US lays out new guidelines for vaccinated international travelers

Fully vaccinated international travelers will now be allowed to travel to the United States with proof of vaccination, the CDC announced on Monday. The order will go into effect on November 8th and applies to non-US citizens who are not immigrants, with an exemption for children under 18.

The order will require fully vaccinated travelers with FDA-approved and World Health Organization emergency use listed vaccines to have a negative test taken three days before their travel date. Travelers who are not fully vaccinated, including US citizens and permanent residents, will now require a test within one day of their US travel date. This rule exempts children under two and accommodates people who have a documented recovery from COVID-19 in the past 90 days.

Since child vaccine availability varies across countries, different requirements will be put in place for children under 18 for international travel, according to a detailed report by the Biden Administration.

Children between the ages of 2 and 17 are required to take a COVID-19 test pre-departure. An unvaccinated child traveling with a fully vaccinated adult can test three days prior to their travel date. However, children traveling alone or with an unvaccinated adult are subject to the one-day testing rule.

Passengers will also be required to provide basic contact information to allow faster contact tracing.

This new program comes after the White House announced in early October its plan to reopen US borders for most vaccinated foreign travelers and end restrictions at the borders and ferry crossings with Mexico and Canada.

The White House said in a press briefing that it would put out these documents two weeks before the new rule goes into effect to give airlines and travelers time to get used to this new system.