Problem at Larnaca

[ElectricianPete]

My son and son in law went to Larnaca today and they would not accept PCR from the North. They had to take rapid PCR at airport. 20 euros each. Cost lots of time and only made flight with 2 mins to spare.
Be warned. Allow extra time. New rule from yesterday apparently.

[niceone]

That's very worrying as we have flights on Sunday, how long did it take approx please, we need to allow extra time

[niceone]

Looked at Larnaca airport and rapid pcr tests cost €120 and takes 3 hours, lareral flow tests cost €15 and take 30 to 45 minutes, was it a pcr test or a lateral flow test please

[Brinsley]

Playing politics with revenue in mind. Same as the UK government only accepting 2 jab entry if administered by the NHS, not elsewhere.

[ginge]

I flew from Larnaca on the BA 8am flight this morning.

My PCR was from Near East and was accepted at check-in.

[come_on_aylin]

We flew at 1645 with BA and had no problem apart from having to show order confirmation showing we had purchased day 2 and day 8 tests. We're fully vaccinated with accepted vaccines but because they were done in North we have to self isolate, wil be checking with them if it's necessary when they call.

[Deniz1]

The EU send vaccines to TRNC via the south but they wont accept the when you want to travel.

[Wight]

I traveled through Larnaca to the UK on Tuesday. No issues with the PCR. All went very smoothly.

[PoshinDevon]

Playing politics with revenue in mind. Same as the UK government only accepting 2 jab entry if administered by the NHS, not elsewhere.

This is not correct.

It is not the fact that you have had two vaccinations administered elsewhere, the problem is ensuring that the documentation is secure and correct.

Many countries; not just the U.K., are implementing the same policy simply because people are copying/forging paperwork to say they have had the vaccine when they have not.

In the U.K. each time you have a vaccination your NHS records are automatically updated on the secure NHS website. You can register with and log into your NHS records using a password etc. This then allows you to view your records and if you wish you can print them. Your vaccination records have a secure QR code assigned each time they are printed. If you cannot access on line you can contact your GP or the NHS direct and they will ask some security questions and details to verify who you are and if satisfied you can collect or they will post your documentation to you.

Unfortunately the scammers out there will try anything to try and beat the system. As frustrating as it is, many countries will not accept bits of paper or cards that cannot be verified as genuine.

[Keithcaley]

...Unfortunately the scammers out there will try anything to try and beat the system. As frustrating as it is, many countries will not accept bits of paper or cards that cannot be verified as genuine.

Despite the inclination to blame every single action of the GC's on 'Revenge Politics' the above statement seems to hit the nail on the head.

[wanderer]

The South reserves the right to ask for a test when landing at the passengers expense
Coming from the UK you are not allowed to use the free NHS tests to fly Health workers who are tested regularly have been refused boarding because the have used their NHS PCR test
Does this apply with the South requiring a private test
Its a bloody nightmare

[EnjoyingTheSun]

Same as the UK government only accepting 2 jab entry if administered by the NHS, not elsewhere.

No, but nearer than you usually are tbf

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58050538

[Soner]

Same as the UK government only accepting 2 jab entry if administered by the NHS, not elsewhere.

No, but nearer than you usually are tbf

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58050538

Question: Does TRNC come under the EU, if you travel via Larnaca?

[wanderer]

Soner on the locator you have a choice of Cyprus or Northern( I think that's what they put)
As you're flying from Larnaca its in the EU simples

[Soner]

Soner on the locator you have a choice of Cyprus or Northern( I think that's what they put)
As you're flying from Larnaca its in the EU simples

Anyone going to UK please post your experiences on the forum.

[Trigger]

Same as the UK government only accepting 2 jab entry if administered by the NHS, not elsewhere.

No, but nearer than you usually are tbf

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58050538

Great, so tourists from random European countries can come to England on holiday but I cannot pop over and see my family (without isolating) even though I had the same make of vaccine but administered in a different country. The mind boggles.

I get the restriction of tourists but citizens? In my opinion, citizens should be allowed to return to their home country if they have a valid certificate proving that they have been double vaccinated. If I get to immigration and they suspect my document is fake, then that is another matter but a blanket ban is totally wrong.

[PoshinDevon]

Same as the UK government only accepting 2 jab entry if administered by the NHS, not elsewhere.

No, but nearer than you usually are tbf

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-58050538

Great, so tourists from random European countries can come to England on holiday but I cannot pop over and see my family (without isolating) even though I had the same make of vaccine but administered in a different country. The mind boggles.

I get the restriction of tourists but citizens? In my opinion, citizens should be allowed to return to their home country if they have a valid certificate proving that they have been double vaccinated. If I get to immigration and they suspect my document is fake, then that is another matter but a blanket ban is totally wrong.

Tourists coming to the U.K. will have to comply with the U.K. regulations pertaining to that country. Specifically it depends on wether the country you are arriving from is on the green, amber or red list. Plus having verified documentation as to what vaccinations you have had. Every country has similar lists. Obviously as a fully vaccinated tourist coming to the U.K. from a green listed country there are no restrictions, providing your paperwork is fully verified. However a red listed country requires quarantine at your expense at a cost of over £2,000. Tourists would unlikely fit into this category.

Whilst you may have had a vaccine recognised by the WHO and administered in another country, that is not the real issue. Bits of hand written paper showing type of and dates of vaccine or other printouts supposedly showing vaccination can easily be forged.

The U.K. is not alone in this policy. Many countries will only accept fully verified documentation which usually means a secure QR code being part of the document.

Work is ongoing to try and have more agreement on what documentation would be universally accepted.

Countries are only trying to protect there borders and citizens from an influx of people with forged documents who have either not had the vaccine or have had a vaccine that is yet to be verified by the WHO.

Blame the scammers.

[Trigger]

The annoying thing is, it is an easy fix for the UK authorities. I have the batch number of the vaccination administrated so surely they could look it up to verify that it matches with manufacturers records once I upload it to the nhs app.

I get why they are doing it and I agree that there needs to be systems in place. I just don’t get why they cannot verify my vaccination by a little cross referencing. I have an official certificate (its even laminated ) with qr code, vaccination name / batch number on it etc.

[a1sysman]

… I have the batch number of the vaccination administrated …

Not worth the card they were stuck on to as any means of proof / verification you actually were administered that vaccine in some foreign country outside of NHS England’s vaccination programme administration. Come on, think about it.

[niceone]

Going back to topic, is anyone flying out through Larnaca in the next couple of days? Can you let us know how you get on please

[benjaminbutton]

We have absolutely no intention of visiting family in UK, despite the fact have not been back for over three years now and its breaking our hearts, as the risks are just too great and too complicated for we silver surfers. I do so agree about forging the green vaccination certificates though. One of us had both vaccs in Lefkosia and one had both in in Girne. The green cards are different sizes and slightly different green. The Girne card is hand written but with a printed batch number stuck on. The Lefkosia card is ALL hand written and even I with my limited knowledge could purchase some green card in Deniz Plaza and produce a perfectly acceptable forgery. Not that I intend to put it to practice!!

[toaodave]

I had the same issue yesterday, Jet2 to East Mids at 6pm. They would not allow a PCR test from the North at check in. They claimed it was a new rule brought in yesterday. There were about 20 of us who were refused. After alot of discussion and apparently calls to UK Border Force they allowed us to check in without having to get another rapid test at the airport.

[Trigger]

… I have the batch number of the vaccination administrated …

Not worth the card they were stuck on to as any means of proof / verification you actually were administered that vaccine in some foreign country outside of NHS England’s vaccination programme administration. Come on, think about it.

It’s ok for any eu country or America though? It’s ridiculous.

Anyway, back to the subject. What was the reason for not accepting the pcr? Is it because the pcr has to be completed in an approved hospital / clinic? If that is the case then it’s a bit of a game changer.

[PoshinDevon]

… I have the batch number of the vaccination administrated …

Not worth the card they were stuck on to as any means of proof / verification you actually were administered that vaccine in some foreign country outside of NHS England’s vaccination programme administration. Come on, think about it.

Exactly.

As frustrating as it is the U.K. along with other countries requirements are very strict. In basic terms these countries do not trust bits of paper issued by some countries.

As for cross referencing batch numbers etc, not convinced it should be something the U.K. should be doing for every person vaccinated overseas wishing to travel to the U.K. If all systems were securely linked then of course it could be done, but they are not and never will be.

I have no idea how this would be resolved but the these regulations are in place to prevent people arriving in the U.K. who may have forged, stolen, copied paperwork.

[Trigger]

… I have the batch number of the vaccination administrated …

Not worth the card they were stuck on to as any means of proof / verification you actually were administered that vaccine in some foreign country outside of NHS England’s vaccination programme administration. Come on, think about it.

Exactly.

As frustrating as it is the U.K. along with other countries requirements are very strict. In basic terms these countries do not trust bits of paper issued by some countries.

As for cross referencing batch numbers etc, not convinced it should be something the U.K. should be doing for every person vaccinated overseas wishing to travel to the U.K. If all systems were securely linked then of course it could be done, but they are not and never will be.

I have no idea how this would be resolved but the these regulations are in place to prevent people arriving in the U.K. who may have forged, stolen, copied paperwork.

The problem is a lack of joined up thinking. The lack of it makes things very political. It’s the same as the country colours. Some countries are green for some countries, red for others. You would have thought an organisation like the WHO could validate which country has issues and provide a universal vaccination certificate. It takes it out of the hands of individual countries then who can make it political.

[ElectricianPete]

That's very worrying as we have flights on Sunday, how long did it take approx please, we need to allow extra time

They got the test and were promised results to e mail in 20 mins. This was with 50 mins to go before departure. They got through to the gate,and their luggage was held awaiting results. Results never came and they asked the gate attendant to phone the rapid test centre in the end. They got on flight with 2 minutes to go. Very stressful all round.

[niceone]

Thanks for the reply, I guess we will just have to hope we don't get the same person, fingers crossed

[kibsolar1999]

The EU send vaccines to TRNC via the south but they wont accept the when you want to travel.

The EU never send any vaccines to the TRNC.
(most of the ) EU countries do accept vaccines given to EU citizens (even given) in TRNC, as long they are EMA approved and some accept even nonEMA vaccines.
eg, Sinovac is not approved in, eg, Germany and ALL people vaccinated with Sinovac (wherever) are classified as "unvaccinated".

[ardstrawray]

Are they having the same problems at Ercan

[mish]

When passports were changed to the electronic variety it was implied that the chip embedded in the cover could be programmed with any extra data should the need arise.

So why are they not putting vac details on passports? Surely post offices could be geared-up to do this using verified documents from the vac centre?
m

[jofra]

Probably because the systems are not compatible - in the fairy-tale early days of computers, it was probably imagined that all computers would be able to use the same "language" - and then there came "BASIC", "FORTRAN", "LISP", "PASCAL" and so many others.... (not to mention "machine coding")...
And then came "home computers" - with Spectrum "BASIC", Commodore "BASIC", Oric "BASIC" and so many more - that did NOT work together....
MS DOS, Amiga DOS, Copper, C++.....
Ever tried opening MS Office files (Word, Excel, Access) in Lotus office - or vice versa?
My son's company has bespoke computerised account systems, PARTS of which can be exported to/imported from MS Excel....
The system for updating/adding to passport chips is almost certainly now obsolete.
I still have a book containing programs for simple games which includes the necessary amendments for the above named computers....

[Deniz1]

You are wrong Kibsolar another large batch of vaccines from the EU were handed over at Metehan last week. I cant find the official post about it.

[iancrumpy]

You are wrong Kibsolar another large batch of vaccines from the EU were handed over at Metehan last week. I cant find the official post about it.

Deniz1, here's one of the reports to show you're right:
https://www.kibrisgazetesi.com/kibris/k ... 16281.html

Getting back to the main subject of the thread, my wife and I are hoping that in a few weeks' time we don't experience difficilties at Larnaca similar to the ones experienced by ElectricianPete's family ... At the moment I think a lot depends on how nationalistic the GCs we encounter at the airport are.

[Trigger]

It does sound like there are lots of reports of the south refusing to accept a pcr from the north, for whatever reason.

For us leaving in a couple of weeks we now have a decision to make.

Choice 1 - Arrive at south airport early and get a test done there. €120 pp for PCR or €15 for rapid antigen (not all countries will accept the rapid test for entry though)

Choice 2 - Go south a couple of days early, enjoy a couple of days down there and get a pcr test done at a southern clinic / centre at presumably a cheaper cost

Choice 3 - Hope we get lucky and get away with it.

What a pain.

[iancrumpy]

Choice 1 - Arrive at south airport early and get a test done there. €120 pp for PCR or €15 for rapid antigen (not all countries will accept the rapid test for entry though)

Choice 2 - Go south a couple of days early, enjoy a couple of days down there and get a pcr test done at a southern clinic / centre at presumably a cheaper cost

Choice 3 - Hope we get lucky and get away with it.

For us it will be "choice 1", but hoping for "choice 3" - By that, I mean arriving early, but still hoping our north-side-done pcrs are accepted.

[Deniz1]

Thankyou Ian Crumpy.

[Trigger]

After looking into this a bit more, I’m not convinced it is the south being awkward.

From the Qatar governments website;

A PCR test must be conducted at an approved medical center by the local Ministry of Health in the country of departure before travelling to the State of Qatar.

Could it be countries have been complaining to the south as people have been turning up with pcr’ s from a different country. The computer would probably be confused?

[Soner]

Could it be that Free TRNC PCR test is not being accepted at RoC airports?
Maybe best to have a paid PCR test done at a TRNC Hospital.

[Trigger]

Could it be that Free TRNC PCR test is not being accepted at RoC airports?
Maybe best to have a paid PCR test done at a TRNC Hospital.

From reading reports, the paid tests are being rejected too.

[Soner]

Could it be that Free TRNC PCR test is not being accepted at RoC airports?
Maybe best to have a paid PCR test done at a TRNC Hospital.

From reading reports, the paid tests are being rejected too.

That is crazy. Only solution, then, is take test in TRNC and go to airport early incase they cause problems.

[Trigger]

Could it be that Free TRNC PCR test is not being accepted at RoC airports?
Maybe best to have a paid PCR test done at a TRNC Hospital.

From reading reports, the paid tests are being rejected too.

That is crazy. Only solution, then, is take test in TRNC and go to airport early incase they cause problems.

The problem is for us is that we must have a pcr test, not a rapid antigen test. Results for that take roughly 4 hours to come through. We are seriously thinking of just heading down a couple of days earlier and making a little road trip of it. Not ideal and extra cost that we had not budgeted for, but if it takes the stress away of missing our already very expensive flight / being late upon our return to work, then probably worth it.

We will see how things pan out these next few days or so.

[Soner]

From reading reports, the paid tests are being rejected too.

That is crazy. Only solution, then, is take test in TRNC and go to airport early incase they cause problems.

The problem is for us is that we must have a pcr test, not a rapid antigen test. Results for that take roughly 4 hours to come through. We are seriously thinking of just heading down a couple of days earlier and making a little road trip of it. Not ideal and extra cost that we had not budgeted for, but if it takes the stress away of missing our already very expensive flight / being late upon our return to work, then probably worth it.

We will see how things pan out these next few days or so.

What I would do is have the PCR test done in TRNC, then if they insist on having an Antigen test to board plane at airport, then fine, take the Antigen test. You will have the TRNC PCR test which will be accepted in UK or where ever you are travelling to.

[Maisiemoo]

It would be interesting to know which airlines are involved in refusing the test certificates from the North and the reasons for their refusal. BA have been flying throughout the pandemic and are probably more 'au fait' with the rules and regulations. If refusals were more widespread Facebook would be awash with the stories but there are only a relative few and more people saying they flew with no problems.

[waddo]

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j ... hhI91hywSK

The above link may help. BUT could it be that any documentation you have that allows you to enter the ROC is only for that purpose?

What I mean to say is that if you have a PCR/Rapid test in the North that will allow you to travel to the South but then that is where it ends! If you want to travel from the South to any other destination then you need documentation from the South and not the North?

It seems right to me because you are leaving from the North and NOT by air therefore you are not a TRANSIT passenger, you are somebody who is from the ROC (South) and therefore your documentation issued by the North is of no use to you for onward travel???

If it was me - thankfully it is not - then I would certainly arrive early or spend a day or two in the South, get my PCR test in the South and then I feel that I would be fully covered and would meet all requirements.

[mish]

Probably because the systems are not compatible - in the fairy-tale early days of computers, it was probably imagined that all computers would be able to use the same "language" - and then there came "BASIC", "FORTRAN", "LISP", "PASCAL" and so many others.... (not to mention "machine coding")...
And then came "home computers" - with Spectrum "BASIC", Commodore "BASIC", Oric "BASIC" and so many more - that did NOT work together....
MS DOS, Amiga DOS, Copper, C++.....
Ever tried opening MS Office files (Word, Excel, Access) in Lotus office - or vice versa?
My son's company has bespoke computerised account systems, PARTS of which can be exported to/imported from MS Excel....
The system for updating/adding to passport chips is almost certainly now obsolete.
I still have a book containing programs for simple games which includes the necessary amendments for the above named computers....

Surely there is compatability when a passport can now be read electronically no matter the country one is entering. So does it not follow that an extra line of data giving vaccine information can also be as esily read as that giving information of origin of the bearer?
m

[kibsolar1999]

You are wrong Kibsolar another large batch of vaccines from the EU were handed over at Metehan last week. I cant find the official post about it.

"The EU (commission) " do not own vaccines and therefore can not "hand them over" to anybody.

When it came to vaccine procurement, each EU member, big or small, declared how many they want and the EU commission was instructed to take over the negotiations for all of them.
between the EU member states it was agreed that every country will get vaccines according to their population.
payments for vaccines was done by the single nations and manufacturers delivered directly, there is no "central warehouse" of the EU.
all distribution and application is organised by each EU member on their own reponsibility.

as you know, approx 100.000 TCs are citizens of the RoC and "for them as well" the RoC ordered and payed the vaccines.

So, vaccines are not handed over from "the EU via the south", all Astra Zeneca, Janssen and Biontech vaccines handed over to date at Metehan came directly out of stock from the RoC .

btw, in TC press it says " Avrupa Birliği (AB) tarafından Kıbrıslı Türkler için" = "....from the direction of the EU for the Turkish Cypriots"....
this "term", it seems, is used to avoid to mention that these vaccines come directly from the RoC.

the total doses coming from RoC up to today is approx 120.000, approx 310.000 doses are administered in TRNC to date ( approx 200.000 Sinovac from Turkiye).

[EnjoyingTheSun]

the EU commission was instructed to take over the negotiations for all of them.

By who?

[Dalartokat]

the EU commission was instructed to take over the negotiations for all of them.

By who?

By the European Council and the Member States of Europe who met last year.

[EnjoyingTheSun]

By the European Council and the Member States of Europe who met last year.

Looks like a triumph
Still a votes a vote I guess

https://www.politico.eu/article/europe- ... trazeneca/

[niceone]

Not really sure at what point anyone else was asked for the PCR results, we flew out from Larnaca last night with TUI we had to show it at the crossing, at the check in desk we only had to show our passports, passenger locator form and proof of double vaccination , at immigration they just took the photo printout from the machine and let us through, we were not asked for the PCR results anywhere