The Biden Administration is reportedly creating a new travel safety plan that would require foreign visitors to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before arriving in the U.S. The new requirement is part of a larger plan to reopen U.S. borders after more than a year of being closed to most of the world, a White House official told Reuters on Aug. 4.
According to this same official, the White House wants to reopen the country to international travelers, but has concerns over the growing number of COVID-19 cases, particularly those related to the highly transmissible Delta variant.
The Biden Administration has interagency working groups gearing up “to have a new system ready for when we can reopen travel,” the official said. This system would include “a phased approach that over time will mean, with limited exceptions, that foreign nationals traveling to the United States (from all countries) need to be fully vaccinated.”
It is currently unclear when any of these changes will go into effect, but some travel industry experts suspect it could be weeks or even months before any restrictions are lifted.
The U.S. Travel Association issued a statement in response to the news, applauding the Biden Administration for taking this “important first step to welcoming back millions of visitors from some of our top inbound markets.”
“Every week that travel bans on the U.K., EU and Canada remain in place, our economy loses $1.5 billion in spending, which would support 10,000 American jobs,” the statement reads. U.S. Travel adds that a reopening date should be set as quickly as possible, especially for countries that have taken similar steps in reopening to vaccinated travelers, such as the U.K., Canada and much of the EU.
Every week that travel bans on the U.K., EU and Canada remain in place, our economy loses $1.5 billion in spending, which would support 10,000 American jobs.
U.S. Travel, however, does not believe that this vaccination policy should replace the current pre-arrival testing requirement for all international travelers.
“While vaccinations are a crucial tool to allow us to reopen to 212(f) countries, it would be a step back to replace the current testing requirement with a vaccine requirement for all other countries,” the U.S. Travel statement reads.
As the policy currently stands, most non-citizens are barred from entry to the U.S. if they have been in the United Kingdom, the 26 Schengen nations, Ireland, China, India, South Africa, Iran or Brazil within the last 14 days.
Plans to reopen U.S. borders to international travel come at a good time, as the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation recently approved the Restoring Brand USA Act. This bill provides emergency funding to Brand USA, the destination marketing organization in charge of promoting the United States to international travelers.
“As we look to rebuild the travel economy from the devastating effects of the pandemic, it’s no overstatement to say the work of Brand USA has never been more essential,” U.S. Travel said in a statement responding to the decision. “The emergency relief provided by the bill — which utilizes existing funds and comes at no additional cost to American taxpayers — will help bring back international visitors more quickly, shorten the recovery timeline and restore lost U.S. jobs.”