Countries banned from entry to the UK
Travellers who have been in or transited through the following countries in the last 10 days are barred from entering the UK: Angola, Argentina, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Burundi, Cape Verde, Chile, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Eswatini, Ethiopia, French Guiana, Guyana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Qatar, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Suriname, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Kenya, Pakistan, the Philippines, and India.
Exemptions
If you are a British or Irish National, or you have residence rights in the UK. There are exemptions for the following jobs, Aerospace engineers and Aircraft pilots and crew, Channel Tunnel system workers, Civil aviation inspectors, Clinical trials or studies, Crown servants or government contractors, Data infrastructure maintenance, Defence personnel, visiting forces and government contractors, Diplomatic missions, international organisations and conferences, Downstream oil facility workers, Drivers of goods vehicles, Electronic communications networks, Elite sportspersons – domestic, Elite sportspersons – international, travel from UK, Environment Agency relating to flood and coastal erosion risk management, Eurostar International workers, Eurotunnel workers, High Speed 2 rail workers, International prison escorts, IT and telecoms workers, Medical evacuation, Medical treatment, Urgent medical treatment, Medicines – human and veterinary, Network Rail workers, Nuclear personnel, Nuclear emergency responder, Nurses from red list countries coming to take up NHS employment, Offshore oil and gas, OPCW and IAEA inspectors, Postal workers, Quality assurance inspectors for human and veterinary medicines, Regular work abroad, Regular work in the UK, living abroad (in Wales only), Representatives of a foreign country or territory or British overseas territories, Seamen and masters and inspectors and surveyors of ships, Seasonal agricultural workers, Seasonal agricultural workers with EU settled or pre-settled status, Specialist technical workers – sub-sea telecommunications infrastructure, Specialist technical workers – goods and services, Specialist technical workers – waste, Specialist technical workers – power infrastructure, Specialist technical workers – space infrastructure, Transporting human cells or blood and Water supplies and sewerage services workers. You can also transit in the UK if traveling from the red listed countries, you are required to enter into managed quarantine at your port of entry. This applies whether transiting airside or landside.
Travel requirements
All arrivals allowed to enter England from outside the Common Travel Area (Ireland, the Channel Islands, or the Isle of Man) must self-isolate for 10 days. If a traveller has a positive test result for COVID-19 on the 2nd or 8th day of the initial isolation period, travellers will have to extend the isolation period for 10 days. In England, under the Test to Release scheme, travellers can choose to pay for a private COVID-19 test. If the result is negative, the quarantine can end early. Arrivals cannot take a test until they have been in England for five full days. All residents and Irish nationals arriving in England from red list countries are required to quarantine in government-approved hotels. They will need to book and pay for a hotel quarantine package.
The arrivals can enter the UK only through Heathrow, Gatwick, London City, Farnborough, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Aberdeen airports. All travellers arriving in Scotland are required to quarantine in a hotel for a period of 10 days. Boarding school students, who are either citizens of the United Kingdom or Ireland or who have a right to reside in the UK and have travelled from or through a ‘red list country in past 10 days must self-isolate instead in accommodation provided by their school. All passengers must complete a Public Health Passenger Locator Form and present it to immigration upon arrival. The form must be completed online any time 48 hours before arrival in the UK. Travellers may be fined if they have not completed the form by the time, they reach the UK border.
All passengers departing from the United Kingdom (LHR & MAN), you can only travel for essential reasons. While national restrictions are in place, travellers can only travel internationally from England for legally permitted reasons. Holliday trips are not included under legally permitted reasons for travel. Travellers must complete a travel declaration form and carry it with them along with any evidence supporting the reason for their trip. Travellers may be required to show the form at the port of departure. It is an offence to enter a port of departure or embarkation point for international travel without a properly completed form. Some job-related exemptions apply. You may be issued with a fixed penalty notice and directed to return home if you do not have a valid reason for travel.
Airlines flying to the UK
Airlines that fly to the UK will differ depending on which country you are departing from. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic is the 2 main international airlines for England and their hub city is in London. Aer Lingus is the flag carrier airline for Ireland and the airline’s hub city is in Dublin.