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To circumvent the quarantine obligation, some returnees on vacation are cheating: Instead of flying directly back to Switzerland, make a stopover or detour to a country without risk, and don’t have to stay home for ten days. So far, the only deciding factor has been the country where the flight that took you directly to Switzerland took off. Previous connecting flights were irrelevant.
But now the federal government is reacting. The State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) announced that Switzerland is adapting its practice in terms of entry requirements for transit flights.
The new starting place is decisive
As of August 31, 2020, air travelers from risk countries can no longer enter Switzerland using a transit pass through risk-free countries. In contrast, air travelers from safe countries can enter Switzerland, even if they have to change trains at airports in a risk country, as long as they do not leave the airport transit zone there.
What is decisive now are the countries in which air travelers who want to enter Switzerland started their flight. Third-country nationals, for example, coming from the US via Toronto to Zurich, can no longer enter Switzerland as of August 31. This measure is intended to prevent entry restrictions from being circumvented by choosing suitable transit airports.
The same mode is also used in reverse: air travelers from third countries, which are listed as exceptions in Regulation 3 of Covid-19, for example Japan, Australia or New Zealand, can also enter Switzerland if, for example , they are in a risk country, for example Turkey, they have to change. The condition for this is that you do not leave the international transit area of the transfer airport, that is, do not enter the risk country. (SDA / lha)
