EU Countries Now Recognize UK’s NHS COVID Pass As Valid Proof of Immunity for Travel

EU Countries Now Recognize UK’s NHS COVID Pass As Valid Proof of Immunity for Travel

The European Commission has revealed that the United Kingdom’s NHS COVID Pass will now be considered equivalent to the EU Digital COVID-19 Certificate.

The decision to recognise the NHS Pass, which enters into force today, October 29, has been adopted by the EU Commission after the UK met all conditions.

Consequently, starting today, Britons will be able to travel to all EU and several other third countries that have already been connected to the gateway, under the same criteria as those who hold an EU Pass.

More precisely, UK travellers can now travel restriction-free to all countries that are part of the EUDCC as long as they prove that they have been fully vaccinated, recovered from the disease, or hold a negative test result, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

“Good news for travellers to the UK and Armenia! Today, we adopted two new decisions certifying that COVID-19 certificates issued by these two countries are equivalent to the EU Digital COVID Certificate,” the European Commission wrote on its official Twitter account yesterday.

Nonetheless, UK travellers should still meet their destination country’s vaccination requirement by checking if the jab they have been immunised with is accepted by the country they plan on visiting. This can be done by using the vaccine-checker tool developed by VisaGuide.World, which enables travellers worldwide to verify the validity of their vaccine.

In addition, in line with the newly made changes, fully vaccinated Britons will be allowed to attend several indoor and outdoor spaces when travelling to Europe, including bars, restaurants, museums, theatres, shopping centres, and other events without having to convert their certificate or undergo Coronavirus testing several times a week.

Britons were previously required to convert their certificate when travelling to France and some other EU countries in order to be permitted entry to most places. However, with the new changes, they only need to hold one of the certificates.

Commenting on the decision to recognise the NHS Pass, the Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, said that the EU Digital COVID-19 Certificate had supported safe travel while indicating the EU Pass is now a global standard.

“45 countries in four continents are connected to the system, and more will follow in the coming weeks and months. We are open to other countries to join our system,” Reynders added.

Except for the UK, 17 other non-EU countries are also effectively connected to the EU Digital COVID-19 Certificate. The group includes Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Faroes, Iceland, Israel, Lichtenstein, Monaco, Morocco, North Macedonia, Norway, Panama, San Marino, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, and the Vatican City State.

Originally published at: https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/eu-countries-now-recognise-uks-nhs-covid-pass-as-valid-proof-of-immunity-for-travel/