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Which countries will now accept the NHS covid vaccination app?

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As you may have read in the national press, the NHS covid vaccination certificate was, on Friday, given equal standing with the EU Covid-19 Vaccine Passport scheme. This makes your life far easier when trying to get into restaurants and other venues.

None of the coverage I saw went into exactly where you can now use your NHS app, so I thought I would look at this today.

The first thing to make clear is that you do not need to download any EU vaccination passport app.

Which countries will now accept the NHS covid vaccination app?

You may, like me, have downloaded the French TousAntiCovid app in recent weeks and gone through the fiddly process of uploading your NHS vaccination QR code. This is no longer necessary.

Any establishment which is scanning an EU-issued vaccination app can also now scan the QR code in the NHS app. This makes travel across the 27 European Union countries substantially easier.

It isn’t just the EU though …..

What is important to know is that other countries have made similar deals with the EU and, under a reciprocity arrangement, will also now scan and accept the NHS app.

The following Schengen Area associated countries have implemented the EU vaccination passport:

  • Iceland
  • Swizerland
  • Norway
  • Liechtenstein

In addition, the EU ‘microstates’ are also participating, which adds:

  • Andorra
  • San Marino
  • Vatican City
  • Monaco

The EU is also recognising vaccine certificates issued in the following countries – and vice versa – which also means that they will accept the UK NHS app in return:

  • Albania
  • Armenia
  • Faroe Islands
  • Israel
  • Morocco
  • North Macedonia
  • Panama
  • Turkey
  • Ukraine

You can find out more on the European Commission website here.

Comments (154)

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

  • Chris says:

    As an Irish passport holder living in Northern Ireland we applied for the Irish COVID certification. It was a fiddly process at first but we now have an app that we can use throughout Europe. The Northern Ireland certificate is essentially useless outside NI.

  • Jens Fallesen says:

    Word of warning: The NHS app is a rather poor implementation that does not work if you are offline (in reality, it is just a glorified web browser). So if you don’t have a signal, you cannot get your pass on the app, even if you just did it two hours ago elsewhere.

    The Android version does not allow saving it to the phone’s wallet. You can save the PDF to the phone but that is somewhat more fiddly to use.

    • Steve says:

      How is saving a pdf fiddly? Given the login and load time of the NHS app, I can open a pdf from storage significantly quicker than generating a QR code on demand. It is even quicker to screen grab just the QR code and save that in the gallery. So many push backs for such a simple process, no wonder the world is so screwed over this.

      • John says:

        Exactly. Why bother logging in and generating a new code when a previous one is good for a month? It is like an e-ticket, which can be verified using offline methods, not like some of those stupid bus and train tickets that are tied to a device and can’t exist without the device

    • Luke says:

      Or order a free hard copy from the NHS.

      • HH says:

        The hard copy letter from NHS I received has barcodes not QR codes, so I’m not sure venues in Europe would be able to scan it.

  • Safety Card says:

    We can use the pass in the US as well right?

  • ECR says:

    Is there any way for those in Scotland and Northern Ireland to use the NHS app? It seems very poor that there isn’t one app that can be used throughout the UK. The Northern Ireland version seems particularly poor as unless things have changed it says it can be used for international travel only.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-58499375

  • Nick says:

    Which of the 3QR codes do you have to show? a) Domestic, b) International 1st dose or c) International 2nd dose? Recently when in Italy some asked for 1st dose and other places 2nd dose. Sometimes it was accepted when scanned and other times not, but they always waved you through.

  • Aaron C says:

    I was in Germany last weekend and they were scanning and accepting the NHS App. I’d say I got asked in 8/10 places.
    You can store your certificates on Apple Wallet for a really easy experience.
    I don’t really agree with the vaccine passports but it wasn’t that hard to use the system.

  • Susan says:

    What a pity that UK Test and Trace refuse to accept the EU Vaccination Certificate when contacting anyone visiting UK to say that they have been in contact with someone who has tested positive! Test and Trace still maintain that only those vaccinated in the UK and with the NHS App do not have to self isolate!

  • Darko says:

    Croatia still didn’t update their app to recognise the NHS barcode, for all of you who will flock to Croatia in next few days. But rest assured I’ll let you know when that happens 🙂

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

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