Bulgaria Expands Entry Restrictions

Bulgaria is closing its borders to four more countries due to spikes in COVID-19 cases: the Netherlands, Malta, Andorra and Georgia. The list already included Great Britain, Spain, Cyprus and Kuwait among others. Bulgarian citizens coming from those counties are allowed entry into the country only with a PCR test – no matter if they are vaccinated or not, while foreigners coming from the red zone are banned from entering the territory of Bulgaria.

Despite expectations that vaccination certificates would make international travel easier, media research has shown that Bulgarians returning from over 60% of European countries have to undergo additional testing. This is also the case for those who have received the full course of a vaccine, due to the new requirements introduced by Bulgaria’s caretaker government. According to these rules, all returning Bulgarians have to be tested unless they are coming home from a green zone country. There are only 19 countries with a green rating for coronavirus out of the 49 in Europe.