Europe Doesn’t Recognise Australian Vaccination Certificates

Europe Doesn't Recognise Australian Vaccination Certificates
Australian International COVID-19 Vaccination Certificates are not widely accepted outside Australia. Image: Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade.

In October 2021, the Australian government started issuing International COVID-19 Vaccination Certificates. The government’s Smartraveller website describes these as a “free and secure way to prove your COVID-19 vaccination history when you travel across borders overseas”.

There’s just one problem – many other countries don’t recognise it.

Generally, most other countries will accept an Australian International COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate as proof of vaccination to enter the country or avoid quarantine on arrival. But once you’ve entered the country, it’s a real mixed bag.

In many countries, you now require proof of vaccination to do things like eating out at restaurants, visiting public places like museums or theatres, or in some cases even to enter shops or board domestic flights. This is especially the case in many European countries such as France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.

Paris, France
France requires a “pass sanitaire” or a recognised foreign certificate (of which Australia’s is not one) to do many things including dining at restaurants. Photo by Marloes Hilckmann on Unsplash.

But the Australian-issued COVID-19 vaccination certificate is not compatible with Europe’s standard, rendering the QR codes on Australian certificates unreadable once you’re on the ground.

The QR codes on Australian International COVID-19 Vaccination Certificates are formatted according to the standard adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). This is supposed to make them compatible with systems used by many airlines and immigration authorities, although this also isn’t really the case either. Airlines can only scan the Australian certificates if they download DFAT’s VDS-NC Checker App.

The EU Digital COVID Certificate

The European Union has created a standardised digital COVID-19 vaccination certificate which is recognised by all EU member states. The EU Digital COVID Certificate (EU DCC) contains a QR code that can be easily scanned and verified all over the continent.

If you have one of these certificates and your most recent COVID-19 vaccination was within the last nine months, you can enjoy all the freedoms of a vaccinated person when travelling throughout Europe.

So far, an additional 33 non-EU member countries have also joined the EU DCC system, meaning vaccination certificates issued by those countries also meet the EU standard and are accepted everywhere. These countries include New Zealand, Thailand, the UAE, Turkey, Panama and Uruguay. Unfortunately, Australia has not signed up.

How to get an EU-recognised vaccination certificate

If you’re travelling to Europe, it may be possible to get your Australian COVID-19 vaccination certificate converted to an EU-issued certificate at a local pharmacy (e.g. in France). But if you happen to be travelling to Switzerland, there’s an easier way that this can be done before you depart for your trip.

You can convert your valid foreign-issued COVID-19 vaccination certificate to a Swiss EU DCC for a fee, in conjunction with evidence of upcoming travel to Switzerland (such as a plane ticket or hotel reservation). A nominal fee of CHF30 (~AU$45) applies to foreign tourists for this service, with processing times generally up to a week. But this is perhaps a small price to pay to avoid your European holiday turning into a bureaucratic nightmare.

Australia removed from EU safe travel list

Meanwhile, Australia has this week been removed from the European Council’s published “safe travel” list due to soaring COVID-19 case numbers. This list is updated fortnightly. While this doesn’t necessarily mean Australians cannot travel to Europe, some EU member countries may now restrict non-essential travel from Australia for people who are unvaccinated.

The United States also yesterday issued a “do not travel” advisory for Australia. The US Department of State now advises US citizens not to travel to Australia due to the “very high level of COVID-19 in the country”.

Australia now recognises the Sputnik V vaccine

This week, the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) also updated its list of recognised vaccines for the purpose of international travel to Australia.

The Australian government now recognises the Russian Sputnik V (Gamaleya Research Institute) vaccine, meaning people who have received this vaccine are no longer considered unvaccinated and no longer have to quarantine in a hotel for 14 days after arrival. This is good news for Australians who’ve been stuck in countries where this was the only COVID-19 vaccine available.

 

You can discuss this topic or leave a comment on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum.

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.
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This is not strictly true. The international certificates are only meant for border officials not for access into restaurants etc in Europe.

I was there last year and restaurants were more than happy with the Medicare certificate to allow entry, what they were looking for was double vacced and when.

It would be better of course if we used the European standard for QR codes, like NZ has done.

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Yeah, I agree with the previous user that it seems to just be for border officials. I had no problems flying with it, but I'm in Canada now and cannot get it to scan. It's actually becoming a bit of a problem because where I am now, they need scannable proof for you to go to liquor stores. It's also not easy to convert to a local QR code (at least in this province) because you need to be a resident...

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We left Australia in late November 2021 on a 10 week trip around the world. Luckily for us we organised an EU certificate through Switzerland before we left. It’s extremely lucky we did as the Australian international certificate was not worth the paper it was printed on in Europe. It has been recognised at airports but the QR code doesn’t work on trains, and at attractions and restaurant. Some people may be willing to view the paper-based international certificate (if they can read English), but many will just turn people away without a valid EU pass. We observe this time and time again with American tourists trying to use their CDC cards. The EU pass was hands down the best money spent so far.

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So is there any other alternative to get the EU cert before we leave Australia ?

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Having just returned from 6 weeks in Netherlands, France and Belgium, I was surprised that my AU International COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate QR Code was not recognised (except when checking in for airline flights) in European countries. However, in practical terms this did not seem to be a big deal - all venues accepted visual proof of my certificate which contains passport number and vaccination details. In Belgium, I was able to use these details also to generate for free a QR Code on the Belgium Covid app. In France, the Belgian code was not recognised, and yes, you can obtain a QR code for the French Pass Sanitaire at selected pharmacies, but it is a blatant ripoff at Euro36 - I refused to obtain, but in practice showing visual proof of the AU international certificate was all that was required during my two weeks in Paris. A pity our Australian Government has (once again) let us down in not ensuring the AU International Certificate is compatible with Europe’s standard.

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The Swiss route as explained in the article is fast and easy. My partner just used it in November, applied before he left, it took 48 hours and we used a cancellable hotel booking confirmation as proof of travel (he wasn’t going to Switzerland only Italy, France and Netherlands) and cancelled it soon as the certificate appeared in the app. Used it everywhere he went, not a problem.

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Fantastic! So it's the EU app thats required ?

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We completed a trip in December 2021 to Munich, Milan, Zurich and San Francisco to visit family and friends for Christmas/New Years. In Germany and Italy our International certificate was accepted, but QR code could not be read.Recommend having a hard copy, as the digital copy was not always accepted and does not always show three vaccinations. In Munich you needed a RAT within 24hrs to visit museums. Be sure you have your passport, too. In both countries there were frequent, free RAT test stations. To enter Switzerland you need to fill out an on line declaration, to include where you will be staying and have a PCR with in 72 hrs. We took the train from Milan to Zurich, which I recommend, but there were no boarder checks. The next day the Canton contacted us send them a digital copy of our PCR result. At the tourist office at the main train station we converted our AU international certificate to the Swiss digital certificate ( 30 ChF). This certificate is good in the EU for one year. We are returning to Europe later in the year, so we are set.

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Not rocket science - NZer's have got compatable QR codes for their International Certificates

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In Paris maybe, but not everywhere. I’m in rural southwest France at the moment (whooo!), though sadly not for that much longer, and the Oz international certificate won’t get you far here. I coughed up my €36 in a pharmac_, though I had to go a while to find one (I was their third conversion, previous two from USA and Mozambique). The converted certificate is valid everywhere in the EU, and can be uploaded into all EU countries’ covid apps. That’s part of the point - it’s not just for access, it’s also for their track & trace systems. I resented the €36, but it’s not the French government I feel it towards.

Having just returned from 6 weeks in Netherlands, France and Belgium, I was surprised that my AU International COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate QR Code was not recognised (except when checking in for airline flights) in European countries. However, in practical terms this did not seem to be a big deal - all venues accepted visual proof of my certificate which contains passport number and vaccination details. In Belgium, I was able to use these details also to generate for free a QR Code on the Belgium Covid app. In France, the Belgian code was not recognised, and yes, you can obtain a QR code for the French Pass Sanitaire at selected pharmacies, but it is a blatant ripoff at Euro36 - I refused to obtain, but in practice showing visual proof of the AU international certificate was all that was required during my two weeks in Paris. A pity our Australian Government has (once again) let us down in not ensuring the AU International Certificate is compatible with Europe’s standard.

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