Entry to Belgium - OK to use self-administered certified test

Soot2006

Having changed my France travel plans and now spending Christmas in quarantine in Belgium with my sister who lives there, I am trying to get all my ducks in a row.

I had purchased a fit to fly test from Chronomics -- is this acceptable for entry into Belgium? 

Ideally I'd like to hear from people who have travelled recently as there is conflicting info across different websites.

The government-page doesn't address this question; some Belgian one specified "administered by a professional" which would rule out Chronomics etc, so I'd need to book something quick, but thought I'd see if anyone had recent personal experience travelling to Belgium from the UK. 

Soot2006

So I couldn't find confirmation or not that self-administered tests were acceptable; and a few of the Belgian pages specifically state "RAT administered by a professional" so I have booked one near the Eurostar terminal in London.  To be on the safe side. Money-making scam!

Saria

Can I ask where you read that it needs to be administered by a professional?
I'm going to Belgium on Tuesday and I bought RAT tests to take ourselves tomorrow. I've been reading the advice here: https://www.info-coronavirus.be/en/travels/

It just seems to mention PCR or RAT tests before traveling, then a PCR test on day 1 and day 7 while we are in Belgium.

Soot2006

I can't find it again, it came up in several places although not on any government pages; only blog or articles. Couldn't find any personal experiences. The self-administered one is probably fine, or it would be more obvious that it isn't because I imagine people would be complaining about that! but I also couldn't find Belgium on this sort of list: https://www.c19testing.co.uk/rapidtravel/ - of course info might be out of date..

For £30 for the "professional" swab near the train station vs the £18.50 Chronomics one which I can keep for some other travel some other time, I decided I was too paranoid to take the risk.

I am finding this travel prep extremely stressful; almost embarrassingly so!

Saria

Soot2006 said:

I can't find it again, it came up in several places although not on any government pages; only blog or articles. Couldn't find any personal experiences. The self-administered one is probably fine, or it would be more obvious that it isn't because I imagine people would be complaining about that! but I also couldn't find Belgium on this sort of list: https://www.c19testing.co.uk/rapidtravel/ - of course info might be out of date..

For £30 for the "professional" swab near the train station vs the £18.50 Chronomics one which I can keep for some other travel some other time, I decided I was too paranoid to take the risk.

I am finding this travel prep extremely stressful; almost embarrassingly so!

We took our RAT ones today and got our certificate, so hopefully it will be fine. We are taking RAT with us as well for our return, unless we can use our PCR results from Day 7. We'll see tomorrow if they let us board Eurostar! 

And I get you about being paranoid, I've been triple checking everything, keep going over all the rules and restrictions. Even printed out and filled in one of the forms for France, even though we probably don't need it. 

Travelling was already stressful, now it's just so much worse with all the extra paperwork and QR codes and apps you need to keep track of. 

Soot2006

Saria said:

Soot2006 said:

I can't find it again, it came up in several places although not on any government pages; only blog or articles. Couldn't find any personal experiences. The self-administered one is probably fine, or it would be more obvious that it isn't because I imagine people would be complaining about that! but I also couldn't find Belgium on this sort of list: https://www.c19testing.co.uk/rapidtravel/ - of course info might be out of date..

For £30 for the "professional" swab near the train station vs the £18.50 Chronomics one which I can keep for some other travel some other time, I decided I was too paranoid to take the risk.

I am finding this travel prep extremely stressful; almost embarrassingly so!

We took our RAT ones today and got our certificate, so hopefully it will be fine. We are taking RAT with us as well for our return, unless we can use our PCR results from Day 7. We'll see tomorrow if they let us board Eurostar! 

And I get you about being paranoid, I've been triple checking everything, keep going over all the rules and restrictions. Even printed out and filled in one of the forms for France, even though we probably don't need it. 

Travelling was already stressful, now it's just so much worse with all the extra paperwork and QR codes and apps you need to keep track of. 

It's a nightmare. If you're on the 15.05 train, "see" you there haha.

My mother is a frequent traveller (as in, 3-4 international work trips per month) and she says over half the time no one ever checks her documents or QR codes ... But she is also an old lady working for a European agency, so if they going to be lazy about checks I reckon she's the obvious choice to just let through !

Saria

Soot2006 said:

Saria said:

Soot2006 said:

I can't find it again, it came up in several places although not on any government pages; only blog or articles. Couldn't find any personal experiences. The self-administered one is probably fine, or it would be more obvious that it isn't because I imagine people would be complaining about that! but I also couldn't find Belgium on this sort of list: https://www.c19testing.co.uk/rapidtravel/ - of course info might be out of date..

For £30 for the "professional" swab near the train station vs the £18.50 Chronomics one which I can keep for some other travel some other time, I decided I was too paranoid to take the risk.

I am finding this travel prep extremely stressful; almost embarrassingly so!

We took our RAT ones today and got our certificate, so hopefully it will be fine. We are taking RAT with us as well for our return, unless we can use our PCR results from Day 7. We'll see tomorrow if they let us board Eurostar! 

And I get you about being paranoid, I've been triple checking everything, keep going over all the rules and restrictions. Even printed out and filled in one of the forms for France, even though we probably don't need it. 

Travelling was already stressful, now it's just so much worse with all the extra paperwork and QR codes and apps you need to keep track of. 

It's a nightmare. If you're on the 15.05 train, "see" you there haha.

My mother is a frequent traveller (as in, 3-4 international work trips per month) and she says over half the time no one ever checks her documents or QR codes ... But she is also an old lady working for a European agency, so if they going to be lazy about checks I reckon she's the obvious choice to just let through !

Ooh were you traveling on the 21st as well? We were on the same train then! 😄

I hope you got through ok! We were fine with our self administered tests from Randox, no issues there. It's just a big faff though! Hopefully it'll all be fine on the way back too. 😊

Soot2006

I got there and back.  Yes, all a big faff - they barely looked at any documents anyway in the end. The PCR in Brussels was really well organised ... All's well that ends well, but I'm not in a hurry to do it all again!