Slovenia fully opens borders to nationals of 14 more countries

Citizens of neighbouring Austria, Croatia and Hungary have already been allowed to cross without any health restrictions under bilateral agreements.

Now, the list of countries whose nationals may cross freely has been expanded with Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Liechtenstein, Norway, Slovakia and Switzerland.

The countries are placed on the list based on an epidemiological assessment by the National Institute of Public Health. If the situation in any of these countries deteriorates, they may be removed from the list.

Nationals of other EU and Schengen zone countries are still subject to a mandatory 14-day quarantine on arrival unless they fall under one of what are now 16 exemptions.

Until today one of the exemptions was confirmation of tourist booking, but that is no longer the case in the new decree.

In yet another step towards the relaxation of the border regime, the government has relaxed crossing requirements on Slovenia's border with Austria and Hungary, which form internal borders in the EU.

It decided that crossing is permitted outside designated checkpoints, but only for Slovenians, Austrians (for the border with Austria) and Hungarians (for the border with Hungary), all others must still use designated checkpoints.

On the other hand, it instituted a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all arrivals from North Macedonia, regardless of nationality or residency.

The only exemption from the quarantine requirement are workers in international transport, persons conducting cargo transport to and from Slovenia or in transit, persons crossing Slovenia in transit and exiting no later than within 24 hours, and holders of diplomatic passports.