- The Biden Administration’s international air travel policy is stringent, consistent across the globe, and guided by public health.
- Foreign national air travelers to the United States are required to be fully vaccinated and to provide proof of vaccination status prior to boarding an airplane to fly to the United States, with only limited exceptions.
- The CDC has determined that for the purposes of entry into the United States, vaccines accepted will include those FDA approved or authorized, as well as vaccines with an emergency use listing (EUL) from the World Health Organization (WHO). See the CDC's website for more details.
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- Non-U.S. citizen nonimmigrants who are fully vaccinated should travel with proof of their vaccination status to provide to their airline prior to departure to the United States.
- That proof of vaccination should be a paper or digital record issued by an official source and should include the traveler’s name and date of birth, as well as the vaccine product and date(s) of administration for all doses the traveler received.
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- For non-U.S. citizen nonimmigrants, proof of vaccination will be required – with very limited exceptions – prior to departure to the United States.
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- Non-U.S. citizen nonimmigrant passengers will need to show their vaccination status, either via a paper record, a photo of their paper record, or a digital app.
- The airlines will need to:
o Match the name and date of birth to confirm the non-U.S. citizen nonimmigrant passenger is the same person reflected on the proof of vaccination;
o Determine that the record was issued by an official source (e.g., public health agency, government agency) in the country where the vaccine was given;
o Review the essential information for determining if the non-U.S. citizen nonimmigrant passenger meets CDC's definition for fully vaccinated such as vaccine product, number of vaccine doses received, date(s) of administration, site (e.g., vaccination clinic, healthcare facility) of vaccination.
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- CDC has determined that for purposes of travel to the United States, vaccines accepted will include FDA approved or authorized and World Health Organization (WHO) emergency use listed (EUL) vaccines. See the CDC's website for more information.
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- Previously, vaccinated and non-vaccinated travelers were required to show a negative test result within one day of travel to the United States.
The CDC order requiring all persons to show a negative COVID-19 test result or documentation of recovery from COVID-19 before boarding a flight to the United States, is rescinded, effective on June 12, 2022, at 12:01AM ET. This means that starting at 12:01AM ET on June 12, 2022, U.S. citizen air passengers and Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs) will not need to get tested and show a negative COVID-19 test result, nor show documentation of recovery from COVID-19, prior to boarding a flight to the United States. Of note, CDC’s Order requiring proof of vaccination for non-U.S. citizen nonimmigrants to travel to the United States is still in effect. For more information see Requirement for Proof of COVID-19 Vaccination for Air Passengers.
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- The presidential proclamation and CDC order include a very limited set of exceptions from the vaccination requirement for foreign nationals.
- These include exceptions for children, certain COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial participants, those with rare medical contraindications to the vaccines, those who need to travel for emergency or humanitarian reasons, those who are traveling on non-tourist visas from countries with low-vaccine availability, members of the armed forces and their immediate families, airline crew, ship crew, and diplomats.
- The Order requires that airlines collect contact information for all international inbound travelers to the United States – including full name, as well as a phone number, email, and address at which they can be reached while staying in the United States.
- Airlines will have to keep this information on hand and promptly turn it over to the CDC when requested.
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- Air passengers will have to sign an attestation, certifying the validity of vaccination , and confirming that their contact information is complete and accurate.
- Falsifying any information could result in criminal penalties and/or fines.
Last Updated: June 10, 2022