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Regional Travel Bans Replaced with COVID Vaccination Requirement for Air Travel to the United States

November 1, 2021

A presidential proclamation issued on October 25, 2021, and effective on November 8, 2021, rescinds the current regional COVID-19 travel restrictions and enacts a COVID-19 vaccination requirement on nonimmigrants coming to the United States via air travel. This presidential proclamation does not impact land border travelers entering the United States from Canada or Mexico.

All adult nonimmigrants, except in limited circumstances, must now show proof of full COVID vaccination prior to boarding a flight to the United States from abroad. Airlines will accept digital or paper documentation of vaccination status so long as the documentation includes biographical information matching the nonimmigrant’s travel documents, the name of the official source issuing the vaccination documents, the manufacturer of the issued vaccine, and the dates of vaccination. Full COVID vaccination, per the CDC, is acquired fourteen days after the last dose of an accepted vaccine.

Exceptions to the new policy include individuals under the age of 18, individuals participating in certain clinical trials for COVID-19 vaccination, individuals from countries designated limited vaccine availability countries, individuals with medical contraindications for the COVID vaccination, individuals granted a humanitarian or emergency exception by the CDC, individuals whose entry without vaccination would be in the “national interest,” and other certain individuals in limited circumstances as defined in Section 4 of the proclamation. Individuals that are exempt from the new vaccination policy still must comport with other testing requirements and protocols.

This policy is in addition to the existing requirement that all international travelers must provide negative results from a COVID test taken within three days of travel.

TAGS: Covid-19, Executive Order, President Biden