European Union reinstates Uruguay on list of countries with no special travel restrictions

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – EU ambassadors also agreed to remove Japan, Serbia, Azerbaijan, Albania, Armenia and Brunei from the list with guaranteed unrestricted entry, in a measure to be formally confirmed in the coming days.

Thus, passengers coming from these countries to Europe for non-essential travel will be subject to restrictions on movement.

Diplomatic representatives agreed to reinstate Uruguay, the only Latin American country that had been removed from the list last December. At that time, Uruguay was removed from the list due to the surge in coronavirus cases.

“The main change is the non-inclusion of Uruguay in the list of third countries and special administrative regions whose residents are not affected by temporary restrictions on non-essential travel to the EU across external borders under the terms of this order,” read a statement published on December 29, 2020, on the Spanish Foreign Ministry’s website.

The current list is not binding on all 27 EU nations, which may choose to allow entry to fully vaccinated travelers from other destinations.

So far, most EU members have followed Brussels’ travel advice during the crisis.

In late August, the EU recommended that capitals reinstate restrictions on non-essential travel from the U.S. due to a surge in Covid-19 cases in the country, caused by a slowdown in vaccination campaigns.

Once these changes come into force, there will be some dozen nations on the list of “safe countries” for entry into the EU.