The Government has announced new restrictions on foreigners who want to come to Finland, which come into effect from Monday 28th September.
The new rules apply to travel between Finland and Estonia, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Germany and Slovakia - as well as Canada, Georgia and Tunisia - after rising coronavirus cases in those countries.
Although Finland had recently set a less conservative virus target for travel of less than 25 confirmed coronavirus cases per 100,000 population in the last fortnight, which had re-opened travel again with Sweden in particular, the viral cases in all the countries on the list have now exceeded that number.
“Recreational travel to Finland from the countries in question is no longer allowed. In this case, only return traffic to Finland, transit traffic, work-related travel or travel for other essential reasons are allowed. In addition, self-isolation and testing are recommended for travellers” the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, and the Ministry of Interior say in a joint statement released Thursday.
Although leisure travel is off the menu for now, day-to-day travel is still allowed, without an expectation of self-isolation for 14 days, for people living in border communities between Finland and Sweden, and Norway. There’s also an exception for people coming from Estonia to Finland for work.
However, anyone from a country with more than 25 cases of Covid-19 confirmed per 100,000 population in the last two weeks will need to have a good enough reason to convince the Border Guard they should be let in.
So which countries are on which lists?
Public health experts at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare THL will review the list of restricted and permitted countries on a weekly basis - so there could be frequent changes which are difficult to keep track of.
As it stands, from Monday 28th September:
Residents of these countries can come to Finland for any reason, without the expectation of self-isolation for 14 days: Cyprus, San Marino, the Vatican, Australia, Japan, Rwanda, South Korea, Thailand, New Zealand and Uruguay.
There are also border restrictions in place between Finland and these Schengen countries: Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
People living in border communities in northern Finland between Norway and Sweden, and Estonian residents coming to Finland for work are exempt from travel restrictions (see above for details).
People may come to Finland from the following non-Schengen European countries for work or another essential reasons: Andorra, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ireland, Monaco, Romania and the United Kingdom. However a 14-day period of self-isolation is recommended for these passengers arriving in Finland.
For all other non-Schengen countries, only Finnish nationals or Finnish residents are allowed to come home to Finland; or passengers transiting Helsinki Airport.
