USA to Lift Travel Restriction from Europe, China, Brazil and Iran
It appears the US is lifting some major travel restrictions on Monday.
In an unpublished rule document filed by Department of Homeland Security yesterday, the US will terminate travel restrictions on flights carrying anyone who has recently been to:
- China (excluding Hong Kong and Macau)
- Iran
- Schengen Area
- UK (excluding overseas territories outside of Europe)
- Ireland
- Brazil
The restrictions are terminated effective 12:01am Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) September 14, 2020
This document is titled “Termination of Arrival Restrictions Applicable to Flights Carrying Persons Who Have Recently Traveled from or Were Otherwise Present Within Certain Countries“. It is available on the Federal Register, and is due to be released on September 15, 2020, or one full day after the lifting of aforementioned restrictions.
Link to Rule Document
Summary of Rule
This document announces the decision of the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to terminate arrival restrictions applicable to certain flights. Specifically, this document terminates arrival restrictions that are applicable to flights carrying persons who had recently traveled from, or were otherwise present within, the People’s Republic of China (excluding the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau); the Islamic Republic of Iran; the countries of the Schengen Area; the United Kingdom, excluding overseas territories outside of Europe; the Republic of Ireland; or the Federative Republic of Brazil. These arrival restrictions direct such flights to only land at a limited set of U.S. airports where the U.S. Government (USG) had focused public health resources conducting enhanced entry screening. Other measures to protect public health will remain in place.
Bottom Line
Any flights carrying people who have been to the above places were previously restricted to land at one of the designated airports in the United States. As of Monday, that will no longer be the case.
It does not mention anything about lifting of nonessential travel ban, so proceed as if that will still be in place. Even if nonessential ban is lifted, will people be willing to travel to a country that may or may not be rounding the ‘final turn’ of the pandemic?
