UK travel announcement does NOT include expats living abroad

Airlines reported a surge in flight bookings from the UK on Thursday after the government announced that fully vaccinated passengers and their children from England could return from amber-listed countries without quarantine after July 19th, and Wales from July 26th, including Spain and the Canary Islands, the most searched.

EasyJet said that bookings to destinations rated as amber for coronavirus rose by 400%, and holiday bookings increased by 440% week-on-week in the hours since the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, confirmed the change in policy yesterday morning, and British Airways said website traffic almost doubled after the announcement, with Spanish and US amber destinations becoming the most searched destinations.

The news is highly welcome in Spain, where the tourism sector is fearing a new wave of cancellations as the delta strain of the coronavirus continues to spread. On Thursday morning, France’s secretary of state for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, recommended that French nationals avoid travelling to Spain and Portugal.

However, there are conditions with the UK’s announcement which is leaving one sector of people angry and confused, which is expats living abroad, including those here in the Canary Islands.

For the moment the new legislation from July 19^th only applies to UK residents that have been vaccinated by the NHS in the UK, and have access to the NHS for proof of full vaccination on their return.

This means that expats, even if fully vaccinated, will still have to have an antigen before flying to the UK, 10-day quarantine, a day 2 and day 8 PCR test, plus day 5 test and release if wanting to leave quarantine early.

However, the UK is in negotiation with the EU to have the same conditions for entry with the EU Digital Green Certificate for proof of vaccination and could have a reciprocal agreement with Spain in place before that is agreed. The good news though, is that tourism can start again, which by the time an agreement is made, we’ll be able to afford to go!