US bans EU travellers until next year; US tourists not welcome in Europe this summer

After July 1 the European Union’s borders will gradually reopen to a select list of countries. The United States has so far not made the list – nor are Europeans allowed in the US. 

The EU’s external borders have been closed since mid-March as Europe struggled to contain coronavirus. Now, as tourist season gets underway, the decision has been made to slowly open them again.

Americans excluded from list of “welcome countries”

The borders will be reopened for a select list of countries after July 1. The final list of countries and the terms of reopening are still being debated in Brussels today. Although this could change in the future, so far, the US has been excluded from the list of “welcome countries” reports NOS.

Earlier it was clear that the terms of reopening would include at least the following: any “welcome country” should have the pandemic as under control as the average EU country, travelling within the EU should be limited, and that selected countries should also be open to EU citizens travelling to their country.

On the basis of these criteria, it is probable that even after July 1, Americans will not be allowed into the EU. The US currently has more coronavirus cases than any other country.

The decision would come as a public renunciation of President Trump’s handling of the virus in the United States and a stinging blow to American prestige. Other countries like Russia and Brazil will also not be allowed into the EU.

Have a look at our guide to traveling to and around the Netherlands if you want more information

US bans EU travellers until next year

The same ban counts for European travellers entering the United States. According to the US embassy in the Netherlands, until 1 January 2021, no travellers from the Netherlands will be welcome in the US

Exceptions to this include the Dutch who legally reside in the US and the Dutch Prime Minister. Most concerningly, journalists will also not be allowed to travel into the US.

The Dutch association of journalists, NVJ is worried that this will affect the coverage of the US elections in November. “A pandemic should never be an excuse to limit freedom of press,” says the NVJ. It has reported that it will seek clarification from the US embassy about the terms of the ban.

Were you hoping to travel to the US this year? Let us know in the comments below.

Featured Image: DutchReview/Canva

Annabelle Willeme
Annabelle Willeme
Annabelle was born in Utrecht but grew up in Mali, Bosnia and Uganda. She moved back to Utrecht to study and is so far doing a terrible job getting back in touch with Dutch culture. Hopefully, it’s an upward trend from here. Besides writing she enjoys playing football, re-watching Grey’s Anatomy for the 10th time, drinking copious amounts of tea and has recently started trying to brew her own wine and beer… we’ll see how it goes.

4 COMMENTS

  1. My son has Portuguese citizenship, leaves in the Netherlands and is supposed to go the university in US as of August. As far as I know, students visas (F) are not restricted, as can be seen in the US Embassy page:
    https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/proclamation-suspending-entry-of-immigrants-and-nonimmigrants-who-present-risk-to-the-US-labor-market-during-the-economic-recovery-following-the-COVID-19-outbreak.html

    Are there other references to affirm that all EU people (except the cases listed in the article) are banned? This is quite relevant for me.

  2. The ban till the end of this year for entering the US seems to be not correct.
    So now we don’t know what is true.

  3. There are many items on my travel bucket list on the North American continent, and I would really like to attend a large rocket launch on Florida at one point, but for four years now I’ve had no intention to travel to the US to spend any money there. Not until some sign of large scale collective intelligence becomes apparent in the country again. And there do not seem to be signs of that yet, so no, I am not contemplating a visit to the US whatsoever. Y’all do what you like over there..

  4. You should add that us citizens married to European citizens are still allowed to enter if they are residing in Europe. I made an enquiry this week with the Dutch embassy in Lisbon, Portugal

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Related posts

Latest posts

Where are the ‘I amsterdam’ letters? The complete selfie guide

Here's a riddle for you: what weighs 250 kilos, is two metres high, and features in around 6,000 selfies a day? The I amsterdam...

Dutch companies are “selling” residence permits via the highly skilled migrant scheme

The Netherlands employs its so-called Kennismigranten (highly skilled migrants) in many sectors, from IT to academia to... nail salons, apparently. Yup, according to research by...

Expats may soon have to take an integration course when living in Amsterdam

If you're an expat living in Amsterdam, you could soon be asked to take Dutch language classes, history lessons, and volunteer time. That's right,...

It's happening

Upcoming events

The latest Dutch news.
In your inbox.