I wanted to file a complaint about our supposed to be travel going to Prague today but apparently we were not able to join the flight as we were hold on the boarding security gate. My partner and I were told that even though we have our UK residency cards and we have Schengen Visa but because we are not British nationals and only hold Philippine passport we cannot travel to Prague for our 5 day holiday trip. Before we book in this trip, taking into consideration the pandemic situation, we did our research and look into both the government sites of UK and Czech Republic travel advisory and both countries clearly state that there are no restrictions to their countries As they are both considered in the green area. And I quote, on the gov.uk official site.. it stated “There are currently no restrictions in place on entering the Czech Republic if you are travelling from the UK”
Likewise, on the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic(mvcr.cz) it says that on the
1.Important Notice: “As of July 13th, 2020 it will be possible to travel to CZE without necessity of proving the purpose of the travel when travelling from any country on the list of the countries with a low risk.”
Also, on page 6 pdf file titled
Conditions for entry of persons to the territory of the Czech Republic (valid from 1.7.2020 00:00) in accordance with the Ministry of Health Protective Measure
Page 6 clearly states:
“C.3 Third country citizens with long-term or permanent residence in a green zone
-travel document
PLUS:
Long-term or permanent residence in a green zone EU country:
- long-term or permanent residence permit in an EU country (long-term or short-term visa is not sufficient)
Long-term or permanent residence in a green zone third country:
- permission to enter the Czech territory (visa-free travel, residence permit in another EU state, visa issued by CZ or another EU state)
- PLUS: long-term or permanent residence permit in that country (long-term or short- term visa issued by a third country is not sufficient)”
So following these government advices on their official websites which we read and followed, why on earth we were not allowed to board for our supposed to be travel today going to Prague!? The flight attendant who was checking my passport adviced me not to rely on the government website as she said it is not updated. So if we don’t rely on the website, where do we seek advice then?! I don’t believe that it is not updated as the dates are just been uploaded this July 2020.
It is just very frustrating and disheartening to experience this, such a waste of our time and money when we all have the necessary travel documents on hand but just because our passport is from a third world country even though we are living in the UK since 2015 does not suffice in your end even with a valid Schengen Visa and UK residence permit. This is the only time we get to spend our holiday since we were working non stop as frontline healthcare workers here in London and disappontingly this is what we experienced in return. This is just so unfair when if you are basing things on nationalities and not on the permanent residency the person is situated at the time being!
Refund our flight ticket back!!!