People travelling to the Netherlands from a country where the risk of catching coronavirus is considered to be very high must go into mandatory quarantine for at least five days from June 1, as new legislation comes into affect.

The introduction of mandatory quarantine, which applies to travel from Sweden and India, for example, also means an end to the ban on passenger flights from south and central American countries, India and South Africa.

The quarantine legislation includes a €339 fine for people who break the requirements, which are now enshrined in law months later than the government had hoped. People traveling from these countries who have been fully vaccinated must also go into quarantine by law.

The EU is currently working on plans to ensure residents can travel freely within Europe if they have been vaccinated or have a negative coronavirus test.

Until then, people travelling to the Netherlands from an amber risk country – whether inside or outside Europe – must still show a negative PCR test no older than 24 hours (or a PCR test no older than 72 hours and a fast test no older than 24 hours) before they can fly back to the Netherlands.

Check the requirements here

They are also recommended to quarantine for 10 days – five days if they have a negative PCR test after five – on their return – although this is not mandatory. Here too there are exceptions, such as travel for an urgent family visit.

The government has developed a tool to help people work out what they need to do on returning to the Netherlands.

Find out if you need to quarantine (Dutch only)