President Joe Biden has outlined new rules for
foreign travelers entering the country when its borders reopen on Nov. 8,
providing clarity on what will be needed for international travel.
The plan moves away from the previous U.S. ban
on flights from most foreign countries, which was implemented by former
president Donald Trump in March 2020 and extended by Biden when he took office
in January this year.
In a proclamation signed by Biden on Monday,
the U.S. will implement a system that requires most incoming visitors to be
vaccinated against Covid-19. Airlines operating flights into the country will
be required to check passengers’ vaccination status before they can board the
plane. They will also have to keep personal information for contact tracing on
file for 30 days so health officials can follow up with anyone who may have
been exposed to the virus.
To prove vaccination status, travelers must
provide evidence of a jab from an “official source” having been received at
least two weeks prior to departure. This includes any vaccines approved by U.S.
health regulators.
Vaccinated travelers will also be required to
have a negative Covid-19 test result within three days of departure. The U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this must be a "viral test
that could be either an antigen test or a nucleic acid amplification test,"
such as a PCR or LAMP test.
The Biden administration said exceptions for
unvaccinated foreign travelers would be rare but would be made for children
under the age of 18 and those arriving from countries with less than a 10 percent
vaccination rate due to lack of availability, as well as those with medical
conditions that prevent them from receiving vaccines.
Unvaccinated travelers, whether foreign or
American, will be required to provide a negative Covid-19 result from a test
taken within one day of departure.
The proclamation states that unvaccinated
travelers may be subject to further restrictions and requirements subject to
recommendations by the CDC, including mask wearing and post-arrival testing.
The new rules apply to all countries that were
included in the previous travel ban, including the U.K., Republic of Ireland,
the European Schengen area, China, India, Iran, Brazil and South Africa. Travelers
arriving from outside of these countries will face more stringent entry
requirements, according to the proclamation.
The U.S. Travel Association, which has lobbied
for a safe reopening of U.S. borders for months, issued the following statement,
noting that details around the general opening of land borders between the U.S.,
Canada and Mexico had yet to be addressed by the administration.
"Today’s
guidance detailing how international air travelers can prepare for resumed
travel to the United States starting November 8 provides much-needed clarity
for planning. We are grateful this additional detail has been made available as
we move to reopening to fully vaccinated international travelers, and we look
forward to similar guidance in coming days for those qualified visitors who
plan to enter via our northern and southern land borders as well."