Leer en Español
The U.S. government announced Monday that it will allow international travelers, including those from the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom, China and Brazil, who are fully vaccinated, to enter the country starting in early November.
Travelers must show proof of vaccination and a negative test conducted three days prior to travel, said Jeff Zients, head of the White House COVID-19 response team at a virtual press conference.
“This new international travel system follows the recommendations of science to keep international air travel to the United States safe by requiring foreign nationals to be fully vaccinated to fly to the United States and implements additional stringent security protocols,” Zients said.
These travel restrictions, initially implemented by former President Donald Trump (2017-2021), had been in place since the start of the pandemic in 2020 and had been maintained by current President Joe Biden, who arrived at the White House in January of this year.
Fully vaccinated international travelers will not be quarantined once they arrive on U.S. soil, but they will have to provide contact information to facilitate tracking in case of infection.
Zients stressed, however, that unvaccinated Americans will be required to test negative one day prior to departure and be retested once in the United States.
The U.S. government’s lengthy travel restrictions had been particularly criticized by European partners, where the vaccination rate is considerably higher than in the United States.
