Travel Advice for UK residents:
Traveling back to the UK
Before you travel
Follow these steps:
Check the rules for the country or territory you’re coming from or have travelled through.
Book any tests or quarantine hotel packages you need.
Get tested and complete documents.
1. Check the rules for the country you’re coming from or have travelled through
Countries and territories are listed as either red, amber or green. The rules for testing and quarantine when you arrive in England are different for each list.
The rules you must follow depend on which countries or territories you’ve been in or travelled through in the 10 days before you arrive in England, as well as the one you’re travelling from.
For example, if you travel from an amber list country but have been in a red list country in the 10 days before you arrive in England, you must follow rules for red list countries.
2. Book any COVID-19 tests or quarantine hotel packages you need for your arrival
Arriving from a green or amber list country or territory
Find a coronavirus (COVID-19) travel test provider and book the tests you need if you’ve been in a country or territory on the green or amber list in the 10 days before you arrive in England.
If you have been in an amber list country or territory in the 10 days before your arrival, you may be able to end quarantine early if you arrange and pay for a private COVID-19 test as part of the test to release scheme.
Find out how the test to release scheme works.
Check the rules on testing and quarantine for amber countries if you have been fully UK vaccinated.
France – important information
The amber list rules for fully UK vaccinated people does not apply to France. If you have been in France in the 10 days before you arrive in England, you must follow the standard amber list rules.
This means you must quarantine for 10 days on arrival in England and take day 2 and day 8 COVID-19 tests. You will need to book these tests in advance.
When you complete your passenger locator form you must choose ‘No / Prefer not to say’ when asked if you are exempt from the requirement to quarantine and take a day 8 test. This is under the section of the form titled ‘Your coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination status’.
Arriving from a red list country or territory
Book a quarantine hotel package if you’ve been in a country or territory on the red list in the 10 days before you arrive in England.
When to book
Make sure you leave enough time for any testing kits to be delivered to the address you’ll be staying at in England.
3. Get tested and complete documents
Follow these steps:
Take a COVID-19 test in the country you’re in. (To board your transport to England, you need proof of a negative result from a test taken in the 3 days before the service departs.)
Complete a passenger locator form. (You can do this any time in the 48 hours before you arrive in England.)
Find out the COVID-19 test you must get and how to show proof of a negative result.
You will need to find a test provider in the country you’re in.
When you arrive in England
The rules for testing and quarantine when you arrive in England depend on which countries you have been in or travelled through in the 10 days before you arrive.
Check the red, amber and green list and the rules for the countries or territories you’ve been in.
Leaving England
Follow these steps:
- Check the rules for entry in the country you’re going to.
- Take any tests required and follow any other rules.
Travelling with children
The quarantine requirements for children arriving in England are mostly the same as for adults.
There are different age limits for children for the different COVID-19 travel tests:
- test to enter another country – check foreign travel advice for the country
- test before travel to England – children aged 10 and under do not need to take a test
- day 2 and day 8 tests after arrival in England – children aged 4 and under do not need to take a test
- Test to Release test – children of all ages must take the test if adults in household want to take part in the scheme
Ireland, the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man
If you’re travelling to England from within the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, you do not need to:
- complete a passenger locator form
- take any COVID-19 tests
- quarantine on arrival in England
You must not have been outside of the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man in the 10 days before you arrive in England
