Czech Republic adds 8 non-EU countries, including Canada and Australia, to safe travel list

The Czech Republic will add eight non-EU countries to its list of low-risk travel destinations, allowing restriction-free travel from these locations as of tomorrow, July 1, the Czech Foreign Ministry has announced this afternoon.

The countries are: Canada, Serbia, Montenegro, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Japan, and South Korea. Czech residents returning to the Czech Republic from these countries may do so from tomorrow without the need for quarantine or a negative COVID-19 test.

Czech officials have essentially whittled down the EU’s list of 15 countries (Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay, and China) that EU borders will open to from July 1 to eight countries for restriction-free admittance into the Czech Republic.

While travel from Canada, Serbia, Montenegro, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Japan, and South Korea is now permitted without restriction for Czech residents returning to the Czech Republic, they may still have restrictions themselves for incoming travelers – be sure to check before booking a flight.

So far, Serbia and Montenegro have confirmed bilateral restriction-free travel with the Czech Republic as of tomorrow.

Restrictions remain in place for travel to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Japan, and South Korea, but should be lifted shortly; Czech officials cited expected reciprocal agreements as one of the criteria for deciding upon these eight countries, and will only allow residents of these countries to come to the Czech Republic once a bilateral travel agreement has been confirmed.

In other words, residents of these countries wishing to visit the Czech Republic may do so for any reason, without the need to produce a negative COVID-19 test, as soon as these countries confirm a reciprocal agreement with the Czech Republic.

“We want to motivate the countries to start treating us the same, that is to enable travelling of our citizens without conditions,” Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček stated at a press conference.

“This is why foreigners from these countries are not able to travel to the Czech Republic for the time being, but we are prepared to very flexibly react to a change to the situation. This is the introduction of reciprocity.”

Since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis in mid-March, travel from non-EU countries into the Czech Republic has been greatly restricted.

Czech residents may still travel to non-EU countries not on the above list if they are allowed to do so by the destination country, but will need to produce a negative COVID-19 test or submit to a mandatory quarantine upon return.