Russia introduced a complimentary e-visa for St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, and Vladivostok back in 2019 (read more here), and planned to introduce countrywide electronic visa from January 1, 2021 (read more here) to facilitate tourism sector.
The Russian Duma has now adopted a new bill that allows issuance of new Russia wide electronic visas starting on January 21, 2021, that are valid for a stay up to 16 nights.
The Bahamas opened up its borders for international arrivals from July 1 and required passengers to provide a negative Covid-19 PCR test done within ten days of the entry.
The country, however, has seen a recent spike in Covid-19 infections and has decided to ban arrivals from the United States effective this coming Wednesday (July 22, 2020). Visitors from Canada and the European Union are not affected.
Japan’s “Go To Travel”-campaign made international headlines back in May (read more here and here) when first it was thought to offer 50% rebates for travel to and within Japan.
The Japanese government later clarified that the rebate would only apply for domestic travel and, while international travelers wouldn’t be excluded, the country’s border stays closed for most non-Japanese arrival, including foreign residents.
Canada and the United States will extend the land border closure for non-essential traffic for an additional 30 days through August 21, 2020.
The land border has been closed since March. Canadians, however, can enter the US by air but must quarantine upon returning for 14-nights.
Australia’s NSW (New South Wales) begins charging A$,3000 for the mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine upon citizen and resident arrivals to the country.
NSW has already processed and paid for 35,000 citizens and permanent resident hotel quarantines since late March when this facility was instituted. Australia also begins limiting the number of returnees to fewer than 4,000 per week.
The Balinese government on Sunday announced a three-step plan to open the island for tourism that came to a complete halt in March.
Despite rapidly increasing Covid-19 infection rates in Indonesia, he plans to open the island for international arrivals on September 11, 2020 and prays that all goes well.
Two Australian states of Victoria (Melbourne) and New South Wales (Sydney) will close their internal border starting this Wednesday due to an increasing number of Covid-19 cases in Melbourne.
Flights between Sydney and Melbourne (one of the busiest city pairs in the world) will be canceled. It is unclear when the border is reopened.
The United Kingdom began requiring all arriving passengers to self-quarantine for 14-days effective early June (read more here), and this rule was going to be revisited early July.
The UK government has now released a list of safe countries from which you can arrive without having to go through the quarantine as long as you have not been to any of the “naughty” ones such as the United States or Sweden in the preceding 14 days.
European Union yesterday released the list of countries (read more here) that its member states and Schengen countries could allow entering the bloc from July 1.
Italy has decided that it will continue to require arrivals outside of the bloc + Noway, Switzerland, Iceland, and Switzerland (Schengen countries that are not part of the EU) to quarantine for 14 days upon the arrival. It is unclear how Italy will and can monitor non-bloc visitors that come through via another country.
Canada Border Services Agency extended the entry ban by a month that was set to expire on June 30th.
Most foreign visitors are now not allowed to enter through July 31, 2020, and a 14-day quarantine requirement for those that do, including Canadian citizens, is extended until August 31.
The European Union today confirmed the 15 countries whose residents are going to be welcomed to the Union and Schengen countries (Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, and Liechtenstein) starting July 1, 2020.
Although the majority of the EU approved this list, it is up to individual countries to decide when they will lift the entry restrictions and if they allow other third-country residents to arrive as well.
Greece has accepted arrivals from select counties to Athens and Thessaloniki from June 15, and the program is extending to all islands effective July 1, 2020.
All international arrivals (air, boat, and land) need to fill out a new online Passenger Locator Form (PLF) minimum 48 hours before of arrival providing information on your previous travels and address in Greece.
European Union countries have been debating over the past week in Brussels what third-country nationals are allowed to travel to the bloc starting in July.
There have been plenty of leaks from EU about two separate draft lists of around 50 or so countries that have now been slimmed down to just 15.
European Union countries are debating in Brussels what nationalities are allowed to enter the bloc starting next month, and haven’t been able to finalize the list yet.
There have been drafts circulating, and it appears that countries such as the United States, Russia, and Brazil won’t be welcomed yet due to high current infection rates.
