IRISH PASSPORT HOLDERS who were vaccinated outside the European Union can now apply for an EU Digital Covid-19 Certificate.
Any person who has been vaccinated with any combination of the following can sign up.
CoronaVac and SinoPharm are not being included for the moment but the Department of Health says it expects to add them “soon.”
Applicants must also have proof of vaccination from their country, be an adult and hold a valid Irish passport.
This is the link to the applications portal.
I’m pleased to announce that today Irish passport holders who were vaccinated outside of the EU can access an EU DCC.
— Stephen Donnelly (@DonnellyStephen) November 18, 2021
This is on top of the service being available for passport holders in NI & GB https://t.co/q4t53NPL3G to get yours pic.twitter.com/nNt7A4f2he
Dubliner in Kansas
Alex Jordan, who is originally from Dublin but lives in Kansas, says it offers him “peace of mind” when moving between his home in the United States and his birthplace in Ireland.
He, along with his wife who is an Irish resident and a US citizen, were vaccinated in the United States earlier this year.
However she is not a passport holder, so does not qualify for an EU Digital Covid-19 Certificate.
They posses physical certificates from the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC).
That has posed a challenge though, as he says “we can only hope” that those paper certificates will be accepted in other nations.
“This last year we’ve gone back and forth every 4 months, and next year we’re hoping to travel every 3 months.”
Alex added “we’ve just found it difficult and stressful to figure out what we need to do when flying home, or what to expect once we get home.”
“It’s not that the information isn’t available, it’s that the information keeps changing.”
Alex hopes the EU Digital Covid-19 Cert will make the whole process around travelling back and forth smoother in the future, at least for him.
Safe travel
The Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly welcomed the move saying, “I am so pleased to announce that having continued to work with partners across Government, the EU Digital COVID Certificate Third Country portal is now accessible today.”
“With over 23,000 certificates issued through the Third Country portal to date, this extension to our existing accessible digital services now offers access to all our eligible Irish citizens.”
Minister Donnelly says he’s particularly proud that Ireland is one of the few EU countries making this service available to citizens abroad to support safe travel.
Minister for Overseas Development Aid and Diaspora, Colm Brophy added that the Government is conscious of the “difficult situation” citizens abroad are in where travel is concerned.
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