Message to U.S. Citizens:New COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Policy forAir Travel to the United States(December 3, 2021)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated COVID-19 testing requirements for all air passengers traveling to the United States aboard planes departing their foreign destination at or after 12:01 AM Eastern Time on December 6, 2021.
Under this policy, all travelers to the United States, including U.S. citizens, Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs), and nonimmigrants, regardless of vaccination status, must present airlines with a negative COVID-19 test taken no more than one (1) calendar day before their flight or documentation of having recovered from COVID-19 in the past 90 days. Children from age 2 to age 17 are also subject to this testing requirement.
All nonimmigrant, noncitizen air travelers to the United States are required to be fully vaccinated and to provide proof of vaccination status prior to boarding an airplane to the United States.
- Exceptions to the vaccination requirements noted above are 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 are granted on an extremely limited basis.
- Proving Vaccination Status: Passengers 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 must also provide information in the United States for contact tracing purposes.
Additional information about requirements for travel to the United States is available at travel.state.gov FAQs and 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 and a list of COVID-19 testing sites: 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.
