Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Here are the 12 countries and territories on the travel Green List

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

The Government has announced the countries and territories on the initial Green List.

This applies only to England. Different rules may apply to those who live in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland but no announcements have been made yet.

International leisure travel will once again be permitted from the 17th May. To facilitate the move, the UK Government has announced it is moving to a traffic light system that will categorise countries based on:

  • the percentage of people vaccinated
  • the number of Covid-19 infections
  • whether there are any variants of concern
  • the reliability of the country’s testing and genomic sequencing facilities

Each country will be labelled ‘Green,’ ‘Amber’ or ‘Red,’ with varying entry requirements when you return to the UK.

12 countries and a number of territories are on the initial Green List.

The list will be updated every three weeks.

This is how the categories are defined:

Green countries: You will need to take a pre-departure test (can be lateral flow) as well as a PCR test on or before day 2 of your return into England. You will not need to quarantine unless or take additional tests unless your tests come back positive.

Amber countries: You will need to take a pre-departure test before returning to England and must quarantine at home for 10 days, taking a PCR test on day 2 and day 8. You can choose to take an additional PCR test on day 5 under the optional ‘Test to Release’ scheme, which allow you to end your quarantine early.

Red countries: You will be subject to a 10-day quarantine in a managed quarantine hotel, with testing prior to your arrival in England as well as on day 2 and day 8. You cannot reduce your quarantine period and must pay for the hotel.

In addition to the three traffic light restrictions the Government has also promised a ‘Green watchlist’. This will be used to to indicate countries that are currently categorised as Green countries but are likely to drop to Amber or Red shortly. No countries are on this list so far.

Which countries are on the Green List?

Here are the countries on the initial UK Government travel Green List.

  • Australia
  • Brunei
  • Falkland Islands
  • Faroe Islands
  • Gibraltar
  • Iceland
  • Israel
  • New Zealand
  • Portugal, the Azores and Madeira
  • Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
  • Singapore
  • South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

For clarity, just because a country is on the Green List does not mean that you will be allowed to enter.

You will need to meet the local requirements regarding vaccination and/or testing.

The Government has confirmed that you should be able to access your vaccination status on the NHS app by 17th May. If not, or if you do not have a smartphone, a letter will be available – this can only be requested by calling 119 from 17th May.

Which countries are on the Red List?

Here are the countries on the Red List. Turkey, the Maldives and Nepal were added today. Anyone returning from these countries will be required to undertake 10 days of hotel quarantine.

  • Angola
  • Argentina
  • Bangladesh
  • Bolivia
  • Botswana
  • Brazil
  • Burundi
  • Cape Verde
  • Chile
  • Colombia
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo
  • Ecuador
  • Eswatini
  • Ethiopia
  • French Guiana
  • Guyana
  • India
  • Kenya
  • Lesotho
  • Malawi
  • Maldives
  • Mozambique
  • Namibia
  • Nepal
  • Oman
  • Pakistan
  • Panama
  • Paraguay
  • Peru
  • Philippines
  • Qatar
  • Rwanda
  • Seychelles
  • Somalia
  • South Africa
  • Suriname
  • Tanzania
  • Turkey
  • United Arab Emirates (UAE)
  • Uruguay
  • Venezuela
  • Zambia
  • Zimbabwe

What countries are on the Amber list?

Any country or territory not listed above will be on the Amber list. This will require 10 days of home quarantine.

You can see the full Amber list on this page of gov.uk.

What are the cheapest covid testing providers?

You will not be able to use NHS testing facilities for travel: you must pay for private tests.

The cheapest PCR test at present is provided by Eurofins, from £44.90 for an at-home test kit.

You can compare all Government-approved covid testing providers on this helpful page of gov.uk.

Comment

British Airways CEO Sean Doyle said in a statement:

“We’re pleased that our customers are able to start travelling again to some countries, including Portugal, and we’ve put on additional flights from London, Manchester, Newcastle and Edinburgh to Faro to help people get moving.

What’s clear is that with high levels of vaccination in the UK being matched by other countries, we should see more destinations going ‘green’ before the end of June.  It’s disappointing to hear that despite the stringent safeguards introduced for travel from ‘amber list’ countries, the Government is now suggesting travellers avoid these.

We cannot stress more greatly that the UK urgently needs travel between it and other low-risk countries, like the US, to re-start the economy, support devastated industries and reunite loved ones.“

We will update this article later with more information as it is released.

Category

General

Comments (298)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Mark S says:
    8 May8 May 08:13

    On the Gov.UK official site it says “You should not travel to amber list countries or territories for leisure purposes.” So does that mean that BA will be cancelling our holiday to Malta in June if it stays in the Amber category?

    • Mark S says:
      8 May8 May 08:34

      I guess what I am really asking here is – as we do not want to travel to Malta if it is amber – do we need to change the date/request a voucher before the 3 week window or can we wait to see if Malta will be moved to the green list – safe in the knowledge that if not, BA will cancel our holiday?

      • meta says:
        8 May8 May 09:11

        This is advisory. It is not illegal and such I don’t think BA will cancel flights, but hold on as long as you can. For vouchers/changing dates you don’t need to do it 3 weeks before. Not sure where you are getting this from.

        • Mark S says:
          8 May8 May 09:34

          It was this from the BA holidays T&Cs: Date changes must be made, or cancellation (in exchange for a voucher) must be requested at least three weeks prior to travel. Less than three weeks’ notice will be accepted if new UK government rules are introduced within this time that prevent your trip or require you to quarantine in a designated hotel on your return.

          • meta says:
            8 May8 May 10:13

            Ah, sorry, I misread it was a flight booking. For BA holiday bookings, yes 3 weeks notice, but someone else might want to confirm. BA Holidays might also contact you with options proactively as there are different rules for package holidays.

  • splishy says:
    8 May8 May 08:16

    I know it’s the common travel area but can anyone advise if you have to still take a test in Jersey when you arrive? booked for a 4 day break end of July. thanks.

    • Alan H says:
      8 May8 May 09:36

      Check out you home starting point here https://www.gov.je/Health/Coronavirus/Travel/Pages/DeclaringTravelHistory.aspx We too have a 4 day break at the end of July and are classified as “green” as of next Tuesday. I anticipate that things will operate differently by late July and all of our bookings are “cancellable” or changeable without penalty.

      • Alex Sm says:
        8 May8 May 11:12

        And Guernsey? Have a booking for August and am still worried

        • Ron says:
          8 May8 May 14:55

          I think it depends which U.K. region you’re in. Category 2 requires test on arrival (day1) and day 7, you can go out once you receive a negative test from day 1. I’ve booked Guernsey for Aug too, so hopefully my region will be in category 2 by then!

          • Alex Sm says:
            8 May8 May 15:33

            And what if the trip is for 5 days only? Will I still have to do the second test, already from England, for Guernsey track and trace purposes?

  • Paul says:
    8 May8 May 08:16

    When is the US Govt expected to announce their new rules for travellers from UK?

  • Tom says:
    8 May8 May 08:21

    There goes June Virgin 1st redemption to the US. Maybe a blessing in disguise as I’m not sure I can be bothered faffing about with all this PCR nonsense and I doubt doing touristy things will be anything like it was pre-Covid for some time. Now time to fight Virgin to give me my money, points and 241 back.

    • Travel Strong says:
      8 May8 May 09:48

      In my experience, there is no fight.
      Whatsapp or phone and jst gets processed.
      Cash element took a long time originally (I.e. request diring march-nov 2020), but not anymore.
      You get the miles and 241 back instantly.
      If you are cancelling rather than virgin, there is a £30pp pp fee officially, but you might find they don’t end up taking it out of your refund.
      If you got the ticket at a great rate (e.g. 50% miles sale) – you may want to hold out longer on the off chance virgin cancel the flight and you can then rebook elsewhere at the great rate.

      • Tom says:
        8 May8 May 12:52

        Thanks for the advice Travel Strong. May hold out for a while then as I did book it during the miles sale.

  • Mr. AC says:
    8 May8 May 08:23

    Now that Qatar and UAE are confirmed to be on red list, I’d like to try an get wisdom from folks here – friend needs to fly from Bangkok to London around 26th of May, business class tickets paid for by his company. Normally Qatar would be great for a cool 140×2 TPs. Finnair is a bit meh re timing.
    There’s also KLM, Swiss and Lufthansa that look ok re: timing. Which one of those would bring him closer to valuable status? (He’s starting from complete 0 in all programs). I’m thinking Lufthansa and credit to Aegean.

    • ChrisBCN says:
      8 May8 May 08:35

      I think it will depend on where your friend needs to travel in the future, and the airlines that cover those routes

    • TGLoyalty says:
      8 May8 May 09:34

      Honestly if he’s flying in the next 3 weeks Forget TP and just fly direct.

    • John says:
      8 May8 May 15:14

      The days when a round trip to BKK on LX in economy would get you A3 Gold.

      You now need 72000 miles when starting from scratch, unless you take 6 Aegean flights (at the right times).

      Lufty P earns nothing in A3 and in non-Covid times nobody would pay £2000 extra to get status. But Lufty seems to actually be selling reasonable fares in Z – on 26 May it is £1350. Z earns 150%, which won’t even get him half way to A3 Silver.

      The good thing about A3’s FFP is that once you are gold it is relatively easy to maintain (and they’ve renewed many statuses for 2 years)

  • Ana says:
    8 May8 May 08:24

    In terms of flights with stops , what is the approach , for example from Heathrow to Portugal with a stop of 1 h in Paris AirPort?

    • Graeme says:
      8 May8 May 08:45

      You’ll have been to an amber country and have to treat it as such.

      • meta says:
        8 May8 May 09:14

        Yes, unlike last year there are also no reductions of self-isolation/quarantine time for going through green countries. So if you’ve been to Amber in the last 10 days, full 10 days in self-isolation, if you’ve been to red in the last 10 days full 11 days in hotel quarantine.

      • Alex Sm says:
        8 May8 May 11:14

        Can in theory airside parts of airports be designated let’s say amber while being in a red country? Due to restricted access, increased disinfection measures etc? This would help a lot

        • kitten says:
          8 May8 May 13:43

          Unlikely, as airside is still staffed by locals with same infection/transmission risks as landside.

          • Chris says:
            9 May9 May 04:10

            The irony is that it seems you can still transit in London, having come from a red list country.

  • Peter says:
    8 May8 May 08:37

    Need advice on covid test. I have a flight to Poland in June, which doesn’t accept non EU tests (test is required after landing in 48h to be released from quarantine). Does this mean I can enter airport and take a flight without having a test? Or does Ryan/BA require test anyway? Confused..

    • meta says:
      8 May8 May 09:16

      Check on IATA what Poland requires, but if those are the rules for Poland then BA will not require you a test for boarding.

  • David says:
    8 May8 May 09:17

    I am booked to travel to Australia (I hold an Australian passport) in July on Emirates via Dubai. My understanding initially was that direct flights to red list countries were banned, but I note that Emirates are still selling tickets for travel this weekend. Have the rules changed and they are now allowed to operate direct flights?

    • Andrew says:
      8 May8 May 09:43

      My understanding is that airlines can fly TO a red list country but not FROM one – so EK will just bring cargo and crew on the outbound flight from DXB.

      • David says:
        8 May8 May 11:39

        Thanks for this information. I guess this means my return trip will be cancelled. Just as well I have booked a Singapore Airlines return ticket as a backup. No tier points (Emirates booked as QF codeshare) but at least no quarantining at this end on return. 14 days in a Sydney hotel more than sufficient for me.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? SPECIAL OFFER TO 12TH MAY EARN POINTS WORTH 30,000 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!