Foreign tourists to be initially able to use paper vaccine certificates in Lithuania

VILNIUS – With Lithuania gearing up for the rollout of a so-called ‘Freedom ID’ – a national version of a vaccination passport – next week, foreign tourists will be initially allowed to use paper copies of their COVID-19 vaccination certificates.

“If you are not entered into Lithuania’s e-health system, there is no database available for obtaining the data required for the Freedom ID. Hence paper documents will also be in force during the transitional period,” Deputy Economy Minister Vincas Jurgutis said during an event hosted by Lithuania's exports promoting agency Versli Lietuva (Enterprise Lithuania).

“If a person arrives in Lithuania with a vaccination certificate, that certificate would be in force as an alternative to the Freedom ID and it would be sufficient at least during this period, while tourist flows are not too substantial,” he added.

Same as Lithuania’s residents, foreigners will also be able to use more services after testing negative for COVID-19 but they will have to pay for the test themselves.

According to the deputy minister, the process should become easier in the future with the European Union’s common solutions that would allow “coordination” between the systems of various member states.

The Freedom ID, which will be available to those people in Lithuania who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 or have already had the coronavirus, or have a negative test result, and will enable them to bypass certain coronavirus lockdown restrictions, will be rolled out in Lithuania next week.

Those eligible to obtain the pass will include all Lithuanian citizens older than 16 years of age. The document will be linked to the national e-health system that would contain all data pertaining to vaccination, recovery from the coronavirus or test results.