Message to U.S. Citizens
New COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Policy for
Air Travel to the United States
(October 27, 2021)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced a new order for all air passengers traveling to the United States aboard planes departing their foreign destination at or after 12:01 AM Eastern Time on November 8, 2021.
U.S. citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs) who are fully vaccinated will need to present airlines with proof of vaccination and of a negative COVID-19 test taken no more than three (3) calendar days before their flight. U.S citizens and LPRs who are not fully vaccinated will need to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken no more than one (1) calendar day before their flight’s departure.
All nonimmigrant, noncitizen air travelers to the United States will be required to be fully vaccinated and to provide proof of vaccination status prior to boarding an airplane to the United States. In addition, travelers will need to present airlines with proof of vaccination and of a negative COVID-19 test taken no more than three (3) calendar days before their flight.
Exceptions to the requirements noted above will be extremely limited and primarily include:
- Children under 18
- People medically unable to receive the vaccine
- Emergency travelers who do not have timely access to a vaccine
Humanitarian exemptions to this order will be granted on an extremely limited basis.
Children from age 2 to age 17, regardless of citizenship and immigration status, are also subject to the testing requirement. If traveling with a fully vaccinated adult, the child is subject to the three (3) calendar day requirement; if traveling alone or with unvaccinated adults, the child is subject to the one (1) calendar day requirement.
Proving Vaccination Status: Passengers will need to show their vaccination status, either via a paper record, a photo of their paper record, or a digital app, to airline staff before boarding the plane. The CDC has determined that for the purposes of entry into the United States, vaccines accepted will include those FDA approved or authorized, as well as vaccines with an emergency use listing (EUL) from the World Health Organization (WHO). All travelers will also need to provide information in the United States for contact tracing purposes.
Additional information about these new policies is available at travel.state.gov FAQs. For a Travel Assessment tool to best determine your individual travel requirements, see http://www.cdc.gov.
Please see the U.S. Mission in Vietnam’s COVID-19 Information Page for additional information regarding the COVID-19 situation in the country: https://vn.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/covid-19-information/.
The U.S. Mission in Vietnam reminds all U.S. citizens that they are subject to local laws and regulations while visiting or living in Vietnam. We advise U.S. citizens to comply with the Government of Vietnam’s testing and quarantine requirements.