Spain post 4th October? 19 September 2021 at 4:38PM in Coronavirus travel help & info 9 replies 201 views

moneysaver1978

We travel to Spain on 8th and returning to England on 16th October.

According to https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/09/travel-update-15-16-sep/ and https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain/entry-requirements - would I be correct that all we need are:

• Complete Passenger Locator Form online
• Complete Health Control Form online
• Proof of COVID-19 vaccination with NHS app (already done!)
• Take a PCR test within 3 days before returning to England (to be arranged in Spain on 14th)

onashoestring

Not quite

 Fully vaccinated travellers,  will no longer need to take a PDT when travelling to England from Monday 4 October 4am.

You will need the Day 2 test when back in UK, which  until late Oct is still a PCR test . You need to book this before you return to UK and put the booking reference number on yourPLF.

poppycat99

what about children under 18 who havent been vacinated , do they need a test before leaving the uk ? cany find anything on the web

moneysaver1978

onashoestring said:

Not quite

 Fully vaccinated travellers,  will no longer need to take a PDT when travelling to England from Monday 4 October 4am.

You will need the Day 2 test when back in UK, which  until late Oct is still a PCR test . You need to book this before you return to UK and put the booking reference number on yourPLF.

Thank you onashoestring! Ok so to confirm: no tests required when departing UK or entering Spain. Before returning to UK, we need to take either a PCR test or an antigen test in Spain and a "Day 2" PCR test in UK.

This site looks useful https://www.covid19-testing.org/country-page?results=1&direction=entering&country=spain-including-the-canary-islands&date=2021-10-16&vaccine=1&14days=1

Caz3121

poppycat99 said:

what about children under 18 who havent been vacinated , do they need a test before leaving the uk ? cany find anything on the web

it will depend on the requirements of the country they are travelling to, ages for child exemptions can vary

onashoestring

Thank you onashoestring! Ok so to confirm: no tests required when departing UK or entering Spain. Before returning to UK, we need to take either a PCR test or an antigen test in Spain and a "Day 2" PCR test in UK.

From 4th Oct -  ( fully vaccinated)  you don’t need a test before you return to UK - only the Day 2 one when you are back in UK .

I think maybe the confusion is with the term pre- departure test (PDT) - they are talking about taking a test to leave / depart whatever country you are in ( in this case Spain ) not a test before you depart UK -….

in your case ( fully vaccinated) from 4th Oct there is no requirement from UK Gov for a PDT

Doshwaster

onashoestring said:

Thank you onashoestring! Ok so to confirm: no tests required when departing UK or entering Spain. Before returning to UK, we need to take either a PCR test or an antigen test in Spain and a "Day 2" PCR test in UK.

From 4th Oct -  ( fully vaccinated)  you don’t need a test before you return to UK - only the Day 2 one when you are back in UK .

Just to be clear, a pre-departure test won't be needed for flights to airports in England but they will still be required for Scottish airports.

moneysaver1978

onashoestring said:

Thank you onashoestring! Ok so to confirm: no tests required when departing UK or entering Spain. Before returning to UK, we need to take either a PCR test or an antigen test in Spain and a "Day 2" PCR test in UK.

From 4th Oct -  ( fully vaccinated)  you don’t need a test before you return to UK - only the Day 2 one when you are back in UK .

I think maybe the confusion is with the term pre- departure test (PDT) - they are talking about taking a test to leave / depart whatever country you are in ( in this case Spain ) not a test before you depart UK -….

in your case ( fully vaccinated) from 4th Oct there is no requirement from UK Gov for a PDT

I think perhaps my main confusion stemmed from this website (I indicated that we are fully vaccinated):

Before departure from Spain (including the Canary Islands)

Pre-arrival in the UK Antigen Test
You must take a Covid test before you start your journey to England, Scotland or Northern Ireland. This can be either a PCR test or an Antigen test and you must take the test in the 3 days before the service on which you will arrive in England, Scotland or Northern Ireland departs. You can buy and take this test in the country you're travelling to England, Scotland or Northern Ireland from, however, you can also purchase a Pre-Arrival Antigen test from a private provider in the UK and take it abroad with you.

sheramber

At the top of the page

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Rules for arrivals into England are due to change from 01/10/21. We aim to update this site as soon as possible following the announcement. Check again soon for updated information.

Doshwaster

There are load of travel and COVID "advice" sites out there but I wouldn't trust any of them to be current or accurate. I'd only go by the Gov.uk info  (or Scotland, Wales and NI gov site)