Following the hotel quarantine exemptions for seafarers, some further changes have been made to the legal requirements when entering the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Travel from UK
You do not need to complete a declaration form for overseas travel.
Travel to UK
- You need to complete the passenger locator form before you travel to the UK, if you travel in a part of the vessel that is accessible to any passenger for any part of the journey.
- You do not need to complete the passenger locator form if you travel in a part of the vessel that is not accessible to passengers or you travel on a vessel that does not carry passengers, for example, fishing boats.
- You do not need to take a coronavirus test before you travel to England if you are a seafarer or fisherman, inspector or surveyor of ships due to work on a vessel or need to transit the UK to join or leave a vessel. You should show a valid SID if you have one.
From 6 April and when in England for more than 2 days, you are required to undertake lateral flow tests (LFTs) on days 2, 5 and 8.
For the record, unlike PCR tests, which involve complex laboratory equipment and highly trained staff, lateral flow tests can be processed on the spot and return a result far quicker.
- Constant travellers who enter and leave England on a daily basis, or at intervals of no greater than 2 days should undertake an LFT at least once every 3 days.
- LFTs can be accessed and made available at the workplace, in the community or at home. Private testing arrangements are required to follow the same regime as set out above.
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If you live in the UK you do not need to self-isolate. If you live overseas you must self-isolate in your accommodation while in England, except while you are undertaking the exempt activity or travelling as part of your work.
- If you work on a ship, including fishermen, you should show a Seafarer’s Identification Document (SID) if you have one.
- If you don’t have a SID, you can show your joining papers, seafarer’s employment agreement or a seafarer’s discharge book (Continuous Certificate of Discharge) instead. Alternatively, you could show a basic training certificate or declaration from the registered owners of the vessel that you are a crew member.
I find this statement a bit ambiguous: ‘You do not need to take a coronavirus test before you travel to England if you are a seafarer or fisherman, inspector or surveyor of ships due to work on a vessel or need to transit the UK to join or leave a vessel’. What if you have just left a ship and are flying back to the UK on leave? Do we need to have a Covid test prior to entering the UK?