Iceland’s Border Screening Set Up And Ready For Arrivals

Today’s the day: if you’re an EU/EEA, EFTA, or UK national; or have a valid residence permit for a Schengen Area country; or are an immediate family member of someone who is any of those things, you can now come to Iceland without having to go into immediate 2-week quarantine.

Vísir reports that special coronavirus screening gates have been set up at Keflavík Airport, ready to receive you. The first wave of passengers to Iceland are expected to only be a few hundred, most of them coming from Copenhagen, and a good many of those will be Icelanders returning from vacation.

Upon arrival, you can still opt to go into 2-week quarantine, but if you’re not staying in Iceland for more than two weeks, you’ll probably want to get screened instead. This screening will be free for the first two weeks; after that point, it will cost 15,000 ISK. You’ll be asked to download and install the Rakning C-19 tracing app, so if you’re planning on coming here, you may as well do that now. You’ll get your test results through it within 24 hours.

If you test positive, you will be asked to go into quarantine. If you have no available place to do so, free accommodation will be provided for you. Apart from the initial screening, any additional medical treatment you’re given will not cost you. You may also be asked to self-quarantine if you’ve been within two metres of an infected person for more than 15 minutes, or sat within two rows of an infected person on a plane. Bear in mind that breaking quarantine—and yes, that includes inviting people over to visit—can carry a heavy fine.

There are some exceptions to who is allowed to come to Iceland now. Those from outside of Schengen who wish to come to Iceland must prove that their travel is essential if the above exceptions do not apply. ÚTL defines essential travel as “passengers in airport transit, health and care workers on professional travel, transportation crews (airlines and freighters), individuals requiring international protection, individuals traveling because of acute family incidents and diplomats, international organization staff, members of armed forces traveling to Iceland for duty, or humanitarian aid workers.” Such travellers are advised to “contact the Member State they are traveling to for a written confirmation of their permission to enter the respective state’s territory. Without such a confirmation, such Foreign Nationals cannot be authorized to enter the Schengen Area in Iceland.”

Otherwise, if you’re from outside of Schengen, are not an immediate family member of someone who is, and your travel to Iceland is not essential, you’ll have to wait until at least July 1st.

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