The United States has now reopened its borders to foreign citizens. As of midnight on Monday, foreign, vaccinated travelers will be welcome again after a year and a half of closure.
However, the opening does not apply to everyone, and comes with a number of caveats. It only applies to certain countries, primarily neighboring countries Mexico and Canada, as well as large parts of Europe. Travelers arriving by air must be able to show both a negative Covid test and that they are vaccinated. For travelers arriving via the land borders with Mexico and Canada, proof of vaccination is sufficient.
Airlines are happy about the new rules, but they also expect a lot of extra work. If they fail to check vaccine passports, they face fines of around $35,000 per case. And the vaccine rules have several pitfalls – for example, the Russian and Chinese vaccines Sputnik V and Cansino are not approved, respectively.
Normal travel
According to the government, the idea behind easing restrictions is to return to a more ”normal” travel pattern while limiting the spread of COVID-19. The US has also faced some pressure from Europeans who want to travel there, arguing that Americans have been allowed to visit Europe for months. Europeans make up a large portion of tourists in the US. Before the pandemic, about a fifth of the 79 million visitors to the US were Europeans.
Source:svt.se-TT
