On 10/25/2021, the White House issued a memo stating that effective beginning 12:01 a.m. eastern standard time on 11/8/2021 the United States is moving away from country-by-country restrictions and adopting an air travel policy that relies primarily on vaccination.
The memo states:
This proclamation governs the entry into the United States of noncitizen nonimmigrants - that is, noncitizens who are visiting the United States or otherwise being admitted temporarily - traveling to the United States by air. It suspends the entry of unvaccinated noncitizen 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.
Key points:
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If you are a non-U.S. citizen who is a nonimmigrant (not a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, lawful permanent resident, or traveling to the United States on an immigrant visa), you will need to show proof of being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before you travel by air to the United States from a foreign country. See the list of acceptable vaccines below.
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At this time, all air passengers ages 2 or older, regardless of citizenship or vaccination status, must show a negative result of a COVID-19 viral test within 3 days or documentation of recovery from COVID-19 within the past 90 days before they board a flight to the United States.
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There are exceptions to the vaccination rule for some categories of noncitizen, nonimmigrants. If you meet the criteria for one of these categories, you will need to fulfill additional requirements to travel by air to the United States. For the list of exceptions and additional requirements for travel to the U.S. please visit the CDC website.
Accepted COVID-19 Vaccines:
Vaccines Approved or Authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or Listed for Emergency Use by the World Health Organization (WHO) include:
Single dose
2-dose series
- Pfizer-BioNTech
- Moderna
- AstraZeneca
- Covishield
- BIBP/Sinopharm
- Sinovac
You are considered fully vaccinated:
- 2 weeks (14 days) after your dose of an accepted single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, or
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· 2 weeks (14 days) after your second dose of an accepted 2-dose series COVID-19 vaccine; or
- 2 weeks (14 days) after you received the full series of an “active” (not placebo) COVID-19 vaccine in the U.S.-based AstraZeneca or Novavax COVID-19 vaccine trials, or
- 2 weeks (14 days) after you received 2 doses of any “mix-and-match” combination of accepted COVID-19 vaccines administered at least 17 days apart*
If you don’t meet these requirements, you are NOT considered fully vaccinated.
