Publication - Advice and guidance
Coronavirus (COVID-19): international travel and quarantine
Planning foreign travel and information on testing for people entering Scotland.
From 4am on Tuesday 30 November, the rules for fully vaccinated travellers arriving in Scotland from abroad will change. The rules for people who are not fully vaccinated will stay the same. You can find guidance around both the current rules and the new 30 November rules on this page. Further guidance and rule changes may be issued at short notice.
Arriving in Scotland from abroad
These travel rules apply to everyone arriving in Scotland from abroad. They do not cover travel rules for people arriving in another country from Scotland.
As well as Scotland’s travel rules, you must also check the latest COVID-19 travel rules for any other country you plan to travel to.
If you live in the UK, you can check the travel rules for foreign countries on GOV.UK.
If you do not live in the UK, you should check your own government’s rules about travelling abroad and returning home before booking travel.
Travel to Scotland from within the UK, Ireland, Isle of Man or Channel Islands
These travel rules only apply if you’ve been outside the UK, Ireland, Isle of Man or Channel Islands in the 10 days before you arrive in Scotland. The rule changes on Tuesday 30 November will not affect travel to Scotland from within the UK, Ireland, Isle of Man or Channel Islands.
Red list travel
Different rules apply if you’ve been in a country on Scotland’s red list in the 10 days before you arrive in Scotland.
If you’re fully vaccinated - non red list
If you’re fully vaccinated, there are 3 things you must do before you arrive in Scotland
1. Make sure that you’re able to prove you’re fully vaccinated
If you're aged 18 or over, you must be carrying proof that you're fully vaccinated when travelling to Scotland. Your proof needs to show that it's at least 14 days since you had your final dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
If you’ve been vaccinated in Scotland, you can download the NHS Scotland Vaccine Status app. You'll be able to use the NHS Scotland Vaccine Status app to prove your vaccine details. If you cannot download the app, you can get a paper record of your vaccinations from NHS Inform.
If you've been vaccinated outside Scotland
If you’ve been vaccinated in the EU, or another country using the European Digital Covid Certificate, you can use the European Digital COVID certificate as proof of your vaccine status.
If you’ve been vaccinated in the US, you can use a CDC Card, New York Excelsior Pass Plus, California Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record or Washington State WA Verify Pass as proof of your vaccine status.
If you were not vaccinated in Scotland, the US or a country covered by the European Digital Covid certificate, check GOV.UK for what proof you’ll need from other countries.
If you're not able to prove you've been vaccinated, or the vaccine you've had is not approved in the UK, you should follow the travel rules for someone who is not fully vaccinated.
Children under 18 who normally live in the UK, EU or US, or any other country with a vaccine programme that's approved in the UK, do not need to show proof of vaccination.
2. Book a COVID-19 day 2 test
If you’re due to arrive before 4am on Tuesday 30 November
Everyone aged 11 or over must take a COVID-19 day 2 PCR or lateral flow test. Buy your test now.
After you’ve booked your test, you’ll get a booking reference number. You'll need to enter this number on your Passenger Locator Form.
Children aged under 11 do not need to take a day 2 COVID-19 test.
You must take your COVID-19 day 2 test within 2 days of arriving in Scotland.
If you’re due to arrive after 4am on Tuesday 30 November
Everyone aged 11 or over will need to take a day 2 PCR test after travelling to Scotland. You can buy your test now.
You will need to isolate at home, or in the place you’re staying, as soon as you arrive. You can only stop isolating if you receive a negative test result from your day 2 PCR test.
You can take your day 2 PCR test on or before day 2 after your arrival.
If the result of your day 2 PCR test is positive, you will need to isolate for a full 10 days from the date of your positive test result.
3. Complete a Passenger Locator Form on gov.uk
If you’re arriving into the UK after 4am on Tuesday 30 November, you can only complete your Passenger Locator Form after 4am on Monday 29 November. This is because the system is being updated.
If you’re arriving before 4am on Tuesday 30 November, complete your Passenger Locator Form now.
To be able to complete your form, you must have these details:
- your COVID-19 day 2 test booking reference number
- your flight details
- the address you’re staying at in Scotland
Each adult must complete a Passenger Locator Form. Children travelling with an adult must be included on an adult's form.
If you're not fully vaccinated - non red list
If you’re not fully vaccinated, before you travel you must:
- take a COVID-19 test before you arrive in Scotland
- complete a Passenger Locator Form
- buy COVID-19 day 2 and day 8 PCR tests
On arrival in Scotland you must:
- isolate at home or in the place you are staying for 10 days (self-isolation)
- take your COVID-19 PCR tests – you should take your COVID-19 Day 2 PCR test on or before day 2 of your 10 day self-isolation, and your COVID-19 Day 8 PCR test on or after day 8
Exemptions
If you’re part of a current COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial, or you have been in the past, you may count as fully vaccinated. This covers phase 2 and phase 3 trials in a World Health Organisation Stringent Regulatory Authority country or trials given by the European Medicines Agency. If you count as fully vaccinated because of a clinical trial, you must be able to provide proof that you are or were part of a clinical trial when travelling to Scotland.
A small number of people who are not fully vaccinated, such as those travelling as part of essential job roles, are also exempt from isolating after arriving in Scotland.
What ‘fully vaccinated’ means
If you’ve had the Oxford/AstraZeneca, Pfizer BioNTech or Moderna, Sinopharm Beijing, Sinovac or Covaxin vaccines
To count as fully vaccinated, you must have had your second dose of one of these vaccines:
- in the UK, or a country with a vaccine programme that’s accepted in the UK, such as the EU or the US
- at least 14 days before you arrive in Scotland -. the day you have your second dose does not count as one of the 14 days
If you’ve only had one dose, you must follow the rules for someone who has not been fully vaccinated.
Formulations of these vaccines, such as AstraZeneca Covishield, AstraZeneca Vaxzevria and Moderna Takeda, also count as approved vaccines.
You can also:
- mix 2 different types of an approved vaccine, for example Oxford/AstraZeneca and Moderna
- have your 2 vaccinations under 2 different approved programmes, such as in Australia and Japan, the UK and USA or France and Canada
If you live in Scotland or England and you're unable to be vaccinated for medical reasons - you must provide an NHS COVID Pass, secure medical exemption certificate or Department of Health and Social Care confirmation letter as proof.
If you’ve had the Janssen vaccine – single dose vaccine
You must have had your single dose of the Janssen vaccine:
- in the UK, or a country with a vaccine programme that’s accepted in the UK, such as the EU or the US
- at least 14 days before you arrive in Scotland - the day you have your second dose does not count as one of the 14 days
Other vaccines
If you've not been vaccinated with one of the vaccines mentioned on this page, you need to check GOV.UK to check whether your vaccine is approved in the UK.
If you've not been vaccinated with an approved vaccine, you'll need to follow the rules for someone who is not fully vaccinated if you're travelling to Scotland.
Children under 18
All children under 18 are counted as ‘fully vaccinated’ when they arrive in Scotland. This applies:
- even if they haven’t had a COVID-19 vaccine
- no matter which country or territory they normally live in
From 4am on Tuesday 30 November, children aged 11-17 will need to take a day 2 PCR test. Children aged under 11 do not need to need to take this test.
Children under 18 do not need to isolate, unless they’ve been in a red list country or territory in the 10 days before arriving in Scotland.
Contact
Central Enquiry Unit
Email: ceu@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG