COVID-19 travel restrictions for non-EU citizens in Belgium

A Ministerial Decree of 28 October 2020 states that non-essential travel to Belgium is prohibited for:

1. persons who do not have the nationality of or their main residence in a country of the EU or the Schengen zone, including Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican;
2. persons who do not have their main residence in a third country listed in Annex I of Council Recommendation (EU) 2020/912 of 30/06/2020 (list of safe countries) (i.e. Albania, Australia, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, New Zealand, Northern Macedonia, Rwanda, Serbia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the US, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan).

Under certain conditions, essential and authorised travel is possible for travellers of the two categories mentioned above (including Ukrainians). Such authorised travel includes the following: 

• professional travel by health professionals, health researchers and professionals involved in the care of the elderly;
• professional travel of border workers;
• professional travel of seasonal workers in the agricultural and horticultural sector
• professional travel of transport personnel;
• travel of diplomats, personnel of international organisations and institutions and persons invited by international organisations and institutions whose physical presence is necessary for the proper functioning of these organisations and institutions; professional travels by military personnel, law enforcement officers, customs officers, intelligence services, magistrates, humanitarian workers and civil protection personnel, in the performance of their duties;
• transit travel outside the Schengen zone and the EU;
• travel for imperative family reasons, such as:
  • travel justified by family reunification within the meaning of the law on access to the territory of Belgium;
  • visits to a spouse or partner who does not live under the same roof, insofar as credible proof of a stable and lasting relationship can be provided;
  • travel within the framework of co-parenthood, including a medically assisted reproduction project;
  • travel for funerals or cremations of first- and second-degree relatives;
  • travel in the context of civil or religious marriages of first- and second-degree relatives;
• professional travel of seafarers;
• travel for humanitarian reasons, including travel for compelling medical reasons or the pursuit of urgent medical treatment, as well as to provide assistance to an elderly, minor, vulnerable or disabled person;
• travel related to education, including travel by pupils, students and trainees who are undergoing training as part of their education and researchers with a hosting agreement;
• travel by qualified persons, when their work is economically necessary and cannot be postponed, including travel by professional athletes and professionals in the cultural sector when they have a single permit, as well as journalists, in the exercise of their professional activity;
• travel by persons who come to Belgium to work as an employee, including au pairs, regardless of the duration of their activity, provided that they are authorised to do so by the competent Region (and possessing a work permit or proof that the conditions for an exemption are met);
• travel by persons visiting Belgium to exercise a self-employed activity, regardless of the duration of this activity, provided that they are authorised by the competent Region (and possessing a valid professional card or proof that the conditions for an exemption are met);
• travel by the spouse or partner of a person who is a national of a country of the EU or of the Schengen zone and who accompanies the latter, insofar as they live under the same roof, as well as the travel of their children who live under the same roof. De facto partners must also provide plausible proof of a stable and lasting relationship.

For this authorised travel, the traveller must be in possession of an essential travel certificate (to be requested at the embassy prior to the departure) and must have a negative PCR test.

As of 1 July 2021, the ban on non-essential travel to Belgium will no longer apply to travellers who can prove by a vaccination certificate that they have been fully vaccinated with a vaccine approved by the European Medicines Agency and for which all the doses of the vaccine provided for in the instructions have been administered at least two weeks before their arrival in the territory.

In practice, this provision will have little or no immediate effect, as a "vaccination certificate" means: "the EU Digital COVID Certificate referred to in Regulation (EU) 2021/953 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 14, 2021 on a framework for the issuance, verification and acceptance of interoperable COVID-19 vaccination, test and recovery certificates (EU Digital COVID Certificate) to facilitate the free movement during the COVID-19 pandemic and Regulation (EU) 2021/954 of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 14, 2021 on a framework for the issuance, verification and acceptance of interoperable COVID-19 vaccination, test and recovery certificates (EU digital COVID certificate) for third country nationals legally staying or residing in the territory of the Member States during the COVID-19 pandemic, or a certificate from a third country, considered as equivalent by the European Commission on the basis of the implementing acts or by Belgium on the basis of bilateral agreements”.

However, no implementing acts have yet been passed. From the information provided by the Belgian embassy in Ukraine, to recognise non-EU vaccination passports, it will require the conclusion of bilateral agreements, which will not occur immediately. More details on the conditions for travel based on a non-EU vaccination passport will be released in the following days and weeks.