Biden Announces New Travel Guidelines In The Wake of Omicron

US President Joe Biden announced new vaccine requirements for most foreign national air travellers. He eliminated severe travel restrictions on China, India, and parts of Europe.

Having rare exclusions, only foreign citizens with World Health Organization-approved emergency immunizations will be permitted to board aircraft bound for the United States.

However, the new rule has made it harder for unvaccinated noncitizen nonimmigrants to enter the United States. Those who cannot present an immunisation certificate will be required to demonstrate a negative test performed within one day of travel, as compared to the previous 72-hour requirement.

Meanwhile, those who have been completely vaccinated will still have a three-day window for COVID-19 testing with negative findings, but if they cannot demonstrate confirmation of vaccination, they will be subject to the one-day testing requirement as well.

The CDC issued three orders regarding travel to the US:

1. There is a vaccination requirement for non-citizens who are not immigrants. On November 8th, air travellers to the United States who are non-citizens and who are not immigrants will be required to be fully vaccinated and to provide proof of their vaccination status before flying to the United States.  The airlines will verify vaccination status in the same way they have been and will continue to do with the proof of a pre-departure negative test result. Only FDA approved and WHO Emergency use listed vaccines will be allowed.

2. Fully vaccinated air passengers entering the United States internationally, regardless of citizenship, will continue to be required to show a pre-departure negative COVID test taken within three days of travel prior to boarding. For those vaccinated persons, they will be required to show proof of vaccination to qualify for this three-day testing window. Unvaccinated travellers will need to show a negative test taken one day prior to travel.

3. The third order is that all contact information will be collected. Air passengers to the United States will also be required to provide basic, valid contact information to airlines before boarding flights to the United States.