Washington, Oct. 15 (BNA) – The White House said on Friday that it will lift travel restrictions for the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) on fully vaccinated foreign nationals effective November 8, ending historic restrictions that prevented much of the world from entering the United States.
Announcing the start date of the new rules regarding travel in and out of the country, White House spokesman Kevin Munoz declared on Twitter that the policy is “guided by public health, and is rigorous and consistent.”
Unprecedented travel restrictions have kept millions of visitors out of the United States from China, Canada, Mexico, India, Brazil, most of Europe and elsewhere; shrinking US tourism; It hurts the economies of the frontier community. They prevented many loved ones and foreign workers from reuniting families.
Reuters reported that US allies have put intense pressure on the Biden administration to lift the rules.
The restrictions on non-US citizens were first imposed on air travelers from China in January 2020 by then-President Donald Trump and then extended to dozens of other countries, without any clear metrics for how and when they were lifted.
Restrictions on non-essential travelers have been in place at the land borders with Mexico and Canada since March 2020 to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reuters first reported on Friday announcing the November 8 start date earlier in the day.
US airline, hotel and cruise shares rose on the news, including American Airlines (AAL.O), up 2%; Marriott International (MAR.O), up 3.7%; and Carnival Corp (CCL.N), up 1.6%.
The US Department of Transportation said on Friday that international air passenger traffic in the United States fell 43% in August, and total passenger air traffic was down 21% from pre-pandemic levels.
The airlines have seen an increase in international ticket sales in recent weeks, Nick Calio, chief executive of the American Airlines industry trade group, said in a statement. “Reopening international travel is also critical to reviving economies around the world, revitalizing communities and supporting millions of jobs in the United States and abroad,” Calio said.
The United States has lagged behind many other countries in lifting such restrictions.
The White House announced Tuesday that it will lift restrictions on its land and ferry borders with Canada and Mexico for fully vaccinated foreign nationals in early November. They are similar but not identical to the requirements announced last month for international air travelers.
Unvaccinated visitors will still be denied entry to the United States from Canada or Mexico at the land border.
On August 9, Canada began allowing fully vaccinated US visitors to non-essential travel.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told Reuters last week that the United States will accept international visitors’ use of COVID-19 vaccines licensed by US regulators or the World Health Organization.
The White House, which held a meeting late Thursday to finalize the November 8 date, faces some remaining questions, including how and what waivers the Biden administration will grant for vaccine requirements. An official said that children under 18, for example, are expected to be exempt from the requirements.
The chief executive of the American Travel Association, Roger Dow, said the decline in international visits since the pandemic began has resulted in more than $250 billion in lost income.
In a statement, Dow said the date of November 8 was “extremely important to planning — for airlines, the companies that support travel, and to the millions of travelers around the world who will now make plans to visit the United States again.”
The White House announced on September 20 that the United States would lift restrictions on air travelers from 33 countries in early November. The date was not specified at that time.
From November 8, the United States will accept fully vaccinated foreign travelers from 26 countries called Schengen in Europe, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Greece, as well as Britain, Ireland, China, India, South Africa, Iran and Brazil. The unprecedented US restrictions have banned non-US citizens who have been in those countries in the past 14 days.
The United States has allowed foreign travelers to fly from more than 150 countries throughout the pandemic, a policy critics have said does not make sense because some countries with high infection rates were not on the restricted list, while some countries on the list have the epidemic under control. Larger. .
The White House said last month that it would apply vaccination requirements to foreign nationals traveling from all other countries.
Travelers from outside the US will need to provide proof of vaccination before boarding the plane, and they will need to show evidence of a recent negative COVID-19 test. Foreign visitors crossing the land border will not need to show evidence of a recent negative COVID-19 test.
The new rules do not require foreign or American visitors entering the country to be quarantined.
Americans traveling abroad will still have to show evidence of a recent negative COVID-19 test, and unvaccinated Americans will face stricter testing requirements. They will also be subject to restrictions in the countries they plan to visit, which may include quarantine.
The CDC plans to release new rules soon on contact tracing for international air travelers.
NS