Please join us for our wedding in San Sebastian, Spain on our new date: October 9, 2021
What We Know / FAQs (as of September 3, 2021)
What is the protocol for entering Spain as a US Citizen?
Effective Monday, September 6, the U.S. will not be on Spain’s list of countries exempted from travel restrictions. However, Spain will continue to admit vaccinated travelers from the U.S. who have received both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or the single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, at least 14 days prior to arrival in Spain, as well as children under 12 years of age who accompany them.
Upon arrival in Spain, travelers over 12 years of age must present their official CDC vaccination card. A negative COVID test is not required to enter Spain.
Two days before your trip, you must also fill out a questionnaire through the Spain Travel Health portal, obtained through the website or by downloading the “SpTH app” in Google Play Store or iTunes App Store, for each traveler, regardless of their age. Once you complete the questionnaire, you will receive a QR code that you will need to show your airline prior to boarding your flight to Spain. You will also need to show this QR code to pass the Spanish health control upon arrival in Spain.
Finally, remember you must also follow the applicable rules if you transit through a third country, which may include showing proof of vaccination or negative COVID test.
Can I apply for the EU Digital Health Certificate?
No, unless you are an EU citizen, you cannot apply for the EU Digital Health Pass.
What are the COVID test requirements to return to the United States?
The CDC requires that all air passengers over 2 years of age, regardless of vaccination status, arriving in the US from a foreign country to get tested for COVID-19 no more than 3 days before their flight departs and to present the negative result to the airline before boarding the flight.
While we are happy to refer you to a local testing lab in San Sebastian, we would highly recommend that you purchase a CDC-approved at-home tests in the US and pack them in your suitcase to bring with you to Spain.
Not all at-home COVID tests satisfy the CDC requirement, so please be careful before you purchase one. For an at-home test to satisfy the CDC requirement, it must include a telehealth service affiliated with the manufacturer of the test that provides real-time remote supervision through an audio and video connection (e.g., Zoom, Skype, etc.). The remote supervisor will confirm your identity, observe the sample collection and testing procedures, confirm the test result, and issue an electronic report that you will need to provide to your airline.
There are two readily available at-home tests that include the required telehealth supervision, but the simplest seems to be the Abbott BinaxNOW™ COVID-19 Ag Card At-Home Test. You may have seen Abbott BinaxNOW test kits sold over-the-counter in drug stores and supermarkets, but that version does NOT meet the CDC travel requirement because it does not include the necessary telehealth supervision. So you will need to order the Abbott BinaxNOW™ COVID-19 Ag Card supervised tests online directly from a telehealth provider:
eMed sells packs of six kits for $150
Optum sells one kit for $50, two kits for $70, or three for $100.
To mitigate the risk of a false positive result, we strongly recommend you purchase at least 2 kits per person. That way, if the first test comes back positive, you can immediately run a second test.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us.
