US reopens to foreign travellers from Nov 8

The Biden administration has announced revised international air travel rules for those flying to the United States, with the rules to come into effect from November 8. According to a communiqué from the White House, details of which are available on www.cdc.gov/ and https://travel.state.gov/content/travel.html as well, starting November 8, all foreign national air travellers to the US will have to be fully vaccinated and provide proof of vaccination before boarding. There were only limited exceptions, including for children aged under 18, that too with clauses.

The White House release said the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had decided that the vaccines accepted would include those that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved or authorised, as well as vaccines with an emergency use listing (EUL) from the World Health Organization



(WHO). These, as of now, include Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines.

Fully vaccinated travellers, including US citizens, lawful permanent residents (LPRs) and foreigners, would have to show documentation of a pre-departure negative viral test from a sample taken within three days of travel to the US before boarding. At the same time, unvaccinated travellers, including US citizens and LPRs, would have to show documentation of a negative viral test from a sample taken within one day of travel. 

The proof of vaccination should be a paper or digital record issued by an official source and should include the traveller’s name and date of birth, as well as the vaccine product and date(s) of administration for all doses the traveller received.