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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
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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 Sep 20, 2021, 10:08 am
  #2326  
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From WPO website linked above. https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...-live-updates/
The CDC also plans to require airlines to collect contact information for all travelers flying to the United States
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Old Sep 20, 2021, 10:15 am
  #2327  
 
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Great to see! Going in via Canada in October anyway but looks like I'll be able to do my January Hawaii trip without a detour.

Now it'd be great if someone could get US embassies to start processing visas again and clear the crazy backlog....
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Old Sep 20, 2021, 10:16 am
  #2328  
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Originally Posted by NewbieRunner
They (the US govt.) have that already in ESTAs?
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Old Sep 20, 2021, 10:18 am
  #2329  
 
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Originally Posted by Doppy
This is good news, and I'm glad that it looks like the vaccination requirement will apply globally, not just for travelers from the EU.


I bet more countries are going to add vaccination requirements, and the ability for unvaccinated Americans to travel outside of the country is going to shrink over time.
Unvaccinated ciitzens of most any non-small country, certainly the USA, are the least likely to want to travel outside of their country anyway.
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Old Sep 20, 2021, 10:20 am
  #2330  
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Originally Posted by NewbieRunner

So you still have to have a negative test to board flights for the US.


Some visitors fro the UK and EU will have to present vaccine passports in some places in the US though.
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Old Sep 20, 2021, 10:22 am
  #2331  
 
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Originally Posted by Yellowjj
In this scenario the number of unvaccinated people in the US is irrelevant as they can enter/exit the US fine with Covid tests as legal citizens.
Sorry, I’m not trying to go off topic or provoke those vaccinated against us unvaccinated, the news today is great for us all.

I’m in the 30% who are refusing the vaccine, my investment in the US is considerable, I’ll be back next Thursday after over a year away, and was and am prepared for the long haul but will not be coerced into a vaccine I don’t believe I need and am happy to wait it out if need be, even if I become excluded for another year or so.

The White House and media will only mention being vaccinated for entry for the next 6 weeks to keep up the pressure on those not currently vaccinated but legally there will be many challenges with such a position when the ban is finally lifted and there will be a lot of opposition from republicans on any discrimination or the introduction of what is effectively a vaccine passport even if it’s not for US citizens being the thin end of the wedge on a very controversial subject.

NewbieRunneryou’ve got to let me into the Omni, it’s driving me mad trying to watch my Ps and Qs here ….

Again it’s good news and I don’t want to take anything away from that.

Last edited by Howmuch; Sep 20, 2021 at 10:29 am
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Old Sep 20, 2021, 10:22 am
  #2332  
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Originally Posted by florens
They (the US govt.) have that already in ESTAs?
ESTAs are valid for two years; whatever information is in the original application (or almost any visa application for that matter) could be out of date.
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Old Sep 20, 2021, 10:54 am
  #2333  
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Originally Posted by JimInOhio
For 90% vaccination, wouldn't you need to have >100% vaccination among those 12 years and older?
90% of those eligible (i.e. 12 and up). As of this post the gov.uk site reports 89.4% of folks who are eligible have had a first dose, and nearly 82% have had a second.

Originally Posted by Doppy
This is good news, and I'm glad that it looks like the vaccination requirement will apply globally, not just for travelers from the EU.


I bet more countries are going to add vaccination requirements, and the ability for unvaccinated Americans to travel outside of the country is going to shrink over time.
...Good!

Originally Posted by Howmuch
Sorry, I’m not trying to go off topic or provoke those vaccinated against us unvaccinated, the news today is great for us all.

I’m in the 30% who are refusing the vaccine, my investment in the US is considerable, I’ll be back next Thursday after over a year away, and was and am prepared for the long haul but will not be coerced into a vaccine I don’t believe I need and am happy to wait it out if need be, even if I become excluded for another year or so.

The White House and media will only mention being vaccinated for entry for the next 6 weeks to keep up the pressure on those not currently vaccinated but legally there will be many challenges with such a position when the ban is finally lifted and there will be a lot of opposition from republicans on any discrimination or the introduction of what is effectively a vaccine passport even if it’s not for US citizens being the thin end of the wedge on a very controversial subject.

NewbieRunneryou’ve got to let me into the Omni, it’s driving me mad trying to watch my Ps and Qs here ….

Again it’s good news and I don’t want to take anything away from that.
I sincerely hope you're wrong.

Enjoy your trip - I have a feeling the 15 days in a third country is going to be relatively easy in comparison to the hoops you'll have to jump through for your next trip - at least for the medium-term.
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Old Sep 20, 2021, 11:15 am
  #2334  
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Press briefing by Press Secretary, Jen Psaki (recording on YouTube)

Nothing much on international travel except between:
0:31:53 - 0:32:55, 1:03:02 - 1:04:03, 1:09:05 - 1:11:04.
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Last edited by NewbieRunner; Sep 21, 2021 at 10:48 am Reason: Updated timing
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Old Sep 20, 2021, 12:06 pm
  #2335  
 
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Good news! It’s about time!
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Old Sep 20, 2021, 12:16 pm
  #2336  
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The devil will be in the detail on this. Don't book your tickets yet!
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Old Sep 20, 2021, 12:20 pm
  #2337  
 
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Originally Posted by Stickboy46
Now to just go ahead and get a universal QR code system that works in both EU and US ...
This will never happen.
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Old Sep 20, 2021, 12:22 pm
  #2338  
 
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Originally Posted by LETTERBOY
This will never happen.
Hey they surprised us with this! ... can only dream.
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Old Sep 20, 2021, 12:31 pm
  #2339  
 
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Was there anything in the Psaki briefing? Any details yet?
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Old Sep 20, 2021, 12:35 pm
  #2340  
 
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really hope the reports of needing a double-jab applies only to vaccines that require a double-jab like pfizer, and it does not mean that people who got a single jab vaccine (J&J/Janseen) like me will need to go back and get vaccinated again with pfizer...
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