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

Entry from non-EU countries has been possible since 25 June 2021 for fully vaccinated persons. However, this is not a mandatory requirement, but an alternative to testing. Non-EU citizens entering the country must provide proof of vaccination in advance by presenting it to the airline prior to travel. Further requirements apply risk areas (see item 3 below for details).

• No distinction is made between EU vaccination passports and non-EU vaccination passports;
• The certificate must be available in German, English, French, Italian or Spanish in digital or paper form;
• The vaccination certificate must show:
  • Surname, first name and date of birth;
  • Date of vaccination, number of vaccinations;
  • Name of the vaccine;
  • Name of the disease against which vaccination was given;
  • Name and address of the person/institution responsible for carrying out the vaccination; and
  • Confirmation by the person responsible for the vaccination.
• Only Comirnaty (BioNTech), Spikevax (Moderna), Vaxzervria (AstraZeneca) or COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen (Janssen-Cilag) are accepted as vaccines;
• The last required vaccine dose must have been given at least 14 days ago.

Countries may be classified as virus variant areas, high incidence areas or risk areas. The following web page specifies the areas that are currently classified. Under the headline, you can click on a link to download an English version of the list. Based on the respective classification, the regulations for entry change as follows:

• A negative COVID-19 test result (e.g. PCR, PoC-PCR) is required after a stay in a virus variant area during the previous ten days. Proof of a vaccination certificate is not sufficient in this case and entry into Germany is generally prohibited for non-residents and only possible in exceptional cases. Business trips are regarded as exceptional cases in this regard.
• In case of a previous stay in a high incidence area or a risk area over the previous ten days, entry is possible with proof of vaccination. Quarantine is required for ten days but may be terminated by submitting proof of vaccination. Exceptions are made for transit and border traffic.\
• Before entering the country after staying in such an area, the entrant must register at www.einreiseanmeldung.de if he/she is not exempted from the obligation for reasons such as transit.

Ukraine is not classified as one of the risk areas mentioned above. Therefore, fully vaccinated persons from Ukraine with proof of vaccination meeting the requirements summarised in item 2 may enter Germany without a quarantine requirement.
However, staying in one of the risk areas may lead to additional requirements or even an entry ban.

In Germany, the digital vaccination certificate was developed by the government in cooperation with several technology companies and is published by the Robert-Koch-Institut (“RKI”), which is the German federal government's central institution in the field of disease surveillance and prevention.

The certificate is generated by physicians, pharmacies and in vaccination centres in paper form with a 2D barcode.
Using the 2D barcode, the digital immunisation card can be fed into one of the two apps developed by the state (Corona-Warn-App and CovPass-App). However, there is also an app created by private enterprises that can "read" and feed the certificates (luca-App).

We expect further developments in this area over the coming months, especially with the EUDCC. In any case, in Germany, there is no legal obligation to use one of the apps from the government. If none of the apps is used, the paper certificate may be presented instead.