UPDATE (10/25/2021) - Today the White House released a Presidential Proclamation titled “A Proclamation on Advancing the Safe Resumption of Global Travel During the COVID-19 Pandemic” officially rescinding the current country-specific travel bans effective November 8th and providing an outline of what the new vaccine requirements will be for nonimmigrants, citizens, and lawful permanent residents. While the Proclamation provided a high level overview of what types of restrictions and exemptions will be permitted it left much of the detail to the Director of the CDC to provide in the coming days.
In sum, the Proclamation largely pertains to the entry into the United States of nonimmigrants (e.g., temporary visitors or workers who are not citizens or lawful permanent residents) traveling to the United States by air. It suspends the entry of unvaccinated nonimmigrants, except in limited circumstances, and it ensures that the entry of unvaccinated noncitizen nonimmigrants is consistent with applicable health and safety determinations made by the Director of the CDC, including a requirement that, where appropriate, such individuals agree and arrange to become fully vaccinated against COVID-19 upon their arrival.
In addition, the CDC has announced that the U.S. will accept all vaccines that have received FDA approval or emergency use authorization by the World Health Organization (WHO) .
In addition the Department of State has updated it’s FAQs page with addition specifics about the new travel and vaccination requirements, which includes new testing requirements for unvaccinated citizens and lawful permanent residents returning from international travel requiring these individuals to show documentation of a negative viral test from a sample taken within one day of travel to the United States.
D&S will continue to provide updates as the CDC releases more specific guidance consistent with the directives of the Proclamation.
October 15, 2021
White House assistant press secretary, Kevin Munoz, has announced via Twitter that November 8, 2021 will mark the end date for the current country-specificCOVID-19 travel restrictions. The White House also confirmed the date applies to both international air travel and land travel.
As a reminder, the Biden Administration announced last month that it would be easing country-specific COVID-19 travel restrictions beginning in early November. The bans, which currently restrict travel to the U.S. for individuals present in China, Iran, the Schengen Area, U.K., Ireland, Brazil, South Africa, and India in the 14 day preceding their entry to the United States, will now be rescinded effective as of November 8. Instead, the Administration will be implementing new measures to deter the spread of COVID-19 based on individuals, rather than restrictions placed on physical presence in a specific country or region.
The new COVID-19 prevention measures will include a requirement that all international travelers prove that they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in addition to the existing CDC requirement that all travelers to the U.S. must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test within three days of boarding a flight to the United States.
The White House has indicated that further guidance on "very limited exceptions" to the requirements, along with which COVID-19 vaccines will be accepted and other information on the implementation of the policy, will be announced in advance of the November 8 effective date.