Am I allowed to travel from Romania to the Netherlands in current COVID-19 situation?
I have an urgent demand from a client in the Netherlands with regards to a ship repair job. I'm a Dutch citizen, with Romanian residence. As far as I could understand from all the media, transportation related sectors are exempt from any restrictions. For example, shipyards in both Romania and the Netherlands remained operational at reduced capacity. Ships are still entering ports etc etc.
Furthermore, I've checked the sources in this related answer from march, however some things remain unclear.
My route by car will be Romania -> Hungary -> Austria -> Germany -> the Netherlands.
- Most nations note traveling is only allowed under "compelling" or "urgent" reasons. However, there is no clear list what counts as compelling. Is my cause compelling enough?
- It seems in the last week countries started relaxing travel restrictions. The (inbound) Romanian border opened last Friday and many people are coming back into Romania.
- The Hungarian Corona info page does not translate to English, it just points to a "about Hungary" website in English. Through that website I did find a news announcement, published today, 21st of May:
During today’s Operational Group press conference, Róbert Kiss, Lieutenant Colonel of the Hungarian Police Force, revealed that all Romanian-Hungarian border crossings will open from 6 a.m. tomorrow morning.
...
Hungarians can also cross the Austrian border if they can prove that they are not infected with the coronavirus.
- For Germany and the Netherlands I could only find the "compelling reason" clause.
- I've seen former colleagues in the same industry travel from the Netherlands to Denmark under similar reasons as mine (Facebook posts).
- Rumor has it (friend of a friend) of a German citizen driving from Romania to Germany without any issues, last Saturday. That was well before the official press release (today) that the Romanian-Hungarian border will open.
- Unlike Romania, some hotels seem to operate in Germany and Holland. Does that mean those countries are less restrictive?
- Almost daily there are charter flights, bringing Romanian workers throughout the EU, including the Netherlands, to keep essential industries working. These flights are part of diplomatic deals between Governments. By extend, I'm in the same kind of wagon, only this is B2B.
- I'm aware of the risks. Also I'm aware I will probably have to self-isolate upon my return. I have no issues with that.
I'm employed by the limited liability company I own. My company (as the legal person) will produce a declaration for me (the employee) to explain why this travel is needed. What should be the contents of this declaration? Do I have changes of succeeding in this trip?
The declaration I've come up with so far:
To whom it may concern
<Company details>
<date>
The undersigned, Mr. <Company owner>, in his capacity of administrator and owner,
herewith declares that the bearer of this declaration document is traveling
to a shipyard to provide urgent services.
Services need to be performed on board of a seagoing vessel and include activities to
prove the vessel’s seaworthiness to relevant classification societies and authorities.
The client currently does not have the capacity with the required competences to execute
this activities. Therefore it requires external expertise, as provided by our services
during this visit.
< Signed owner name and date>
Employee name:
Passport number:
Dates of travel: 23/24 of May 2020 outbound; 10/11 of July return
Route of travel: Romania – Hungary – Austria – Germany – the Netherlands; VV.
Vessel name:
Vessel MMSI:
Port of (dis) embarkation: Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Duty on board: Commissioning engineer
My client will also come forward with a statement.
Best Answer
First of all, thanks to Crazydre for his answer and guidance through this tedious procedure of obtaining a transit waiver. Until now I have not received a confirmation from the Hunagarian police and there are some financial consequences if I don't cancel the trip today. Sometimes this kind of requests take time, I get that.
I should have done this earlier. This morning I contacted the Hungarian consulate in Romania with the question if I can transit by car to the Netherlands. They have confirmed that a holder of a Dutch passport will be allowed passage to his home country. As a bonus, being the holder of a Romanian residence permit, I will also be allowed to transit back to Romania, when the time comes.
Meanwhile I also managed to trace down that "friend of a friend" that drove to Germany last week (Point 6 in question), and he also indicated "no problems at all".
So I'm just gonna go and see if this works.
- If the waiver comes in on time, use it;
- If it doesn't, I just hope the "friend of a friend" and the consulate were right;
If my way worked, I will update here and change the accepted answer.
Update: The waiver from the Hungarian came through just before I went on the way. I have presented the waiver at the border checkpoint, but the officer was not interested in it. So I'm not sure that tells me, if it was needed. I would recommend other travelers to do it regardless, with sufficient time in advance.
Another important note: The border of Nadlac/ Nagylak II (on the highway) is closed for personal cars. This is not very clearly indicated on the Romanian side and people receive little to no information at the checkpoint. Probably I missed a sign on the highway, but I can't confirm that. After some time I while I found out personal cars need to go to Nadlac I. That's the old border on the DN-7 (RO) / 43 (HU) road (maps location). Once there, border passage took 2 hours. All persons passing the border are temperature checked.
For the other borders:
- Austria: upon entry, authorities ask the final destination, no documentation check. If in transit, people receive a declaration to be filled in and kept on you en-route (probably in case you get stopped or something else happens).
- Germany: Near the Pasau border there is a "drive slow" area where authorities look into the car. Vehicles are stopped at random for checks. I believe this is not a COVID-19 specific measure.
- The Netherlands: no measures at the border.
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