at Europe’s borders ranging from whether they are considered to be public threat or an alert has been issued about them to the fact their passport may be out of date or they have no valid visa or residency permit. Officially non-EU visitors could be turned away if they are not considered to have the means to pay for their trip, however the figures show only 10 people were refused entry (all to the Netherlands) for this reason.

READ ALSO: Are UK tourists in Spain really being asked to prove €100 a day?

Whilst most non-EU travellers have been aware of the rules around valid travel documents it appears many Britons have been caught out since Brexit.

Visitors entering Schengen countries must have a document issued in the ten years before the date of entry and valid until three months after the planned departure date. Since Brexit many British travellers, unaware their passports were invalid, have been turned away at airports and ports.

France for example denied access to its territory – and the Schengen area – to 105 UK citizens because they held no valid travel document.

The total for British citizens turned away from European countries because of invalid travel documents was 335, with 40 denied access to Italy and 30 to Switzerland.

In total 1,305 UK nationals were denied entry at the European external borders in 2022 because of reasons ranging from overstays to no valid visa or document, insufficient means of subsistence or being considered a public threat.

France – which has the largest number of arrivals from the UK due to its proximity – recorded the largest number (440), followed by Switzerland (150), Sweden (75), Italy (60), Germany (45), Denmark (40), Austria (15). Data for Norway was not available at the time of publishing.

Sweden, where authorities have come under pressure over their treatment of British residents after Brexit, refused entry to 40 Britons in 2022 who did not have a valid visa or residence permit.

When it comes to other nationalities, some 1,020 American citizens were turned away at Europe’s borders for various reasons in 2022 and the figure for Indian nationals was 2,045. Just 140 Canadians were turned away and 50 Australian nationals.

SHOW COMMENTS