Travel for work from UK to US
 

Hope this isn't a duplicate of someone else's post.

I live in the UK and I am employed by the UK arm of my US-owned company but working worldwide. I need to visit the MT-based engineering office and the NE-based head office as soon as I can (May or June, ideally) to perform work that no one else in the company can do. Not going would delay production and potentially put employee hours at risk.

I am healthy and double-vaccinated, have no issues with masks or taking COVID tests. Can anyone give me an idea of what I would need to do to get to the US without needing to quarantine on arrival? Or can anyone direct me to the right website(s) to get the info?

TIA

Take a look at the presidential proclamation. If you’re not a US citizen or resident (or their family), or on certain visa types, you won’t be allowed in if you’re coming from the U.K. It’s possible to go to a third country for 14 days before entering the US (lots of discussion here about people who absolutely need to enter the US doing a 2 week trip to Mexico first). Otherwise there is a process to get a waiver from the US government but they are pretty tough to get.

You may qualify for a National Interest Exception if your employer needs you "to provide vital support for critical infrastructure."

The reality is that the US will say "Niet!"

Which leaves you having to sit in Mexico (or a handful of Caribbean islands) for 14 days, risking infection, before being admitted to the US where quarantine is recommended but not required. Last year they cared a little bit about employee hours but this year they don't seem to care about that either. Perhaps you can work from home from Cancun!

Or hope that the rule is changed before your travel (but endless speculation here is that it won't be).

I don’t see either my wife or my boss approving of a trip to Cancun for two weeks!

Thanks for the advice.

After more than a year of pandemic and, as things currently stand, the persistence of the US travel ban to the UK is the most obtuse and least scientific based there can be.
https://onemileatatime.com/usa-trave...-needs-to-end/

Probably because our small number of cases are variant strains for which the vaccines use in the US don't necessarily provide immunity. Kent and South African strains could spread quickly. I agree that it's over-cautious though.

Side question: are you fully vaccinated (getting two doses of a two dose vaccine... Two shots of Pfizer, for example) or double vaccinated (getting two full vaccinations... Two shots of Pfizer and two of AstraZeneca, for example)?

If you're the only person in a company that can do a particular piece of work, I hope your company is well insured in the event of an incident with a bus :D

That’d be double-double-vaccinated… that’s like wearing two Rolexes, no? 😂

Technically there’s two of us. The other one is in India. I’ll leave you to follow the breadcrumbs as to why I’ve been selected to head to the US and not her. 😉

Unless you have a NIE, which I doubt, I don't see how you will be able to enter the U.S.

You should let your wife or your boss aware of that.

As I said earlier, but with a flippant joke about Cancun, the only way of getting to the US will be via a 3rs country. You have to have been outside the UK, Ireland, Schengen and various other countries for 14 days before being admissible. Given how difficult it is to travel anywhere at the moment, and given that many of the permissible countries are either suffering from huge COVID problems of their own, or are not open to Brits, the choice rapidly comes down to Mexico or a handful of Caribbean islands.

Personally, I did Mexico and I stayed largely in Mexico City in an excellent hotel which was desperate for business. It had great internet and a good desk. When I was there outdoor dining was open and there were lots of great restaurants around. So, I stayed productive, adjusted to the US time zone and, although rather boring, it was a perfectly pleasant experience which was consistent with being productive and being ok. Would I want to repeat? No, but it was better than not going.

If not traveling really would "would delay production and potentially put employee hours at risk" then I would expect your boss to approve the trip to Cancun or other location for two weeks so that you would be able to enter the US and perform the necessary work. Your wife is another matter but maybe she could accompany you on this part of your travel?

It actually looks like I’m going to Cancun. I sarcastically pitched it to my boss and after a couple of days he told me to look into it.

Haven’t told my wife yet…