The Diplomat
The Ministry of the Interior has issued an order to extend restrictions on entry into Spain by air for passengers from thirteen countries outside the European Union and the Schengen Area in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including new variants.
The order, signed by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and published yesterday in the Official State Gazette (BOE), extends the restrictions on entry by air until May 31. The objective of this measure, according to the Ministry, is “to face the risk derived from new variants and the epidemiological situation suffered by some third countries” and will be adapted, therefore, to the evolution of the pandemic in these third countries.
Specifically, travelers coming, with or without stopovers, from India, Brazil, South Africa, Botswana, Comoros, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Peru and Colombia may only enter national territory, as of May 1, if they are “persons resident in Spain or Andorra, or Spanish citizens and their spouse or partner with whom they maintain a union analogous to the conjugal one registered in a public registry, and those ascendants and descendants who live under their care, provided they travel with or to join them”.
They may also do so if they are transport personnel, sailors and aeronautical personnel necessary to carry out air transport activities, diplomatic, consular, international organizations, military, civil protection and members of humanitarian organizations, in the exercise of their functions or persons who can document reasons of force majeure or situation of need, or whose entry is permitted for humanitarian reasons.
This measure has been adopted with the objective of “facing the risk derived from new variants and the epidemiological situation suffered by some third countries” and is adopted in line with the measures adopted by the Ministry of Health to establish the quarantine measure for persons arriving, with or without intermediate stopovers, from Brazil, South Africa, Botswana, Comoros, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Peru and Colombia. The Interior order is also in line with the Health Ministry’s decision to establish quarantine conditions for persons traveling, with or without stopovers, from India as of May 1.
The restrictions on entry by air for passengers from countries outside the European Union and the Schengen Area have been extended and adapted to the evolution of the pandemic in the different countries. The latest extension, which came into force on March 26, expired at midnight on Friday, April 30. “All these restrictions are adopted in accordance with the recommendations of the European Union for the temporary restriction of non-essential travel to residents of countries outside the EU and the Schengen Area”, according to the Government.
