Airport Alert: Additional Details Announced for Resumption of International Travel on November 8th

October 21, 2021 

This afternoon, the White House released additional details that will permit fully vaccinated non-U.S. citizens to resume traveling to the United States on November 8, 2021.  These details were released to help airlines and airports prepare and to make sure implementation can go as smoothly as possible when the requirements take effect in two weeks. 

Specific highlights include:

Vaccinations:  
Starting on November 8, non-citizen, non-immigrant air travelers to the United States will be required to be fully vaccinated and to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination status prior to boarding an airplane to fly to the U.S., with only limited exceptions.   Individuals are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the last shot.

CDC has defined acceptable vaccines as ones that are FDA approved or authorized or on the World Health Organization (WHO) emergency use list. Travelers can have a combination of two doses if both are FDA approved/authorized or on the WHO emergency use list. The Administration will regularly review its vaccination coverage list and update it as necessary, perhaps quarterly.

Airlines will verify the vaccination status, including confirming the passenger is the same person reflected in the vaccination record and that the record was issued by an official source (e.g., public health agency, government agency). The airlines will accept both digital and paper vaccination documentation as long as they meet the U.S. government's technical instructions.   

Testing: 
Full vaccinated air passengers, regardless of citizenship, will be required to show a pre-departure negative COVID test within 72 hours before departure. Both nucleic acid amplification tests, such as a PCR test, and antigen tests are acceptable.

Any unvaccinated Americans or legal permanent residents returning to the U.S., as well as anyone else that is unvaccinated regardless of citizenship, will be subject to stricter testing requirements. Unvaccinated travelers must show a negative test result taken within one day before departure.  

Those who have recovered from COVID-19 within the last 90 days do not need to be tested.

Children: 
Children under 18 are excepted from the vaccination requirement for foreign national travelers, given both the ineligibility of some younger children for vaccination, as well as the global variability in access to vaccination for older children who are eligible to be vaccinated. 

Children between the ages of 2 and 17 are required to take a pre-departure test.  If traveling with a fully vaccinated adult, an unvaccinated child can test three days prior to departure (consistent with the timeline for fully vaccinated adults). If an unvaccinated child is traveling alone or with unvaccinated adults, they will have to test within one day of departure.

Children under the age of 2 years old do not need to be tested.

Other Exceptions to the Vaccine Requirements: 
Beyond children under 18, there is a very narrow list of exceptions to the vaccination requirement for foreign nationals. Those include:
• Certain COVID19 vaccine clinical trial participants. 
• Those with medical contraindications to the vaccines. 
• Those who need to travel for emergency or humanitarian reasons (with a U.S. government-issued letter affirming the urgent need to travel). 
• Those who are traveling on non-tourist visas from countries with low-vaccine availability (less than a 10-percent vaccination rate for the entire population). These travelers would need to have a compelling reason to come to the United States. 

According to U.S. government officials, those who receive an exception will generally be required to attest they will comply with applicable public health requirements like the use of masks, and that they get vaccinated in the U.S. if they intend to stay here for more than 60 days.

Contact Tracing: 
The CDC is also issuing a contact tracing order that requires all airlines flying into the United States to keep on hand – and promptly turn over to the CDC when needed – contact information that will allow public health officials to follow up with inbound air travelers who are potentially infected or have been exposed to someone who is infected.

Additional information can be found on this factsheet, which also has links to the relevant CDC and Department of State websites.