United States: Updated Travel Guidance for the Holiday Season

Nearly all countries and jurisdictions have implemented entry, quarantine, and sometimes exit requirements or advisories in response to the COVID-19 emergency. Travelers should familiarize themselves with the policies that apply to their destination and be aware that COVID-19 policies can change with little or no notice.

Fragomen’s COVID-19 Microsite summarizes restrictions and requirements currently in place in over 150 jurisdictions. We recommend regularly checking this page for the latest immigration updates. 

Nonimmigrants (including advance parole holders) traveling by air to the United States from anywhere abroad will need to comply with new vaccination requirements, unless eligible for an exception. They will also need to continue to provide a negative COVID-19 test (except for children under 2 years old), as well as complete a health attestation and provide contact tracing information in order to board an international flight. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have issued comprehensive guidance on international air travel rules, including acceptable vaccines and vaccine documentation, instructions on the necessary COVID testing, and a travel assessment tool.

If you are a lawful permanent resident, or are traveling to the United States on an immigrant visa, you are not required to be vaccinated in order to board an international flight. However, if you are not fully vaccinated, you are required to submit a negative COVID test taken within one day of travel (instead of the standard three days granted to fully vaccinated travelers).

The following nonimmigrants are not required to be vaccinated in order to board a flight to the United States:

• Children under 18;
• Foreign nationals with valid U.S. visas (other than B-1 or B-2 visas) who are citizens of countries with limited vaccine availability, as identified by the CDC.
• Those with documented medical contraindications to the COVID vaccine;
• Those issued a humanitarian or emergency exception;
• Certain COVID vaccine clinical trial participants;
• Certain aircrew members; 
• Sea crew members traveling with a C-1 or D nonimmigrant visa;
• Members of the U.S. armed forces, their spouses, and their children under 18;
• Persons on diplomatic or official foreign government travel; and 
• Individuals whose entry would be in the U.S. “national interest.”These exceptions are expected to be granted in rare circumstances only. National interest exceptions (NIE) issued under the former regional COVID-19 travel bans are no longer valid and will not exempt a foreign national from the new vaccination requirement. 

Though these individuals will not need to be fully vaccinated in order to board a flight to the United States, most will need to comply with stricter public health measures, including a pre-departure COVID test taken within one day of travel (instead of the standard three days for fully vaccinated travelers), as well as post-arrival vaccination, testing and quarantine. You can find the full set of public health requirements for unvaccinated foreign nationals, including certain further exceptions for children, in our comprehensive review of the new air travel vaccine and testing rules and on the CDC website.

Through at least January 21, 2022, “non-essential” travel – such as for tourism or personal visits – is banned across land borders or ferry travel from Canada and Mexico for unvaccinated foreign nationals. However, fully vaccinated foreign nationals are permitted to engage in non-essential land border and ferry travel. COVID testing is not required for land border travel.

Unvaccinated foreign nationals are currently permitted to engage in “essential” travel across the Canadian and Mexican land borders (and ferry travel). Essential travel includes work and business travel, including under H, L, O or B visa classifications. Starting sometime in January 2022, however, even foreign nationals seeking to engage in essential travel will be required to become vaccinated in order to cross the border by land or ferry.

Only vaccines approved or authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or listed for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO) will be accepted for international air and border travel. Because this list is subject to change, travelers with questions should consult the CDC website for the latest information on acceptable vaccines. Currently, the following vaccines are accepted:

• Janssen/J&J
• Pfizer-BioNTech
• Moderna
• AstraZeneca
• Covaxin
• Covishield
• BIBP/Sinopharm
• Sinovac

The agency considers a person fully vaccinated two weeks (14 days) after the last dose of an accepted vaccine series (whether one- or two-dose). “Mix-and-match” vaccine doses will be accepted as long as both vaccines are on the FDA or WHO lists and the doses are administered at least 17 days apart. 

Digital or paper documentation will be accepted in order to verify vaccination status, as long as the record contains:

• Biographical information that matches the foreign national’s travel documents;
• Name of official source issuing the record (e.g. public health agency, authorized vaccine provider);
• Vaccine manufacturer; and
• Date(s) of vaccination.

Many U.S. consulates abroad are still operating at reduced capacity due to local COVID-19 conditions. Visa appointments are still limited in many areas, and some posts are still scheduling appointments only in emergency circumstances. Many are applying a strict case-type priority system, which favors emergency cases, diplomats, COVID-19-related travel, and students over employment-based nonimmigrant visa appointments. Appointments could become even more difficult to obtain given the November 8 rescission of the regional travel bans coinciding with holiday travel.

If you secure a visa appointment, you should prepare to be flexible. A change in consular resources or COVID conditions in the host country could mean further tightening of consular operations, including appointment cancellations or rescheduling with little notice.

Check your particular U.S. consulate website for information on their operations. A list of consulate websites can be found at www.usembassy.gov.

If so, you may be subject to the recent travel ban imposed on these countries in response to the Omicron variant of COVID-19. For detailed information on foreign nationals that might qualify for exceptions to the Southern African ban, please review our client alert here. Exceptions include lawful permanent residents and certain immediate family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, among others. However, foreign nationals eligible for an exception to the Southern African travel ban must still comply with the international air travel vaccination and testing requirements detailed above.

The State Department has not yet issued guidance on implementation of the new travel ban.

At this time, the United States has no general federal quarantine requirements; however, as noted above, many foreign nationals who are exempt from the international air travel vaccine requirement will be required to quarantine for seven days after arrival in the United States, along with other public health measures. For everyone else, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued after-travel recommendations only, which can be found here.

Quarantine requirements in the United States can also be imposed by the U.S. state through which you enter. Most states have removed their state-specific after-travel requirements and instead refer travelers to the CDC. However, state policies can change quickly; travelers should closely monitor their destination state requirements before travel and prior to reentry to the United States.

It is more important than ever to ensure that your travel documents are valid and accurate both before international travel and after your reentry, as noted below:

Passport validity. In general, your passport must be valid for at least six months beyond the expiration of your period of admission to the United States. Many countries have an agreement with the United States under which a passport is deemed valid for an additional six months past its expiration date so that the passport holder can return to his or her country of citizenship.

If you have questions about whether your passport is valid for reentry, contact your designated Fragomen professional or click here for more information.

Visa validity. The visa stamp in your passport must reflect your current nonimmigrant visa status, it must be unexpired, and, if the visa has a limited number of entries, it must have a remaining valid entry available for reentry to the United States. If you need to apply for a new visa while abroad in order to reenter the United States, be aware of the restrictions described earlier that may present challenges in doing so.

For additional information on visa requirements, click here.

Obtain your Form I-94 arrival record immediately upon return to the United States. The expiration date on your I-94 record marks the expiration of your eligibility to remain in valid legal status in the United States. Overstaying this I-94 date can have serious consequences.

After your arrival in the United States, you must obtain a printout of your online I-94 on the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) I-94 website here. The I-94 date on this electronic record should match the date on the I-94 stamp placed in your passport by CBP upon your entry to the United States. You should send a copy to your Fragomen professional and retain one for your records. Notify your Fragomen professional as soon as possible if you note any errors in your I-94 record.

Check if your I-94 was issued with your passport expiration date instead of your visa status expiration. Please note that if your passport expires prior to your current nonimmigrant status, CBP may issue an I-94 valid only to the earlier passport expiration date. This is not an error, and it could result in an overstay if you do not address it prior to expiration. To obtain an I-94 record reflecting the full length of stay in your current authorized status, you would need to travel abroad again and present your newly extended passport upon reentry, or apply for an extension with USCIS while in the United States. Notify your Fragomen professional if you have been issued a truncated I-94 record due to passport validity.

If you have an adjustment of status application or nonimmigrant change of status application pending with USCIS, consult Fragomen immigration counsel prior to planning any travel. You may be prevented from travel or risk abandonment of your pending application with USCIS.

On our firm's website, you will find detailed information on international travel and immigration obligations.