HM Government is putting more obstacles in the way of travellers, with them announcing that a form will need to be completed before leaving the country.
The form will be a requirement for international travel from Monday 8th March.
If you are travelling internationally, you will need to carry a new form that sets out their trip is permitted under the stay at home restrictions.
The form must be downloaded, signed before travel, and carried or downloaded onto a mobile phone.
The government has advised that carriers will be checking the forms that have been completed before boarding, either at check-in (online or at the check-in desk) or the departure gate. Passengers who do not have a valid form may be denied access to their booked service. Carriers will also be legally obliged to set out on their website that the form must be completed before travelling.
With the stay at home questions in play, Police have been stepping up their presence at ports and airports in recent weeks. As such, officers will be conducting spot checks and have the power to ask travellers to produce a completed form. It will be an offence to fail to produce a completed form and individuals could face a £200 fine.
Stay-at-home rules are still in place, which means it is illegal to travel abroad without a permitted reason, such as for education or work.
The police will undertake spot checks at UK ports across the country to ensure passengers are complying with domestic lockdown rules. Passengers who are identified by police as attempting to travel internationally for reasons that are not currently permitted will be asked to return home and risk receiving a fixed penalty notice for breaking stay-at-home rules. These fines start at £200 and ladder up to a maximum of £6,400.
What does the form look like?
It’s at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-declaration-form-for-international-travel
The forms are in both PDF and Word DOCX format. It’s a 3-page form, with the first page being the preamble. As to the rest of the form, it looks a little like the below.
The first page of the form is demographic data, along with your passport data.
The next page is where you declare you reasons to depart the United Kingdom.
Do I need to submit the form for travel?
Amazingly no. The contents of the form are stored locally – you will either need to print out a copy or keep it on your phone for proof of travel.
What is the full list of exemptions for leaving the United Kingdom?
See https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-declaration-form-for-international-travel
In summary:
- Work
- Volunteering
- Education
- Medical or compassionate grounds
- Weddings, funerals and related events
- “Other reasonable excuses”
How long is this going to be required?
According to the press release.
All measures will be kept under review and further action may be taken to protect the public.
Expect it to last until the UK Government decides to allow international travel for leisure or family purposes to resume
Is this just more paperwork to complete?
Pretty much. But it seems that some people are just taking off when they’ve been asked to stay at home.
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So the same as forms you need to fill out in NY etc on entry. Literally no one checks it other than a very cursory glance from far as you wave your phone screen at them.
Nice to see them closing some barn doors in advance of the next wave. I do wonder how this accommodates dual citizens who can “come home” to the UK on a UK passport and then “go home” elsewhere on their other passport? Doesn’t seem well-described in the guidance (something about “returning home” being a valid reason for travel)