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US reopened on 8 November 2021 (& subsequent entry restrictions for non-citizens)

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Old Sep 15, 2021, 1:47 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: NewbieRunner
New thread for discussing 1-day test requirements for travellers arriving in the US by air
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/coronavirus-travel/2060730-us-require-air-travelers-provide-negative-test-within-1-day-departure.html

Entry ban from eight southern African countries starting on November 29, 2021

Most non-U.S. citizens who have been in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique or Malaw within the prior 14 days will not be allowed into the United States.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/11/26/a-proclamation-on-suspension-of-entry-as-immigrants-and-nonimmigrants-of-certain-additional-persons-who-pose-a-risk-of-transmitting-coronavirus-disease-2019/

Entry ban by air to be lifted on November 8, 2021 - All travelers should refer to CDC for travel requirements.

3 day pre-flight testing requirement will continue (US citizens/LPR not vaccinated will have to test no earlier than 1 day prior) Children under 2 years old do not need to test.

Children under 18 are exempt from vaccination requirement
Accepted vaccines will include:
  • AstraZeneca
  • BIBP/Sinopharm
  • Covishield
  • Janssen/J&J
  • Moderna
  • Pfizer-BioNTech
  • Sinovac
Vaccination certificates must come from an official source
There is a face mask mandate when flying to/from the USA, with effectively no exemptions, and including children two and above years old
Airlines need to provide some sort of contact tracing information for potential follow-up cases

Update on U.S. travel policy requiring COVID-19 vaccination
Last Updated: October 25, 2021

As announced by the White House today, the new travel policy requiring foreign nationals traveling to the United States to demonstrate proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 will take effect November 8. The CDC’s website explains that, for purposes of entry into the United States, the accepted vaccines will include FDA approved or authorized and WHO Emergency Use Listing vaccines.

COVID-19 Travel Restrictions and Exceptions - U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs
Last updated: October 25, 2021

The presidential proclamations described on this page will no longer be in effect on November 8, 2021. For additional information, please see Safely Resuming Travel by Vaccine Requirement and Rescission of Travel Restrictions on Brazil, China, India, Iran, Ireland, the Schengen Area, South Africa, and the United Kingdom (travel.state.gov).

To protect the public health, there are four presidential proclamations that suspend entry into the United States of all noncitizens who were physically present in any of 33 countries during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States. They are Presidential Proclamation 9984 (China); Presidential Proclamation 9992 (Iran); Presidential Proclamation 10143 (Schengen Area, United Kingdom, Ireland, Brazil, and South Africa); and Presidential Proclamation 10199 (India).

What we know so far is
- Confirmed to start on 8 November
- Children under 18 are exempt from the vaccine restrictions, so the varying international standards on jab ages won't be an issue here.

- Vaccines that are OK will include Pfizer, Moderna, AZ, J&J and the two Chinese vaccines.
- Some exemptions from vaccinations are potentially allowed, notably for US citizens, though my guess is airlines will be expecting to see vaccine certificates

- 3 day pre-flight testing requirement will continue, so this needs to be a documented antigen/Lateral Flow test or PCR.
- 3 days is potentially more than 72 hours, departure on a Friday afternoon means a test on Tuesday morning or thereafter.
- NHS Lateral Flows and PCRs can't be used.
- Children over 2 years old travelling with vaccinated travellers have to be tested on the same basis (3 days).
- 1 day testing for unvaccinated USA legal residents (testing on or the day before departure), including their children.

- All passengers need to sign an attestment to confirm their negative test result and also a statement to confirm full vaccination status.
- Children who are not vaccinated do not need to get vaccinated but do need to get a "viral test" 3 to 5 days after arrival in the USA
- As a result there is a separate attestion question for unvaccinated children to confirm that the viral test is arranged.

- Vaccination certificates must come from an official source. The NHS COVID Pass app and EU DCC are specifically mentioned as acceptable.
- Vaccination is counted as two weeks from dose2, or 2 weeks after the sole dose in the case of J&J.
- Antibody certification is not a replacement for the need for vaccination, at least for non USA residents.
- 14 clear days need to elapse before travel. So if jabbed on 1 October then 15 October is when you are good to go.
- Booster vaccinations are not a factor here, they don't count towards or against the primary dose process.

- There is a face mask mandate when flying to/from the USA, with effectively no exemptions, and including children two and above years old.
- Airlines need to provide some sort of contact tracing information for potential follow-up cases.
- These restrictions do not apply at the land border.

Note that a lot of interpretation onus falls on airlines. For example there is no language requirement for vaccine certificates as far as the CDC is concerned, however you can imagine Air France may be hesitant in accepting a vaccine certificate issued in the Welsh language, to take one example.

CDC link
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2...el-System.html


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US reopened on 8 November 2021 (& subsequent entry restrictions for non-citizens)

 
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Old Aug 4, 2021, 2:26 pm
  #2011  
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Originally Posted by DL77
As expected, the matter becomes more complicated. EU will soon close the borders to the Americans if things do not change very soon. This is not a good thing, but a European reaction to this barbaric and unscientific treatment is desirable
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-fac...084808?mod=mhp
Good move. Build up the pressure.
better would be they open up immediately.
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Old Aug 4, 2021, 2:49 pm
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Originally Posted by 59Impala
Good move. Build up the pressure.
better would be they open up immediately.
I don't blame the Europeans but honestly the US government might actually be happy with this. They aren't exactly going out of their way to encourage international travel at this point.
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Old Aug 4, 2021, 2:50 pm
  #2013  
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Originally Posted by DL77
As expected, the matter becomes more complicated. EU will soon close the borders to the Americans if things do not change very soon. This is not a good thing, but a European reaction to this barbaric and unscientific treatment is desirable
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-fac...084808?mod=mhp
Sorry for taking this off-topic, but DEAR LORD CHARGE YOUR PHONE MY MAN/WOMAN
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Old Aug 4, 2021, 3:31 pm
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I hope a national of an EU country living in the US may still be allowed to bring an American spouse to the EU for vacation.
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Old Aug 4, 2021, 3:36 pm
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Originally Posted by DL77
As expected, the matter becomes more complicated. EU will soon close the borders to the Americans if things do not change very soon. This is not a good thing, but a European reaction to this barbaric and unscientific treatment is desirable
The EU will close their borders in September or October, after most of the summer tourist cash haul has been garnered.

Few in the US will notice the closure. Fewer still will care.
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Old Aug 4, 2021, 4:03 pm
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Per Reuters, U.S. developing plan to require foreign visitors to be vaccinated [link]

Let’s take that as an encouraging development.
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Old Aug 4, 2021, 4:04 pm
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Originally Posted by DL77
this barbaric and unscientific treatment
Unscientific? Yes. Barbaric? Seriously?

Originally Posted by lobo411
The EU will close their borders in September or October, after most of the summer tourist cash haul has been garnered.

Few in the US will notice the closure. Fewer still will care.
Agreed. Americans just don't care. Don't know why people can't grasp that.
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Old Aug 4, 2021, 4:06 pm
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Originally Posted by CzeSEN
Per Reuters, U.S. developing plan to require foreign visitors to be vaccinated [[url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-us-developing-plan-require-foreign-visitors-be-vaccinated-official-2021-08-04/]link]

Let’s take that as an encouraging development.
Agreed. Hopefully this will satisfy the EU. Would also be good if this meant the US drops their requirement that even vaccinated people get tested, but that's for another thread.
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Old Aug 4, 2021, 4:19 pm
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Originally Posted by LETTERBOY
Unscientific? Yes. Barbaric? Seriously?
How else would you define keeping families apart? Or to put in the position of having to choose between family or work who holds a regular visa, own an activity and pay taxes? I have no other terms but barbaric and inhuman.
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Old Aug 4, 2021, 4:25 pm
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Originally Posted by CzeSEN
Per Reuters, U.S. developing plan to require foreign visitors to be vaccinated [[url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-us-developing-plan-require-foreign-visitors-be-vaccinated-official-2021-08-04/]link]

Let’s take that as an encouraging development.
Hopefully this is something real, and not just more chatter... It hardly makes sense to limit EU/Canada/UK/etc visitors, as the delta variant is already well established in the US. Reciprocity is important as a principle and having a serious system in place to ensure more safety would do well by all.
Based on readings from various European press sources, I wouldn't expect a full EU/Schengen border closure, but some tightening (e.g. only vaccinated US passengers, rather than vaccinated or negative tested). But anything is possible and the US is handling the pandemic with its usual poor, fragmented approach.
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Old Aug 4, 2021, 4:58 pm
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Originally Posted by DL77
How else would you define keeping families apart?
Keeping families apart could be considered barbaric, depending on the circumstances.

Originally Posted by DL77
Or to put in the position of having to choose between family or work who holds a regular visa, own an activity and pay taxes?
Claiming someone having to choose between family & work is barbaric, is, frankly, ridiculous. Many people have jobs that keep them away from their families for long periods of time. If someone can't reconcile their job & their family, eventually they're going to have to choose between the two. That was the case before covid, and it will be the case after covid. Having to make that choice can be difficult, but unless you were forced to take that job or unless you were forced to start a family, calling it barbaric is nuts.

Originally Posted by DL77
I have no other terms but barbaric and inhuman.
These policies are, IMO, dumb. But dumb does not necessarily equal barbaric and inhuman.
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Last edited by LETTERBOY; Aug 4, 2021 at 10:29 pm Reason: capitalization error
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Old Aug 4, 2021, 7:47 pm
  #2022  
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Originally Posted by LETTERBOY
Agreed. Hopefully this will satisfy the EU. Would also be good if this meant the US drops their requirement that even vaccinated people get tested, but that's for another thread.
Why would they do that, when so many vaccinated people are catching Covid?

Aside from that, the travel ban seems to serve absolutely no purpose whatsoever, given the amount of (delta) community spread in the US. Unless someone can correct me..
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Old Aug 4, 2021, 7:51 pm
  #2023  
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Originally Posted by PxC
Why would they do that, when so many vaccinated people are catching Covid?
This is a little misleading. There have been a small amount of vaccinated individuals who have contracted and essentially all of those cases are mild and not really noteworthy.
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Old Aug 4, 2021, 7:52 pm
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Originally Posted by CzeSEN
Per Reuters, U.S. developing plan to require foreign visitors to be vaccinated [[url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-us-developing-plan-require-foreign-visitors-be-vaccinated-official-2021-08-04/]link]

Let’s take that as an encouraging development.
Hopefully so. The US is already going to require Federal employees, onsite contractors, and military members to either be vaccinated or frequently tested & masked, and reportedly is expecting to actually mandate the vaccine for military members once full FDA approval occurs. So the US Administration shouldn't be gun-shy about requiring it for foreign visitors, which would finally open things up for folks.

Originally Posted by DL77
How else would you define keeping families apart? Or to put in the position of having to choose between family or work who holds a regular visa, own an activity and pay taxes? I have no other terms but barbaric and inhuman.
It's really tough, that's for sure. I empathize, having been barred from entering the EU from the US for all those months...and missing someone very much! I hope the US opens the door for you very soon. This whole time has been one of heartbreak for the world...being separated from loved ones a world away, separated from loved ones in nursing homes and hospitals, loved ones dying from COVID, job losses, etc. Strong emotions are understandable.

Originally Posted by TATLTAIL
Hopefully this is something real, and not just more chatter... It hardly makes sense to limit EU/Canada/UK/etc visitors, as the delta variant is already well established in the US. Reciprocity is important as a principle and having a serious system in place to ensure more safety would do well by all.
Based on readings from various European press sources, I wouldn't expect a full EU/Schengen border closure, but some tightening (e.g. only vaccinated US passengers, rather than vaccinated or negative tested). But anything is possible and the US is handling the pandemic with its usual poor, fragmented approach.
I'd expect any changes to continue to generally be a hodgepodge among the member countries. It's been that way all along, with a few countries opening up this past spring and then more at various points, quite a few pretty recently. The requirements for entry are still rather varied, too. But at least the EU and most of the member states typically worked out and disclosed their criteria for reopening to third-countries, which has been lacking from US approach.
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Old Aug 4, 2021, 8:00 pm
  #2025  
 
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Originally Posted by 84fiero
It's really tough, that's for sure. I empathize, having been barred from entering the EU from the US for all those months...and missing someone very much! I hope the US opens the door for you very soon. This whole time has been one of heartbreak for the world...being separated from loved ones a world away, separated from loved ones in nursing homes and hospitals, loved ones dying from COVID, job losses, etc. Strong emotions are understandable.
I hear you on this: because of my residence status, I haven’t been able to see family and friends in the EU since March! It’s been draining psychologically on all of us, although until the past few months (i.e. when vaccines were available) it was understandable. Now, we need international cooperation to make travel not just viable again, but safe. Vaccine requirements for border crossings and some sort of verifiable means seems a step in that direction - one that will bring people together in a reasonable manner.
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