SA Removed From UK’s Travel Red List

In a long-awaited move, South Africa has been removed from the UK travel red list, along with 46 other countries.

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps made the announcement on Thursday after months of anger and frustration by the South African government and tourism bodies about the negative impact the travel restrictions were having on the South African economy.

Practically it means that from Monday, fully vaccinated South Africans can travel to the UK without having to quarantine and fully vaccinated UK tourists can come here, knowing that they won’t have to quarantine on their return home.

If you’re planning to travel to the UK as a South African, there are some rules to be aware of.

The UK does not recognise all vaccines but it does recognise the most prevalent in South Africa – the Johnson & Johnson and the Pfizer vaccines as well as Moderna and AstraZeneca.

You’ll need to book and pay for a COVID-19 test that you must do by day two of your arrival in the UK.

You’ll also need to fill out a travel disclosure 48 hours before your flight stating where you had travelled to recently.

That’s because the UK wants to avoid allowing people in who’ve been to any of the seven Latin American countries still on the red list.

These rules apply to fully vaccinated people only.

Quarantine still applies to those who are unvaccinated.