Americans are now able to visit the European Union again, vaccinated or not. The European Council has updated its list of countries whose citizens and …
Americans are now able to visit the European Union again, vaccinated or not. The European Council has updated its list of countries whose citizens and residents should be allowed to travel freely to the bloc’s 27 member nations, and the United States is finally on it. But before you get on a plane, there are catches. In fact, there could be 27 different combinations of them. While the updated list published Friday is a recommendation on who may be granted entry based on their home country’s health situation, each EU government makes its own border decisions. This includes what nationalities to admit, whether to require PCR or rapid antigen coronavirus tests upon arrival, and whether quarantine is mandatory. And while the European Commission, the EU executive branch, emphatically urges countries to coordinate such rules with their neighbors to ensure mobility, that plea has often fallen on deaf administrative ears. And there’s yet another factor EU governments may take into account when deciding whether to grant access to American travelers: reciprocity. The U.S. government has not yet lifted its ban on non-essential travel by Europeans. It’s a touchy point. European Commission spokesman Adalbert Jahnz explained, «It goes without saying that we would expect the same from partner countries outside the EU for EU citizens traveling to those countries.
