Starting from today, February 15, vaccinated arrivals from all countries are permitted to visit Finland, exempted from additional testing requirements.
According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Internal Security and Immigration, such measures will be valid until March 13, as the government assesses the COVID-19 situation, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
“The Border Guard does not require the above-mentioned certificates as a condition for entry from Finnish citizens arriving from a third country, from foreigners permanently residing in Finland, or from persons whose entry is based on a necessary reason such as compelling family matters or other compelling personal reasons,” the press release explains.
Vaccines approved for entry to Finland include the following:
- Comirnaty Pfizer-BioNTech by BioNTech Manufacturing GmbH
- Spikevax, formerly Moderna by Moderna Biotech Spain, SL
- Vaxzevria, formerly AstraZeneca by AstraZeneca Ab
- Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) by Janssen – Cilag International NV
- BIBP / Sinopharm by Beijing Institute of Biological Products
- COVISHIELD by Serum Institute of India
- CoronaVac by Sinovac Life Sciences
- Covaxin
- Nuvaxovid
- Covovax
On the other hand, unvaccinated travellers are permitted to enter Finland only on special permission, which does not include tourism.
>> Finland Scraps Pre-Entry Testing Requirement for Third-Country Travellers
As per the EU and Schengen Zone, travellers are exempted from all requirements and can freely enter the country. In addition, countries on the EU’s, thus Finland’s green list, are also permitted to enter the Scandinavian land under the same rules as European nationals.
Third countries on the green list include the following:
- Bahrain
- Colombia
- Chile
- Hong Kong
- Indonesia
- Kuwait
- Macao
- New Zealand
- Peru
- Qatar
- Rwanda
- Saudi Arabia
- South Korea
- Taiwan
- The United Arab Emirates
- Uruguay
Finland has registered 582,383 positive cases with COVID-19 since the pandemic outbreak, with five per cent of those cases or 34,715, being reported in the last seven days. As the World Health Organisation (WHO) has revealed, death tolls in the country have reached 2,214.
In addition, the vaccination rates in Finland remain amongst the highest in EU, as 76 per cent of Finns are fully vaccinated, about 6.8 per cent more than the cumulative average of all EU/EEA countries. In addition, 48.2 per cent of the population has received a booster shot, accounting for 2.6 million citizens.
After almost two years of restrictions, the summer season is looking promising for European nationals. Moreover, several countries have ended testing requirements, such as the United Kingdom, France, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.