Travel and COVID-19

If you are a third-country national, in order to enter Spain, you must comply with the entry requirements set out by the Ministry of the Interior in Order INT / 657/2020, of July 17 , which modifies the criteria for the application of a temporary restriction of non-essential travel from third countries to the European Union and Schengen partner countries for reasons of public order and public health due to the health crisis caused by COVID-19.

Any third-country national will be subject to denial of entry, for reasons of public order or public health, unless they belong to one of the following categories:

1. Habitual residents in the European Union, Schengen Associated States, Andorra, Monaco, The Vatican (Holy See) or San Marino who go to that country, proving it documentary.
2. Holders of a long-term visa issued by a Member State or Schengen Associated State who are going to that country.
3. Health professionals, including health researchers, and elderly care professionals who go to or return from exercising their work activity.
4. Transport, marine and aeronautical personnel necessary to carry out air transport activities.
5. Diplomatic, consular, international, military, civil protection and members of humanitarian organizations, in the exercise of their functions.
6. Students who carry out their studies in the Member States or Schengen Associated States and who have the corresponding permit or visa for long-term stay, provided that they go to the country where they are studying, and that the entry occurs during the academic year or previous 15 days. If the destination is Spain and the duration of the stay is up to 90 days, it must be proven that the studies are carried out in an authorized teaching center in Spain, registered in the corresponding administrative registry, following a full-time program during this phase and in-person, and that leads to obtaining a degree or study certificate.
7. Highly qualified workers whose work is necessary and cannot be postponed or carried out remotely, including participants in high-level sports events that take place in Spain. These circumstances must be justified documentary.
8. Persons traveling for duly accredited imperative family reasons .
9. People who travel for reasons of force majeure or need, or whose entry is allowed for humanitarian reasons, proving it documentary.
10. Residents of third countries listed in the Annex. Provided that they come directly from them, have transited exclusively through other countries included in the list or have carried out only international transits in airports located in countries that do not appear in the annex. For residents of China, , reciprocity is pending.

    ANNEX: Third countries and special administrative regions whose residents are not affected by the temporary restriction of non-essential trips to the EU through the external borders in the terms set out in this order:

    • I. States
      1. Argentina
      2. Australia
      3. Bahréin
      4. Canada
      5. Chile
      6. Colombia
      7. Indonesia
      8. Kuwait
      9. New Zealand
      10. Peru
      11. Qatar
      12. Rwanda
      13. Saudi Arabia
      14. South Korea
      15. United Arab Emirates
      16. Uruguay
      17. China
    • II. Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China
      • Hong Kong SAR
      • Macao SAR
    • III. Entities and territorial authorities not recognised as States by at least one Member State
      • Taiwan
11. Persons with a vaccination certificate, that the Ministry of Health recognizes for this purpose, after verification by the health authorities, as well as their accompanying minors (under 12 years of age). In the case of persons residing in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland who come directly from the United Kingdom, they must also arrive in Spain with a vaccination certificate as of 1/12/2021.

All third-country nationals, even if they belong to one of the above categories, who, after verification by the health authorities, do not meet the health control requirements for COVID-19 established by the Ministry of Health, will be subjected to denial of entry for public health reasons.

All persons travelling to Spain from another country (including children of any age, travellers in transit and residents in Spain returning home), must complete the Health Control Form associated with their trip. When travelling by air, this can be done via the WEB www.spth.gob.es or the APP, Spain Travel Health-SpTH (available for Android and iOS) . When travelling by sea (ferries),, this can be done through the following link: spthm.puertos.es .

After finishing the form, you will get a QR code that you will have to present both at the time of boarding and upon your arrival in Spain at the health controls.

At the present time it is not mandatory to present any form if the trip to Spain is by land.

For more information, see the section "Learn more about the new sanitary control process" or the FAQs .

NEW: If you come from a HIGH RISK country, at the health controls on arrival in Spain, you will be required your SpTH QR code together with a vaccination or recovery certificate and, in addittion, a SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic test certificate with a negative result.

Additional requirements: EU Digital COVID Certificate and other certificates

From June 7th 2021, if you come from a country/area considered at risk for COVID-19, you must present a certificate or document certifying vaccination, an active infection diagnostic test (AIDT) or recovery from COVID-19. These certificates will be different if they have been issued in a country of the European Union (EU Digital COVID Certificate) or in a third country.

Children under the age of 12 years are exempt from submitting these certificates, but not from completing the Health Control Form and obtaining a QR code.

EU Digital COVID Certificate

On 17 March 2021, the European Commission adopted a legislative proposal to create a digital certificate to facilitate the safe free movement of citizens in the EU during the COVID-19 pandemic. The EU Digital COVID Certificate (DCC) will be valid in all EU Member States and will be issued by the competent authorities of the EU countries.

The EU Digital COVID Certificate may be of three different types (vaccination, diagnostic test or recovery) and any of them may be used by travellers to enter Spain, as long as they meet the following criteria:

• COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate. Valid 14 days after receiving the complete regimen. Any vaccine authorised by the European Union (European Medicines Agency, EMA) and WHO will be accepted. Certificates with vaccines not authorised by these agencies are also acceptable, but the last dose administered must be of one of the authorised vaccines. Complete vaccination schedules are defined as those established in the COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy in Spain .
• Certificate of a diagnostic test for SARSCoV2 with negative result. The following diagnostic tests shall be admissible:
  • NAAT- nucleic acid amplification tests (e.g.: RT-PCR, RT-LAMP, TMA, HAD, NEAR, CRISPR, SDA), with sampling within the previous 72 hours to arrival in Spain.
  • RAT-rapid antigen test, with sampling within the previous 48 hours to arrival in Spain. You can consult the list of rapid tests approved by the European Commission through this link
• A COVID-19 Recovery certificate (valid from day 11 after the first positive NAAT and up to 180 days after the sample date)

• COVID-19 certificates of vaccination, diagnostic tests or recovery issued by countries with which the EU has established equivalence will have the same status as an EU DCC. These countries can be consulted on the European Union (EU) website
• .

Other certificates

Passengers from third countries who meet the requirements to enter Spain (see section "Entry requirements for entry in Spain from third countries"), may travel by presenting any of the following certificates, as long as they meet the same conditions as the EU Digital COVID Certificate:

• a certificate of vaccination against COVID-19,
• a negative diagnostic test (NAAT or RAT) performed within 72h (NAAT)/48h (RAT) of arrival,
• a certificate of recovery from COVID-19

ATTENTION!!!, if you travel to Spain under point k) of the section "Entry requirements for entry in Spain from third countries”, you can only do so if you have a certificate of being fully vaccinated with an EMA/WHO authorized vaccine, and the last dose was administered more than 14 days ago, including persons resident in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland coming directly from this country. Certificates with vaccines not authorised by these agencies are also acceptable, but the last dose administered must be of one of the authorised vaccines.

Until the EU Digital Covid Certificate regulations are in force, member states citizens may continue to submit other vaccination/diagnostic test/recovery certificates.

The date from which it will be mandatory to present an EU-CCD to travel will be indicated in the aforementioned Regulation once it is published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

For more information, please see the FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS, FAQs

LIST VALID FROM 12:00AM (MIDNIGHT) ON JANUARY 17th, 2022 AND WILL BE VALID UNTIL 23:59 ON JANUARY 23rd 2022;; LISTADO VIGENTE DESDE LAS 00h DEL DÍA 17 DE ENERO DE 2022 HASTA LAS 23:59 HORAS DEL 23 DE ENERO DE 2022; LISTE VALABLE À PARTIR DE 00H00 LE 17 JANVIER 2022 JUSQU'À 23H59 LE 23 JANVIER 2022; LISTE GÜLTIG AB 00:00 HR AM 17 JANUAR 2022, BIS 23:59 UHR AM 23 JANUAR 2022

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The list of risk and high risk countries /areas, as well as the criteria used to define them, will be reviewed every seven days and their update will be published on this page.

For the designation of risk areas or countries, in case of the countries of the European Union and European Economic Area, the criteria contemplated in Council Recommendation (EU) 2020/1475 and Council Recommendation (EU) 2021/119 will be taken as a reference. For third countries and high risk countries /areas, the basic reference will be the inclusion criteria described in the list of third countries.

For more information on health controls for travellers, international means of transport and international ports and airports facilities at Spanish points of entry, see the following link:  Health and Hygiene Controls in international means of transport and international port and airport facilities.

During your stay in Spain follow at all times the COVID-19 recommendations indicated by the health authorities. You can consult them in the following link

In case of interest, you can consult the regulations concerning health controls and temporary mobility restrictions in the following link.

If you have any problem filling the Health Control Form or any questions regarding the health control procedure upon arrival in Spain, please send an email to spth@sanidad.gob.es with a screenshot of the error message. Please also indicate in the subject line whether you are using the web service or the mobile application.