EU Digital COVID Certificate
The EU Digital COVID Certificate is digital proof that a person has either been vaccinated against COVID-19, received a negative test result, or recovered from COVID-19.
This Certificate will facilitate safe free movement of citizens in the European Union during the COVID-19 pandemic.
To be able to travel to Spain with the EU COVID Digital Certificate, you must meet the following requirements:
- Vaccination certificate: it has to be a complete course of a vaccine authorised by the EMA / WHO, and is valid starting 14 days after the last dose.
- The vaccination certificate issued with be valid for 270 days (9 months) from the date of administration of the last dose.
- After this time, it will be necessary to have a vaccination booster in order to extend the validity of the certificate.
- Please note that the booster dose requirement and the 270-day expiry date do not apply to children over 12 and under 18 years of age. Therefore, if you are over 12 years old and under 18 years old, you will be considered as vaccinated even if 270 days have passed since the last dose without having received the booster dose.
Warning: As of 1 February 2022, some EU Digital COVID Certificates must be reissued, following the administration of a booster dose. Please contact your issuing organisation and check its validity before travelling.
- COVID test certificate: a negative NAAT test result (PCR/TMA/LAMP) obtained in the 72 hours prior to departure or negative antigens test obtained in the previous 24 hours.
- Certificate of Recovery: This certificate is valid from a minimum of 11 days after taking the first positive NAAT test until a maximum of 6 months after that date.
Children under 12 years of age are not required to present these certificates.
Vaccination certificates, diagnostic tests or recovery certificates issued by countries with which the EU has established reciprocal agreements will have the same status as an EU Digital Covid Certificate. You can check the list of which countries these are at the European Union (UE) website.
The EU digital COVID Certificate is free of charge, and it is issued in digital or paper format in the country’s national language and English. It is valid throughout the EU and includes a QR code for verifying the information at the destination and guaranteeing its authenticity. The certificate contains the essential minimum data, such as name, date of birth, a unique identifier as well as information on the vaccine, diagnostic tests or recovery from the disease. This information remains on the certificate and is not stored or retained when a certificate is verified in another EU Member State. During the verification process, the validity and authenticity of the certificate are checked by verifying who issued and signed it.
Passengers who have the EU Digital COVID Certificate or equivalent will not need to fill out a health control form through the www.spth.gob.es websiteor the Spain Travel Health application.
In Spain the certificate can be applied for through the Ministry of Health website. They are also issued by the autonomous regions, normally in digital format, via mobile apps or specific healthcare web portals for each region. On this Ministry of Health web page you can find the relevant links for requesting the EU Digital COVID Certificate from the autonomous regions.