Big changes in testing for UK entry

Great news!! I wonder when "later in October" will actually be...

for England , the rest of the UK countries will make their own decisions

We await the details. What has been published so far relates to Brits returning home, not other nationalities entering England. You will need a LFT not a PCR test on or before day 2.

It’s not that great in so much as without testing to enter England, you don’t know if the person sat next to you on the plane is Covid positive or negative. I heard yesterday of another two friends of friends who are double jabbed and are in hospital with Covid, one on a ventilator.

Elizabeth I think they said Oct 25.

Thanks UncleGus Good point. We are going to England so that is what I focused on.

Jennifer, They said Lateral Flow Test Day 2 will start later in the month on the report I saw, like Oct 25. PCR still required for now from what I saw.

Checking the government website ever so important for everyone. I don’t know that they can make different rule for different nationalities. If an American is coming from Paris, they should not have to have the pre-departure test from the initial info. I would guess closer to Oct 4 we’ll see more details.

i do think the other countries in the UK will come into line with England as far a the traffic light system is concerned but don't rule out the need for some type of test needed to enter through other uk countries

Here's the BBC reporting on the changes:

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-58593572

Good news for me as I arrive on the 12th. Although I will still have to take a Day 2 PCR test. I return again to the UK either in November or December and then just an Antigen Day 2 test

I'm sure the detail will be worked out in a few days.

Hmm, sounds like the day 2 PCR test requirement will still be in place when I arrive on October 14. I don't mind the incoming PCR test requirement at all but was hoping to avoid the costly Day 2 test. Oh well.

My understanding is that nationality isn't the issue when it comes to Covid entry requirements; it's all about about which countries a an arriving passenger has been in for the past 10 days. So instead of red, amber, and green countries, it'll be red and "rest of the world" from October 4, which will definitely simplify things!

I don’t know that they can make different rule for different nationalities.

Except that is exactly what English authorities were doing for months — one set of rules for British persons going into/returning to England, and a different set for non-Brits.

Great news!! I wonder when "later in October" will actually be...

It will be prior to half term which starts on 23rd October.

I don’t know that they can make different rule for different nationalities.

Except that is exactly what English authorities were doing for months — one set of rules for British persons going into/returning to England, and a different set for non-Brits.

That's what the United States does to this day. The only people who can visit the United States from Europe are US citizens (and maybe green cards??)

The US can visit just about all of Europe, but it doesn't work that way in reverse.

The American policy is ridiculous because as far as I can ascertain it discriminates against Schengen, the UK, South Africa, Brazil and a few other places while allowing the rest of the world to enter with a negative test result. So if you are British just go on holidays in Kenya for two weeks and you can fly to the USA from there and get in, but you can't from London.

From sherpa.com site..

The countries where people can generally enter the US as long as they have a negative covid test.

Travelers from Romania , Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, British Indian Ocean Territory, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Curaçao, Cyprus, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, East Timor, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), Faroe Islands, Fiji, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iraq, Isle of Man, Israel, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Macau, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Norfolk Island, North Macedonia, Northern Mariana Islands, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Palestinian Territories, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Pitcairn Islands, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Russia, Rwanda, Réunion, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Sint Maarten, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, South Korea, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Syria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, U.S. Virgin Islands, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Wallis and Futuna, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Åland Islands (hide additional countries) who do not have a travel history in (see 35 additional countries) during the 14 days prior to their arrival are allowed to enter the United States.

The 35 banned countries:

Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Vatican City

Excellent point, Nigel. Of course you are right!

Does the UK consider the one dose Johnson and Johnson as "fully vaccinated"? I keep seeing things that refer to two jabs, but J&J is of course only one. Thank you!

The UK issues the J & J vaccine in a singular dose and therefore anyone receiving it is considered fully vaccinated.

The wording surrounding full vaccination should really refer to "fully vaccinated" as opposed to something along the lines of "double jabbed" etc because it's misleading in the case of the J & J vaccine.

Any recommendations for Day 2 testing LHR terminal 3? Thanks!

This is good news for us. We're stopping for one night in London in April on the way to a Mediterranean cruise. (We thought we'd kill our jet lag in London.) Then we're staying two nights in London on the way back from the cruise. This change would seem to make our life easier if it doesn't change for the worse between now and then.

Reply to WPack44, I just booked a day 2 test in Heathrow Teminal 3. https://www.heathrow.com/at-the-airport/fly-safe/covid-19-test
Pretty easy to set up. We depart October 5, so I'm skipping the pre-test as that changes Oct 4, and we are fully vaxxed. Good luck!