Starting July 19, arrivals who have been fully vaccinated with an NHS administered vaccine in the UK (plus 14 days), or are on a formally approved UK vaccine clinical trial, returning to England from amber list counties will no longer need to quarantine – passengers will need to provide proof of their vaccination status to carriers in advance of travel. The recommendation for people not to travel to amber list countries will also be removed from July 19.
The changes will come into force from Monday, July 19 at 4:00 a.m. Those who have been fully vaccinated with an NHS administered vaccine in the UK and are returning from amber countries will still be required to complete a pre-departure test before arrival into England, alongside a PCR test on or before day 2 after arrival. They will not have to take a day 8 test or self-isolate. Any positive results will be genomically sequenced to continue to manage the risk from importing variants.
Children under the age of 18 will not have to isolate when returning to England. While the recommendation that people should not travel to amber countries is being removed, children aged 4 and under will continue to be exempt from any travel testing. Children aged 5 to 10 will only need to do a day 2 PCR and 11 to 18 year olds will need to take both a pre-departure test and a day 2 PCR – as is the case for arrivals from green list countries.
At this stage, there will be no changes to requirements for those returning from green or red list countries – even when they are fully vaccinated, nor for unvaccinated passengers traveling from amber countries who do not have a valid exemption.
All passengers will still need to complete their passenger locator form, which will include the requirement to declare vaccination status and provide proof of their pre-departure test. Amber arrivals will be required to prove their full vaccination status to carriers before departing, either via the NHS app or via an NHS COVID Pass letter which can be obtained by calling 119 for traveling overseas (which could take 5 days to arrive by post).
Quarantine and testing requirements for children
| Age of child | Self-isolation | Pre-departure test | Day 2 test |
| 4 and under | no | no | no |
| 5 to 10 | no | no | yes |
| 11 to 17 | no | yes | yes |
Amber List as of today July 8, 2021
| Akrotiri and Dhekelia | |
| Albania | |
| Algeria | |
| Andorra | |
| Armenia | |
| Aruba | |
| Austria | |
| Azerbaijan | |
| The Bahamas | |
| Belarus | |
| Belgium | |
| Belize | |
| Benin | |
| Bhutan | |
| Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba | |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | |
| Bulgaria | |
| Burkina Faso | |
| Cambodia | |
| Cameroon | |
| Canada | |
| Central African Republic | |
| Chad | |
| China | |
| Comoros | |
| Congo | |
| Cook Islands, Tokelau and Niue | |
| Côte d’Ivoire | |
| Croatia | |
| Cuba | |
| Curaçao | |
| Cyprus | |
| Czech Republic (Czechia) | |
| Denmark | |
| Djibouti | |
| El Salvador | |
| Equatorial Guinea | |
| Estonia | |
| Fiji | |
| Finland | |
| France | |
| French Polynesia | |
| Gabon | |
| The Gambia | |
| Georgia | |
| Germany | |
| Ghana | |
| Greece (including islands) | |
| Greenland | |
| Guadeloupe | |
| Guatemala | |
| Guinea | |
| Guinea-Bissau | |
| Honduras | |
| Hong Kong | |
| Hungary | |
| Indonesia | |
| Iran | |
| Iraq | |
| Italy | |
| Jamaica | |
| Japan | |
| Jordan | |
| Kazakhstan | |
| Kiribati | |
| Kosovo | |
| Kuwait | |
| Kyrgyzstan | |
| Laos | |
| Latvia | |
| Lebanon | |
| Liberia | |
| Libya | |
| Liechtenstein | |
| Lithuania | |
| Luxembourg | |
| Macao | |
| Madagascar | |
| Malaysia | |
| Mali | |
| Marshall Islands | |
| Martinique | |
| Mauritania | |
| Mauritius | |
| Mayotte | |
| Mexico | |
| Micronesia | |
| Moldova | |
| Monaco | |
| Montenegro | |
| Morocco | |
| Myanmar (Burma) | |
| Nauru | |
| Netherlands | |
| New Caledonia | |
| Nicaragua | |
| Niger | |
| Nigeria | |
| North Korea | |
| North Macedonia | |
| Norway | |
| The Occupied Palestinian Territories | |
| Palau | |
| Papua New Guinea | |
| Poland | |
| Portugal (including the Azores) | Madeira is on the green watchlist. |
| Réunion | |
| Romania | |
| Russia | |
| Samoa | |
| San Marino | |
| Sao Tome and Principe | |
| Saudi Arabia | |
| Senegal | |
| Serbia | |
| Sierra Leone | |
| Slovakia | |
| Slovenia | |
| Solomon Islands | |
| South Korea | |
| South Sudan | |
| Spain (including the Canary Islands) | The Balearic islands are on the green watchlist. |
| St Kitts and Nevis | |
| St Lucia | |
| St Maarten | |
| St Martin and St Barthélemy | |
| St Pierre and Miquelon | |
| St Vincent and the Grenadines | |
| Sweden | |
| Switzerland | |
| Syria | |
| Taiwan | |
| Tajikistan | |
| Thailand | |
| Timor-Leste | |
| Togo | |
| Tonga | |
| Turkmenistan | |
| Tuvalu | |
| Ukraine | |
| United States (USA) | |
| Uzbekistan | |
| Vanuatu | |
| Vietnam | |
| Wallis and Futuna | |
| Western Sahara | |
| Yemen |
