The EU’s List Of Permitted Visitors Is Shrinking

When the European Union adopted a list of 15 nationalities that would be allowed into Europe for tourism from 1 July, the idea was that this was a starting point for a list that would progressively grow.

But rather than growing, the list is shrinking. Earlier this month, Serbians and Montenegrans were removed from the list. EU envoys meeting in Brussels today have decided to remove Algerians from the list. Chinese residents, which were added on condition of reciprocity, are still unable to enter because China is not allowing EU citizens to enter.

That will leave 11 countries on the list: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Morocco, Georgia, Rwanda and Uruguay. According to diplomatic sources, envoys had also wanted to remove Morocco from the list but were met with fierce resistance from countries with large numbers of residents of Moroccan descent – France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The hesitancy to expand the list comes as cases are resurging both in Europe and elsewhere in the world. EU countries lifted lockdown restrictions in June, and an uptick in cases in recent days has prompted fears of an impending second wave.

The list was always intended as a ‘maximal’ list, and most EU countries have still not allowed all the countries in. It is technically up to each individual EU country who they want to allow in, but they have agreed not to allow in any nationality not on the list. Many countries would have preferred to continue the EU’s blanket ban on non-EU citizens, in place since March. But it became necessary to reach an understanding after Greece started allowing in Australians, and was considering allowing in Americans, in June.

The border policy applies to all EU countries, except Ireland which is not in the EU’s passport-free Schengen area but is instead in a common travel area with the UK. Britain is still allowing in all nationalities though it is requiring a quarantine for many countries. The border policy also applies to the non-EU countries in the EU’s Schengen area: Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

The European Commission is maintaining a website, called “Re-Open EU” with the latest information about who can travel to which EU countries. It also contains information about the lockdown restrictions in place in each country, and the latest health situation.