The US finally opens borders to fully vaccinated UK travellers

At 05:01 GMT, the border reopened, and the first flight took off from Heathrow at 08:50. To enter the United States, all UK tourists over the age of 18 must provide proof of vaccination. While UK citizens have been allowed only recently to travel to the US, Americans have been free to visit the UK since July 28.

According to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, this is a defining moment for UK-US travel since transatlantic flights are at the heart of UK aviation. The travel ban after COVID is withdrawn for those from Brazil, China, India, Ireland, South Africa, Iran, and the Schengen countries, in addition to the UK.

Back with Caution

Only US citizens, residents, and a tiny number of other exempt groups were allowed to enter the US from the UK until November 7. However, now, all people who have received vaccines approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or vaccines listed for emergency use (EUL) by the World Health Organization are subject to the new guidelines.

As such, Kevin Munoz, the White House's assistant press secretary, stated on October 15 that double-vaccinated foreign nationals will be eligible to enter the US starting November 8.

The US’ new travel policy that requires vaccination for foreign national travellers to the United States will begin on Nov 8. This announcement and date applies to both international air travel and land travel. This policy is guided by public health, stringent, and consistent.

Restrictions still remain

Since July 19, the United Kingdom has been in the highest risk category for COVID, level 4 or ‘extremely high,’ according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Therefore, only vaccines approved by the FDA and WHO's EUL vaccines will be accepted. This would include travellers who have taken one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccination or two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Covaxin, Covishield, BIBP/Sinopharm, Sinovac.

Vaccination proof must be provided in the form of a vaccine passport. The NHS Covid Pass and other certificates are accepted. Travellers must also present proof of either a negative Covid test result (taken no more than three days before departure) or proof of recovery from the virus within the previous three months, in addition to being double-vaccinated.

Children are exempt from the vaccine requirement, however, everyone between the ages of two and seventeen will be required to take a Covid-19 test three to five days after arriving.