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| Map by Evan Centanni, from blank map by Ssolbergj. License: CC BY-SA |
Coronavirus: Schengen Border Controls Timeline March 1-27, 2020
Border controls have proliferated within Europe's "Schengen Area", where there's normally no ID check required to travel from one country to another. For more details, and to see a current map and list country-by-country list of official controls, visit our updated Coronavirus Schengen Border Controls article. Continue reading this article for the timeline of changes to official border controls from the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak through March 27, as preserved from the previous edition of the article.Learn More: What is the Schengen Area, and which countries are and aren't part of it?
Timeline: Schengen Temporary Border Controls for Coronavirus in March 2020
Schengen rules require that last-minute announcements of border controls be for no more than 10 days, with 20-day extensions possible up to a total of two months if the threat continues. Border controls announced in advance are generally allowed to last up to 30 days, though in some cases they can be extended for six-month periods up to two years, and in the past several countries have gotten away with bending the rules to extend them even further. |
| Schengen internal border controls just before coronavirus |
Although we say here that a country "begins border controls", keep in mind that it doesn't necessarily have to enforce the controls - this is merely an announcement that the country considers itself allowed to do so. Likewise, mentions of which borders are "still unregulated" are based on the official EU notifications and news that has reached us at PolGeoNow, but could be incorrect if the country has instituted controls very recently or has not notified the EU.
March 11, 2020
Austria begins 10 days of controls along its land border with Italy to prevent the spread of COVID-19, in addition to the immigration- and terrorism-related controls it already has for the Slovenian and Hungarian borders. Entry by land from Germany, Czechia, Slovakia, Switzerland, or Liechtenstein is still unregulated, as is entry by air from any Schengen member country.
March 12, 2020
Hungary begins 10 days of controls for land crossings from Austria and Slovenia. Land crossings from Slovakia, and airline arrivals from any Schengen country, remain unregulated.
March 13, 2020
Switzerland begins 10 days of controls along its land border with Italy. Entry from all other Schengen countries, as well as airline arrivals from Italy, are still unregulated.
Denmark, which has already previously reserved the right to control its land and sea borders with Germany and Sweden until May 12, 2020 due to "terrorist threats" and "organized criminality from Sweden", adds COVID-19 to its list of reasons for border controls, and extends the controls to "all land, air, and sea borders". The controls will be used to enforce a ban on entry for all tourists and other foreign citizens without a "credible purpose".
Slovakia begins conducting border controls on all its land borders except the border with Poland, but apparently does not notify the EU of the new controls. It also bans the entry of all non-resident foreign citizens into the country, seeming to imply that it will enforce the ban by fining them if they are discovered once inside the country. International airports will be closed, and all public transportation links into the country canceled.
March 14, 2020
Czechia (a.k.a. the Czech Republic) begins four days of border controls for all airline arrivals and for land crossings from Germany and Austria. Entry by land from Slovakia and Poland is still unregulated.
Austria begins 10 days of border controls for land crossings from Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Airline arrivals from all Schengen countries are still unregulated, as are land crossings from Czechia and Slovakia.
Lithuania begins 10 days of controls for all borders, and announced that from March 16, 2020, it will ban entry for non-resident foreign citizens, with some exceptions, until March 30.
March 15, 2020
Poland begins 10 days of border controls for all entries, whether by land, sea, or air. The controls will be used to enforce a ban on entry for non-resident foreign citizens, and almost all passenger trains and flights into the country will be canceled.
March 16, 2020
Germany, which has already reserved the right to control entries from Austria until May 12, 2020 for immigration-related purposes, begins 10 days of controls for COVID-19, covering its land borders with Denmark, Luxembourg, France, and Switzerland, as well as Austria. Air and sea arrivals from any Schengen country, as well as land crossings from the Netherlands, Belgium, Czechia, and Poland, are still unregulated.
Norway, which has already reserved the right to control arrivals at ferry ports with connections to Denmark, Germany, and Sweden for immigration- and terrorism-related purposes, begins 10 days of controls at all land, air, and sea borders to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The controls will be used to ban all foreign citizens who do not live or work in Norway from entering.
Portugal begins 10 days of controls along its land border with Spain. Though there's no blanket ban on entry for foreign citizens, tourists will be turned away. Entry by air or sea from other Schengen countries is still unregulated.
Switzerland, which already has controls for its land border with Italy, begins 10 days of controls for land entries from France, Germany, and Austria. The controls will be used to ban entry to most non-resident foreign citizens.
Czechia begins a 30-day ban all non-resident foreign citizens from entry, despite not having notified the EU of any border controls for land crossings with Poland or Slovakia. Czech citizens and long-term residents are also banned from leaving the country, with exceptions for workers with jobs less than 50km outside the country.
March 17, 2020
Estonia begins 10 days of controls for all border crossings, including by air and sea. The controls will be used to ban most non-resident foreign citizens from entering, with exceptions for healthy travelers transiting to another country and for people with family members living in Estonia.
Spain begins 10 days of controls for all land borders, which it will use to ban entry for most non-resident foreign citizens, with some exceptions. Entry by air or sea from other Schengen countries is still unregulated.
Hungary adds 25 days of controls for all arrivals by air, and for land entries from Slovakia. The expiration date for Hungary's existing controls on land entries from Austria and Slovenia is extended from March 22 to April 11, to match the expiration for the new controls. All of Hungary's borders are now subject to controls, which will be used to ban the entry of foreign citizens.
Latvia cancels all public passenger connections into the country, including buses, trains, airlines, and presumably ferries, but does not notify the EU of any border controls. A ban on entry for individual non-resident foreign citizens appears to apply only to the borders with non-Schengen countries, with some sources saying entry on foot or in private vehicles across Schengen-internal borders is still allowed.
March 18, 2020
Czechia extends its controls for airline arrivals and the land borders with Germany and Austria for 16 more days (a total of 20 days including the previous four-day period). The country has still not notified the EU of any controls for the land borders with Poland and Slovakia.
Switzerland begins 10 days border controls for arrivals by air from Spain, Italy, France, Germany, and Austria. It already has land border controls for all of those countries except Spain, with which it does not share a land border. Air arrivals from all other Schengen countries, as well as land entry from Liechtenstain, is still unregulated.
Austria begins three weeks of new border controls for land entries from Germany and Italy, and extends its existing controls for land entries from Switzerland and Liechtenstein to expire on the same date, April 7. Pre-coronavirus controls for land entries from Hungary and Slovenia remain in place. Arival by air from any Schengen country, as well as crossing by land from Czechia or Slovakia, is still unregulated.
March 19, 2020
Finland begins 25 days of controls for all entries. The controls will be used to enforce a ban on entry for most non-resident foreign nationals, with some exceptions.
Germany begins 10 days of controls for arrivals by air from Denmark, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, and Austria - the same countries for which it already has land border controls - as well as Italy and Spain. The new controls also include arrivals by sea from Denmark. Air and sea arrivals from any other Schengen country, as well as land crossings from the Netherlands, Belgium, Czechia, and Poland, are still unregulated. The controls will be used to enforce a ban on entry for most non-resident foreign citizens.
March 20, 2020
Belgium begins 10 days of border controls for all entries.
March 23, 2020
Switzerland extends each of its existing sets of border controls for 20 more days beyond its original expiration date.
Spain begins refusing entry to most non-resident foreign citizens (with many exceptions) at air and sea ports, presumably meaning that it's conducting border controls there, despite its notification to the EU only covering land borders.
March 24, 2020
Lithuania extends its controls for 20 more days.
Poland announces to the press that its controls have also been extended for another 20 days, though as of March 27, no official extension notifications will yet have been published on the EU website.
March 25, 2020
Switzerland's controls are expanded for 10 days to include air arrivals from all countries except Liechtenstein. The land border with Liechtenstein is the only other entry point to Switzerland that remains unregulated.
[UPDATE: Poland's border controls are extended 20 days from March 25, though the official notification will not be published on the EU website until several days later.]
March 26, 2020
Germany extends its border controls early, beginning a new 20-day period of controls for the same borders as before: arrivals by land or air from Denmark, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and Spain, and arrivals by sea from Denmark. Arrivals by air from any other Schengen country, arrivals by sea from any Schengen country besides Denmark, and land crossings from the Netherlands, Belgium, Czechia, and Poland, are still unregulated.
Norway's border controls are extended for 20 more days.
Portugal's controls along the land border with Spain are extended for 20 more days.
March 27, 2020
Estonia's controls are extended for 20 more days.
Spain's land border controls are extended for another 15 days, still without any notification to the EU for the controls the country is presumably conducting at sea ports.
Following this story? You can always check for updates by viewing all Schengen Area border control articles on PolGeoNow.
Related Articles:
Which Countries Are in the Schengen Area, and Which EU Countries Aren't?
Map of Temporary Schengen Border Controls in March 2016
Map of Temporary Schengen Border Controls in August 2016
Map of Temporary Schengen Border Controls in February 2017
Map of Temporary Schengen Border Controls in August 2017
Map of Temporary Schengen Border Controls Just Before Coronavirus