United States plans to lift the travel ban and reopen tourism between the US and UK in early November. Only vaccinated people will be allowed to enter the US.
Fully vaccinated travelers must complete pre-departure testing within 72 days prior to their departure to the U.S. and provide proof of being fully vaccinated. Visitors will not be requested to quarantine on arrival.
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US & UK Travel Corridor: Latest Updates
October 5 – The UK’s new entry system streamlines inbound travel from October 4
The UK has simplified its entry system for Americans and other visitors from the new “non-red” list.
This means that most of these travelers will no longer have to present a negative Covid-19 test if they are fully vaccinated.
The red list will remain, and visitors coming from any of those countries will need to undergo a 10-day quarantine on arrival. Children aged 11 to 17 also have to take a COVID-19 test within 72 hours prior to departure.
This list will be updated on a weekly basis.
Sept. 24 – US-UK Travel set to resume in November. The exact date still unknown
“Early November” is all what the U.S. government has revealed about its recent lift on travel from the UK and other European nations.
The ban on travel from the UK to the US started on 16 March 2020, when UK travelers were labeled as “threatens the security of our transportation system and infrastructure and the national security”.
The White House’s COVID-19 Response Team, Jeff Zients mentioned on Monday a system to keep Americans and international air travel safe, but still nothing concrete.
Source: The Independent
U.S. Travel Association CEO Roger Dow also pushed the leaders to move quickly on the issue, citing the strong vaccination rates in both the U.S. and the U.K.
“Opening a U.S.-U.K. travel corridor is a smart, science-based step to take for both countries’ economic recoveries, and now is the critical time to take it,” Dow said. “The U.S. and the U.K. both have among the world’s leading records on vaccinations and declining infections. The U.K. is our top overseas travel market, and the two governments enjoy a close relationship.”
Dow also said that there is “abundant evidence” that transatlantic flights are safe when proper health protocols are followed.
In a statement, World Travel and Tourism Senior Vice-President Virginia Messina said more travel industry jobs will be lost unless Biden and Johnson set a clear time frame for the resumption of international travel.
“Whilst we welcome the news of a task force aimed at safely reopening travel between the U.K. and the U.S., unless we have a clear timeline and unlock transatlantic travel by 4 July at the latest, we will continue to see jobs lost and businesses go under,” Messina said.
In early June, European Union countries Spain, France and Denmark reopened their borders to fully vaccinated American tourists. Italy and Greece have also started welcoming U.S. travelers.
However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still lists many Schengen nations as “high risk.”
US-UK travel corridor: Update archives
September 21 – US-UK travel will finally be reestablished in “early November,” says U.S. Government
After more than a year and a half of closure, the White House has finally announced it will reopen its international borders to fully vaccinated travelers from the UK and other countries in November.
The U.S. announced it will transition to a strict global system in order to have a “consistent approach across all countries,” said Jeff Zients, the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator on Monday.
The U.S. government should release the specifics of this new plan over the weeks to come.
Source
September 13 – Virgin Atlantic extends flight benefits as the U.S. remains closed to U.K. travelers
A good indicator a country will reopen soon is when airlines either ramp up schedules in anticipation of a route opening or conversely start extending flights flexibility and benefits.
Last week, Virgin Atlantic extended the timeframe for travelers to keep their Flying Club tier status for the fifth time.
“President Biden has a clear opportunity to reciprocate and safely ease restrictions for fully vaccinated UK citizens, helping loved ones to reunite and businesses to (restart),” said Siobhan Fitzpatrick, chief digital and marketing officer at Virgin Atlantic.
Source: TravelWeekly
August 25 – US-UK travel corridor unlikely to set off until at least November 25th
Last month, the White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said they will maintain the existing travel restrictions due to concerns raised by the Delta variant in the territory.
Airlines started to schedule flights for September but have had to withdraw their plans due to the status of the situation in the U.S. Virgin Atlantic has already delayed its Heathrow-Las Vegas flights to mid-September.
Most major U.S. airlines now believe the travel bubble will not set off until at least Thanksgiving, November 25th. But still, nothing is certain.
Source: CityAM
August 7 – The U.K. opened a one-sided corridor for U.S. travelers on August 2
The U.K. has started to welcome back fully vaccinated Americans who want to visit the territory for leisure.
These overseas visitors will no longer need to quarantine when visiting England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
On the other side, the U.S. still refuses to reopen borders for U.K. or any other European visitors. According to White House officials, the U.S. plans to require all international arrivals to be fully vaccinated.
However, the U.S. has no a “vaccine passport” in place and there is no a national digital system for processing travelers’ vaccination records. This means that they have no way to verify if international travelers are vaccinated or not, which is causing delays on the U.S. reopening.
Source: Forbes
August 16 – US-UK corridor might start in early November
Although the U.S. government has not announced when the travel agreement will set off, there are multiple signs showing it might be operational by the end of October or early November.
The multilateral pressure in the U.S. to reopen international borders, the growing number of European countries that have joined the U.K on accepting American visitors and the vaccination rates in the U.S. have increased the confidence among the travel industry leaders.
JetBlue believes the ban will run until around November. “We are hopeful over the next two or three months, as we get on the right side of the Delta variant increases we have seen, we can revisit that and we can welcome Brits and Europeans to the States again.” its Chief Executive told the BBC.
Virgin Atlantic’s is another major airline showing optimism about a reopening in September “like a lot of people, we’re hopeful for September, but we don’t have a confirmed date so we are focused at the moment on where there are opportunities for us to fly,” said vice president of global sales, Lee Haslett.
Source: Forbes
July 26 – The U.S. will not resume international travel “at this point”, said a White House official on July 26
A White House official whose name has not been revealed told Reuters in an exclusive interview today, the U.S. is not modifying international travel restrictions “at this point” citing the highly transmissible Delta variant that’s now present in 124 countries.
“Given where we are today with the Delta variant, the United States will maintain existing travel restrictions at this point,” he said. “Driven by the Delta variant, cases are rising here at home, particularly among those who are unvaccinated and appear likely to continue to increase in the weeks ahead.”
The official also mentioned the travel alert on UK-bound travel issued by the CDC requesting Americans not to travel to the United Kingdom following a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Source: Reuters
June 28 – The US-UK Travel Corridor date is still uncertain but the U.S. might reopen for tourism on Sept. 6
Both the American CDC and the U.K. Commonwealth offices advise against travel to each other’s countries based on their current assessment of Covid-19 risks.
Back on June 11, President Bidden announced the creation of multiple “task forces” to reopen international travel. One day later, the U.K transport secretary Grant Shapps, tweeted that they were glad to join the initiative to “facilitate the reopening of transatlantic travel.” But so far, not a specific date has been announced.
However, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said last week that the country might reopen for international travel after Sept. 6.
“I’m hopeful that post-Labor Day we will see a nice uptick in business travel and international travel” she also added that international travel is top priority for Biden’s administration, said the secretary.
July 19 – The end date to the EU travel ban to be announced “within days”, said Pr. Biden
It is unclear if this future announcement will include U.K. travelers. But, there is no reason to think President Biden will exclusively exclude the U.K from this travel ban lifting.
Biden said he should be able to answer “within the next several days what is likely to happen…“I’m waiting to hear from our folks in our COVID team as to when that should be done” he said at a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week.
According to the New York Post, British Airways and Virgin are also pushing for a US-UK traveler bubble agreement before the end of summer.
Source: Reuters
July 8 – Three key factors would prevent the US-UK travel bubble from opening this Summer
Although the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo mentioned September 6th as a potential date to open for international tourism, three key issues suggest that that would not happen that soon, at least not with the U.K.
First of all, thousands of U.K. citizens have been vaccinated with AstraZeneca vaccine which has not been recognized by the U.S. due to license issues.
Secondly, the lack of consistency in the U.S. vaccination certificates. Every state issues a different printed copy (not digital). Consequently, It’s expected to be almost impossible for U.K. authorities to determine the authenticity of these documents.
Finally, the Delta variant that is currently wreaking havoc across the U.K. and Europe. And now, the new Delta Plus variant, which is even more contagious than the first Delta, promises to make it even more difficult for U.S. and U.K. travelers.
Source: Forbes
The post US-UK Travel Corridor Open With Easier Restrictions For Americans From October 4 appeared first on Traveling Lifestyle.
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By: Viktor Vincej
Title: US-UK Travel Corridor Open With Easier Restrictions For Americans From October 4
Sourced From: www.travelinglifestyle.net/biden-and-johnson-pledge-to-work-together-to-reopen-u-s-u-k-travel-corridor/
Published Date: Tue, 05 Oct 2021 15:12:00 +0000
