The history-first restrictions imposed on international air travel by barring foreign nationals to enter the US land due to the coronavirus spread related risks were removed on Monday as President Joe Biden signed an order lifting them.
The new order state refreshed rules for international travellers as the US once again welcomed people from most of the foreign countries, including India and China. As per a statement released from the White House, the restrictions put on majority of the non-US nationals who were present in India, China, much of Europe, Ireland, Iran, Brazil and the United Kingdom in the last 14 days has now been removed. The rules will come into effect from November 8th, as its previous release mentioned.
Announcing the latest regulations, President Joe Biden’s proclamation read, “It is in the interests of the United States to move away from the country-by-country restrictions previously applied during the COVID-19 pandemic and to adopt an air travel policy that relies primarily on vaccination to advance the safe resumption of international air travel to the United States.”
While adult citizens from foreign countries are now required to have mandatory two dose vaccinations to enter the US, children do not need the shots to travel to the nation, the White House confirmed. People with certain medical conditions too are exempted from the rule.
Moreover, travellers from nearly 50 countries, where the vaccination rate is less than 10% nationwide, coming to the US for non-tourist related purposes are also exempted from the rule. However, if they intend to stay there for over 60 days, they will have to get vaccinated, it said.
The new rules were first announced on September 20th, much to the relief of Indians waiting to go to the US for work and other reasons.
Airlines have been informed of the latest rules that will come into effect in merely two weeks from now. The guidelines to follow have also been shared with them to ensure all foreign travellers boarding flights to the US are fully vaccinated.
While any vaccine combination approved by the WHO is enough to enter the US, visitors have to produce the proof of their vaccination through an “official source”. The second dose must have been taken at least two weeks prior to the date of departure.
