From 29 October, people who are vaccinated can travel from the UK to Luxembourg for non-essential reasons Library photo: Matic Zorman / Maison Moderne

From 29 October, people who are vaccinated can travel from the UK to Luxembourg for non-essential reasons Library photo: Matic Zorman / Maison Moderne

Starting 29 October, people from the UK can travel to Luxembourg for non-essential reasons if they have a vaccine certificate, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

The decision to open the grand duchy’s borders to arrivals from the UK comes after an EU decision to accept UK vaccine certificates as equivalent to those from member states.

Luxembourg follows EU rules on travel to the Schengen area, including a list of third countries that is regularly updated. Currently, only people from the following non-EU countries can travel to the EU for non-essential reasons: Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Chile, China, Jordan, Kuwait, New Zealand, Qatar, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay, as well as Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

In addition, people with a valid vaccination certificate from the following jurisdictions can travel to the grand duchy: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, the Faroe Islands, Israel, Monaco, Morocco, North Macedonia, Panama, San Marino, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the Vatican.

The UK until the end of 2020 was considered as an EU member state under the withdrawal agreement when it came to travel but from January 2021 fell under the stricter third country regime. This meant that non-essential travel, such as for leisure or family visits, was banned. Only “urgent and duly justified family reasons” were considered essential, which includes funerals but not weddings, for example.

France, Belgium and Germany previously made exceptions for travellers from the UK, providing a loophole for people wishing to enter Luxembourg. Luxair CEO Gilles Feith had criticised the government for failing to lift travel restrictions from the UK, with flights arriving at the airport in Findel the only direct travel link between both countries.