All You Need to Know About Entering Austria from the UK

Recently, at the Austrian Innsbruck Airport, 110 British people were refused entrance because they did not comply with Austrian authorities’ new travel requirements, enacted on December 25, 2021.

Travellers from the United Kingdom are now required to quarantine for ten days upon arrival in Austria, with some exceptions. Apply for Austrian visa from UK and make sure you’re up to date on the newest entry requirements for Austria before planning your next trip.

Entry requirements for Austria

Travellers from the United Kingdom can enter Austria without quarantine if they are either triple vaccinated (with the third vaccination done at least 120 days after the second; or double vaccinated following recovery from COVID (where the first vaccination was at least 21 days after a positive test or antibodies); or double vaccinated following recovery from COVID (where the first vaccination was at least 21 days after a positive test or antibodies). Additionally, travellers from the United Kingdom will need to provide a negative PCR test that is no older than 48 hours at the time of arrival.

Citizens of Austria, members of the EU/EEA, and persons having legal authorisation to live in Austria, as well as those with urgent family needs and those whose presence is regarded to be in the country’s best interests, are exempt from this rule. Within 180 days of arriving in Austria, these travellers need to be vaccinated entirely or have recovered from COVID within the last 72 hours and complete a pre-travel clearance form not more than 72 hours before arrival. Upon arrival, they must also undergo a ten-day quarantine period. If a second PCR test shows a negative result, the quarantine might be reduced as early as the fifth day.

Learn more about Austria’s recent COVID measure.

Vaccination period

For the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, proof of a booster vaccination must be provided no later than 270 days before your arrival. You must demonstrate that you got the second injection no more than 270 days before arrival for double-shot vaccines (e.g., AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna). If you got a booster shot more than 120 days after being completely immunised, it couldn’t have been more than 270 days before your trip.

COVID-19 Status

Austria will accept proof of COVID-19 recovery and immunisation record from the United Kingdom, as well as proof of COVID-19 vaccination issued in the Crown Dependencies. In case you are travelling with a printed PDF evidence of vaccination status, it must be dated after November 1, 2021, to be scanned correctly. Austrian immigration officers will require QR codes, such as those issued by the UK COVID Pass, as proof of vaccines and boosters and have refused entrance to anyone who does not have this proof. Your NHS appointment card from the vaccination centre is not intended to serve as confirmation of complete immunisation.

At the time of entrance, the negative molecular biological test (PCR, LAMP, TMA) cannot be older than 48 hours.

Entry requirements for children

Children under the age of 12 do not need to present a test result if they travel with an adult. If the accompanying adult is required to self-isolate, the child must do the same. The child and the adult can then exit their respective states of self-isolation at the same moment. The same rules apply to children who are travelling alone. Children aged 12 to 15 who are not fully vaccinated can use a “Holiday Ninja Pass” to enter ski-resort venues.

Austria has just launched a “Holiday Ninja Pass” for young people of school age (ages 12-15) from Austria and abroad who have not yet been fully vaccinated or cannot demonstrate recovery from Covid.

If they can present two negative PCR test results until day five of their stay in Austria, they can have officially recognised “2-G” status (Austria’s shorthand term for fully vaccinated or recovered from COVID) for seven days. Entry to public spaces and venues like restaurants and ski lifts will be granted due to the classification.

Teenagers ages 15 and above who arrive from the UK will not be eligible to participate in the program since Austria has designated the UK the highest risk “virus variant” location.

There is no absolute travel restriction in Austria. However, the new regulations still throw thousands of Brits’ holiday travel plans into chaos over the primary Holiday season for the ski sector, which was keen for a return to more normalcy following last winter’s loss by the pandemic.