Question: When will Norway open its borders to non-EEA partners?
That’s a fair question, given that couples in the European Economic Area (EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) separated by coronavirus-related travel restrictions can reunite for weeks. now.
What makes this incredibly frustrating for people outside the EEA is that the Norwegian government has not addressed or talked about travel restrictions limiting travel to Norway from outside the EEA to a few. exceptions, which you can read on here, will end.
So when will Norway open its borders to non-EEA citizens wishing to find their partner?
Fortunately, some non-EEA citizens can already travel to visit their partners. But, unfortunately, this only applies to travelers from the 12 countries on the Norwegian government‘s “purple countries” list.
The purple countries are a few countries selected from the list of third countries of the EU. Purple countries were introduced when the government finished aligning its Covid country classification system with EU thresholds for safe travel on July 5.
IN DETAIL: Norway announces major overhaul of Covid-19 travel rules
However, it should be noted that not all countries on the EU third country list are classified as purple countries. Instead, the final decision on purple countries is made by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, which updates its travel advice weekly.
Currently Australia, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Serbia, South Korea, Taiwan, United States and Singapore are all purple countries.
Make sure you stay up to date with the latest NIPH reviews and travel tips, which you can view here.
Those coming from purple countries to see their partner will need to take a test before arriving in Norway, test at the border once they land, complete a registration form before traveling, and then quarantine for at least seven days at home or elsewhere with a private bedroom and bathroom. You can read more about the travel rules for purple countries here.
The couple should also have been together for at least nine months, have met in person and completed a free application to the Directorate of Immigration (UDI). You can take a look at the app here.
What about those who are not from the countries on the purple list
That’s a trickier question to answer, but our best guess would be that travel restrictions for people outside the EEA won’t be relaxed for at least a month, possibly longer.
This is for two reasons. First, Norway has postponed the final phase of its four-step exit strategy to lift coronavirus restrictions until late July or early August due to fears that the Delta Covid variant, first identified in India, could trigger another wave of infection in Norway.
Therefore, the government is unlikely to announce any significant easing of travel restrictions outside of its four-step strategy.
Second, the government recently made a number of significant changes to its travel rules, so it may want to wait and see how recent changes to travel restrictions affect infection rates before further relaxing the rules. .