Spain health and travel form called FCS

[steve hill]

Came to Spain today but my wife nearly didn't. She was unable to fill out the FCS form first part at 48 hour point as it said the email was invalid. The help lines were useless and we had to go to the Brittany Ferry office at Portsmouth just before the ferry left to sort it (stressfull to say the least - no form no way to Spain). Luckily she found a one girl who knew the problem, turns out its due to a software clash with Hotmail users, do not use upper case letters in the address.

Also in the second part of the form it turns out your last vaccine has to have been done at least 14 days before( this means don't use the booster if it is too recent, only the second is needed to travel).

Hope this may be usefull to someone, it was a nightmare to us with a 5 hour drive to the port and a 30 hour ferry trip, so the answer is unlike her do the first part of the form in plenty of time and the last bit as close to the 48hr point as possible.

[witzend]

Thank You for taking the time to tell us this

[Ninian]

If you arrive in France and intend driving on down to Spain what provision does the form allow for NOT knowing when you're going to arrive at the border to gain entry.

[Tourope]

Ninian - 2021-12-12 12:30 PM

 

If you arrive in France and intend driving on down to Spain what provision does the form allow for NOT knowing when you're going to arrive at the border to gain entry.

 

In fact do you even need to fill in the form? It only makes provision for people arriving by boat or plane.

[Derek Uzzell]

This link provides advice on the types of control on arrival in Spain according to the means of travel

 

https://travelsafe.spain.info/en/types-control-arrival-according-to-means-of-travel/

 

The final paragraph reads

 

If you travel by land:

1. There is no requirement to submit a health control form.

2. Travellers over 12 years old coming from risk countries or areas arriving in Spain by land from France must have a vaccination/diagnostic test/recovery certificate.

[Tourope]

Thanks Derek. I was searching myself for such a statement last night but didn't see this. That makes it clear.

[slowdriver]

Can you give me a clue/a hand here: I am due to go on the Brittany Ferries "Galicia" Feb 1st. Wanting to get everything sorted, or at least prepared for well in advance, I started the first part of the Spanish Health and Travel Form FCS registration last week, which involved putting in my email, passport number and if I recall correctly, date of travel.

I received an email with an acknowledgement that I had requested the creation of a Health Control Form (FCS), the FCS Code assigned for my trip, and two alternative ways to complete the form via two alternative URLs, plus the note that I could start the form anytime, but could not complete until the 48hr window opened, - presumably at around 9:00 on the 30th Jan.

 

So far so go so good.

 

I then thought I'd try to establish what information the form required when you did get to complete it. So I clicked on one of the links where it asked me to sign using passport details and email which then produced the following error message:-

 

"User cannot be found or FCS individual form is completed already"

 

Which may well be the default error message if you are an idiot trying to check a form six weeks in advance.

Has anyone else encountered this?

 

[Derek Uzzell]

There's a LOT of complaints on Tripadvisor about the Spanish form

 

https://tinyurl.com/3twt4kfe

 

The last page (Page 34) of this long Tripadvisor thread has 14 December 2021 comments

 

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g187427-i42-k13362294-o330-SPTH_Form_Not_Working-Spain.html

 

and the latest posting reads as follows:

 

Are you using the app or SPTH form?

 

Start again with new form and use the SPTH form.

 

I had the same problems.

 

Don't start the firm until 48 hours before your expected arrival. If your flight is due to arrive say at 11.30am on 20th December, don't start the form until after 11.30 on 18th and complete in one go.

 

To resubmit put 00 in front of your passport number and use a different email address.

 

This should generate a new form as it is different from the previous one.

 

Good luck, it is a nightmare.

 

I noticed that the Spanish system seems to assume that air travel will be used, but it may well be that this isn't a problem when entry will be by sea. (My computer gives me a security/privacy warning if I try to access the relevant Spanish website, so I'm not going to experiment with the procedure.)

[slowdriver]

Derek,

 

That is most helpful.

I'll revisit in the 48hr window and try and complete in one go using an alternative email address. I had wondered about the passport number and whether they would reject a second and seemingly duplicate application even with a different email address. The ""00"prefix appears to avoid that problem. In the last resort I'll cancel if Brittany Ferries can't sort it the day preceeding my travel, and leg it to Eurotunnel and drive through France.

 

[slowdriver]

Having read most of the Trip Advisor thread referenced by Derek above it seems as though starting a new form using a different email address and using a Driving Licence number rather than a Passport number can work. We will see.

 

[flyboyprowler]

Just as another comment, we travelled back to Spain 10 days ago by air. Completed the SPTH all the way to page 4 but it would not move me on to the 5th page where you get the required QR code. Much worrying and abortive trying later, I printed off what I had and went to the airport the next day. The Easyjet staff tried to help but couldn't so we were obliged to go to the Skyflight desk upstairs where they completed the form in a few minutes and charged £25 (Normally per person) and we were finally able, fully stressed, to depart. They also said that many people each day had the same problem, so there must be a fault on the SPTH website, or they weren't happy with the MAC laptop I used or my Hotmail account! We are resident in Spain now, and that made no difference at all.

[Derek Uzzell]

I notice that potential problems with hotmail email addresses was mentioned in this thread's original posting.

 

(As an ex-programmer I'm surprised that any of these systems work as well as they do...)

[keninpalamos]

Going from France to Dover area in a boat does not require a passport apparently or anything else. At least that’s what I saw on the TV news.