marcokng

Mods - please feel free to move!

Does anyone have experience or know whether ExpressTest’s on-site Lateral Flow test is accepted for arrivals in Lisbon?

If not, which supplier have you used specifically to get into Lisbon?

corporate-wage-slave

Portugal currently needs a Lateral Flow within 48 hours or a PCR within 72 hours of departure to Portugal. So ExpressTest will be fine and so will all supervised tests. There is some ambiguity over self test plus video or photographic proctoring but certainly people have successfully flown on BA with those sorts of test certificates.

e8steve

A slight qualification to the answer above. Self administered tests are not acceptable for entry to Portugal, even when supervised. The legal position was clarified recently and several thousand passengers have been fined for attempting to enter the country with such tests, and airlines have been hit with substantial fines for allowing passengers to travel without clinically administered tests. See for example articles in The Portugal News. Of course, that is not to say that some people might still have managed to enter with such certificates.

Keystone

A bit more precision is needed - mainland Portugal needs a lateral flow but Madeira’s requirements are different, I’m travelling to Madeira next week on BA and think that as I’m double vaccinated I only need to fill out the Madeira Safe form giving the details.

Robert279

Correct...and upload your digital vaccination certificate to Madeira Safe which, when validated, provides you with a dark green QR code to show the authorities in FNC. Unvaccinated passengers can take a LFT before departure (in 'certified laboratories') or on arrival, for no charge, subject to them isolating for up to 12 hours pending their results.

e8steve

Deleted

marcokng

Thanks for all the responses. Does anyone have experience of the ExpressTest lateral flows? I might switch to PCRs if it guarantees entry (and no fine)

corporate-wage-slave

Just to re-iterate, an in-person lateral flow - which will be just like NHS lateral flows except a member of staff will operate the swab - is not the issue. It is people who used a postal kit. So the only reason for going PCR is to take advantage of the 72 versus 48 hour restriction, plus it's obviously slightly more likely to be accurate.

Keystone

I think you are reading Madeira's requirement wrongly. The Visit Madeira web site states:

3.Vaccination || Recovered COVID-19 Patients
Exceptions to the submission of a TRAg test (Rapid Antigen Test) for COVID-19 or undergoing testing upon arrival at airports of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, include:

• Passengers with a medical document certifying that the bearer is recovered from COVID-19 disease upon disembarking in the territory of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, issued in the last 90 days;

• Passengers carrying a document certifying that they were vaccinated against COVID-19

AlienInTheFatherland

Robert 279 has posted the corrrect information in post #5 above as far as entry to Madeira is concerned.

Ted51

Cant vouch for Express Test but arrived in Faro on 14th Jan after Boots Rapid Antigen Test (£30) without problems. They also do a Lateral Flow Test for same price, not sure if there is a difference but the RAT corresponds with what Portugal asks for.

ceej123

RAT is just another way of describing a lateral flow test.

marcokng

Makes sense. Thanks everyone!

CharlotteC

Express tests are great I have only used them at Heathrow Airport before, well organised and very good at sorting out those last minute testing emergencies and I got my results within 40 minutes

Tack

Man I hate asking this, but I need to be checked here. Mrs Tack and I are flying from LAX-LHR-OPO 11/Feb. Then OPO-LHR 19/Feb and LHR-LAX 20/Feb.

Outbound from LAX, a PCR test within 72hrs and our California Vax digital Smart Card showing all three of our shots gets us to LHR and on to OPO. The return to LHR we just need our CA Vax digital Smart card. And LHR-LAX an antigen test done at LHR 24hrs before? The above includes all the paperwork BA requires filled out. Sorry, just don’t want to miss anything. We’ve traveled extensively domestically and south of the US boarder during the Pandemic. This is our first of 3 booked jaunts to the EU since the end of 2019.

Also can any SoCal OC’ers recommend a good, fast travel PCR test location? Thanks In advance. Cheers!