November started on the right foot as the US announced great news for travellers around the world. According to the White House, as of November 8th all European and UK travellers will be able to visit the country if they have been fully vaccinated.
After a year of deliberation, travel limitations between the US and Europe and the UK have been finally lifted. Until today, non-US residents were banned from entering the country if they had been in Europe in the 14 days prior to arrival (unless they were traveling for business purposes, or as academics and students).
Fortunately, these travel bans will become a memory as of next Monday, when all fully vaccinated travellers 一that is people that have received two shots of authorized COVID-19 vaccines一 will be able to visit the country with no quarantine requirement.
Although quarantine on arrival won’t be a demand for visiting the country, travellers will still have to stick to testing and contact requirements, like wearing a mask in public spaces.
The US is now accepting all vaccines that have been approved by the WHO (World Health Organization), that is Oxford-AstraZeneca/Covishield, Sinopharm and Sinovac. As well as, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines, which have been authorized by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).
Aside from the vaccine certificate, travellers will also be requested to take a pre-departure (negative) test that must be no older than 72 hours. You can also present proof of recovery from COVID in the past three months.
This is great news if you were planning to visit the country, especially for the holidays. Nonetheless, be aware that not all countries in the EU are letting Americans in.
Austria, Greece and Portugal welcome US travellers that present a negative test before entry. France, Spain, Germany and Italy do welcome fully vaccinated US travellers and they are not required to do a quarantine. Countries like Sweden and Bulgaria are still a no-go for Americans, but surely things will change soon.
