The Biden administration announced that the country is lifting all travel restrictions for incoming non-citizen, non-immigrant travellers from 8th November, barring limited exceptions. These passengers have to fully vaccinated and need to produce proof of their COVID-19 vaccination before boarding a flight to the country.
Travellers under the age of 18 will be exempt from the vaccine requirements, in addition to those with medical conditions. However, they have to provide proof a negative Covid-19 test. The US is currently accepting any vaccines approved by the FDA and WHO.
The new rules replace the earlier restrictions that began since March 2020 and banned travellers from countries including India, China, Brazil, South Africa, the UK, Ireland and all Schengen countries.
The White House shared updated travel guidelines, which include new protocols around testing. To further strengthen protections, unvaccinated travellers can get tested for COVID within one day of departure. Both PCR and antigen tests can be used for entry.
Airlines operating flights to the US are expected to check a traveller’s vaccination status before they board flights to the US, confirm that the proof of vaccination comes from an official source and that it was received at least two weeks before departure. They will also need to collect personal information for contact tracing purposes, which will stored for 30 days to allow health officials to get in touch with anyone who may have been exposed to COVID-19.
