Covid travel restrictions for entering the USA

[Stadtaffe]

Since mid 2020 I have had travel plans to the USA thwarted multiple times. President Trump did a proclamation banning non-Americans traveling to the US if they had spent the previous 14 days in the Schengen zone, the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, China, Iran, Brazil, South Africa and India. That is all on the CDC website :

COVID-19 and Your Health

Symptoms, testing, what to do if sick, daily activities, and more.

www.cdc.gov

It is a curious thing that the Schengen zone should be on that list, but the rest of Europe, not. So if you are coming from Serbia, Romania, Croatia, Cyprus, or indeed Russia, there are no restrictions. What exactly changes so drastically between Slovenia and Croatia or between Hungary and Serbia, I'm not quite sure, but east of that divide is treated as "clean" by the US border control, or at least has been like that up till now, and west of it, contaminated. I suspect it's more about politics than infection rates however.

Now I finally thought a trip might happen, but see that Biden is in some ways improving it, in that the vaccinated can as of November now come from those regions directly. He is also (unsurprisingly) making it worse at the same time, banning all travel to the USA for the unvaccinated!

US to ease travel restrictions on fully vaccinated foreign visitors

The United States plans to ease travel restrictions on all fully vaccinated foreign visitors starting in November, the White House said Monday, relaxing a patchwork of bans that had begun to cause fury in Europe and replacing them with more uniform requirements for inbound international air...

edition.cnn.com

So it looks like no stars and stripes for me. I was really looking forward to visiting Texas. Actually, there's still a few days left in October but I'm nervous I may get trapped over there. It does not seem worth the bother anymore. I have a certificate of covid recovery, actually it's like a covid passport with QR codes. It is useful within Europe, can save you from a nose-poking, but not really for the USA.

I try to just plan my life around the new normal, not bleat like a goat or squeal endlessly like a stuck pig about impending Armageddon. The new normal is none the less upsetting. I will probably have to banish the thought of any trips to the USA for a long time. Could not bring myself to get a vaxx it would be participating in a total lie, regardless of whether it is dangerous or not.

So I thought I'd start this thread so anyone else in this situation can exchange notes on exactly what the rules are, any legal loopholes, border crossing experiences and forecast for how this will play out into the future. I don't think America can ban the unvaccinated indefinitely but it could stay like that for a while.

 

[kel]

Have they specified how they're confirming people are vaxxed?

 

[rainy]

I had family members recently travel Bulgaria---->Istanbul------>USA and no one along the way asked for anything related to COVID tests/vax.

They found that odd.

Airlines didn't ask. US customs didn't ask.

These were two separate trips btw in the last couple months. I don't think US customs is checking for COVID related data nor do I think you would be turned away when arriving. None of my arriving family members are US citizens.

 

[Chetthebaker]

I had family members recently travel Bulgaria---->Istanbul------>USA and no one along the way asked for anything related to COVID tests/vax.

They found that odd.

Airlines didn't ask. US customs didn't ask.

These were two separate trips btw in the last couple months. I don't think US customs is checking for COVID related data nor do I think you would be turned away when arriving. None of my arriving family members are US citizens.

I can confirm upon traveling back from Greece last month that my Covid test was only checked by the airline when checking in for my flight. Upon entry customs didn’t even ask for my passport- only my name.

 

[rainy]

Think about it. How would any of this be enforced?

At check in in a foreign airport when you get your boarding pass, is the $25/hr stewardess asking for COVID papers? Nope. At security, are the agents asking for COVID papers? Nope. When boarding the plane, is anyone asking for COVID papers and turning a bunch of people away? Nope, you already passed thru security. In those long customs lines when transitioning to a flight to the US is anyone asking for COVID papers? Nope. They're checking residency status per usual. And upon arrival is US customs asking for COVID papers and turning away large numbers of visitors? Nope.

I think you may be asked for a neg test by airlines at times but this is the Biden administration. They say one thing but does anyone think they're going to round up and send back large swaths of immigrant visitors in our airports upon arrival? Logistically it doesn't work, never mind their general political stance. They aren't doing it at the border. Nor are they doing it at JFK.

 

[Stadtaffe]

It's at least 6 hours from continental Europe to the US, from the tone of the comments here it is sounding like one, as a non-citizen should just attempt it.

Logistically it doesn't work, never mind their general political stance.

I have also had that thought, are they really going to send people back. I think more likely is that one would not be permitted to board in the first place in Europe. I've thrown many a ticket in the bin during this manufactured crisis due to that and left an airport in a sombre or defeated mood so what's one more in the name of experimentation and visiting Texas. He who dares, wins.

But yes, I think if it were not going to work, it would fail before you boarded, not a turning back at the other end.

Have they specified how they're confirming people are vaxxed?

I don't know, may research that. Usually just an official letter with a letterhead. The thing is, there is a grace period of sorts at the moment as "covid passports" have not been widely implemented or adopted yet. Until recently my proof of recovery was just a letter with a letterhead, now it is an official thing with qr codes. The EU vaccination certificates are like that I believe. Not sure what America expects.

I had family members recently travel Bulgaria---->Istanbul------>USA and no one along the way asked for anything related to COVID tests/vax.

This is useful, it may be worth going this alternative route, even if you are flying a few thousand kilometres in the wrong direction. I remember some French woman I was talking to was saying how her daughter visited the Dom-Tom islands in the Caribbean by going through Frankfurt instead of out of France, as out of France they demanded a motif impérieux.

They are not as relaxed as this in the airports in Western Europe, demanding paperwork, checking dates. Have not seen anyone scan a qr code from a covid passport yet, I think they are special encrypted qr codes and although they exist on paper, the infrastructure to do anything with them just isn't there. It may be a very secure system, with cryptography and all signed by some central government cryptographic key but for now at least I don't get the impression that the airports are equipped to actually process them. They just check them visually.

I can confirm upon traveling back from Greece last month that my Covid test was only checked by the airline when checking in for my flight. Upon entry customs didn’t even ask for my passport- only my name.

I like Greece, but was denied boarding to depart from Athens last year as a test result was not ready in time and had to spend a few nights in a hotel neat the airport while the results came in. I made a friend in this unplanned trip, but it was an expensive, time consuming exercise.

I happened to be in Athens as a lockdown was imposed and there was a truly nasty police presence everywhere.

I wonder if routing it Istanbul ----> USA or Mexico ----> USA would be equally likely to succeed.. Anyhow, I think @rainy is onto something with his suggestion.

 

[Stadtaffe]

I had family members recently travel Bulgaria---->Istanbul------>USA and no one along the way asked for anything related to COVID tests/vax.

..on second thoughts, that's correct. As their residential addresses are in Bulgaria, outside the Schengen, they are not subject to the 14 day thing. For me, my residence is in the Schengen.

Anyway, for them, with the rule changes planned for November in a few weeks time, they may be out of luck if they were not vaxxed.

 

[kel]

The airlines will be motivated to check because they are responsible for returning a passenger to their place of origin in the case of that passenger not being admitted at their destination. That's why there are (traditional) passport checks at the ticket counter and often at the gate as well, and visa checks if it's a visa situation. I once flew to a country with very strict visa requirements, one where the requirements change quite frequently as this country gets butthurt about some random town councilman in East Hodunkville in another country saying something mildly negative about that country and suddenly cancels all visas to all citizens of the latter country. My documents were checked again and again and again at every step of the process by the airline itself - buying the ticket, arriving at the airport, at the gate.

So, I suspect they'll do the same with vax passports. The question is, how do they know it's legit. Until there's a global system of some variety, how will they know that this piece of paper that says I got vaxxed in Laos or Tonga or Mozambique is or isn't genuine? It's one thing to be able to look at the official app of Canada or the EU as those come about, or inspect the card we get in the US (a very exploitable system currently), but some out of the way places, how would they know?

 

[Geo Martin]

So, I suspect they'll do the same with vax passports. The question is, how do they know it's legit. Until there's a global system of some variety, how will they know that this piece of paper that says I got vaxxed in Laos or Tonga or Mozambique is or isn't genuine? It's one thing to be able to look at the official app of Canada or the EU as those come about, or inspect the card we get in the US (a very exploitable system currently), but some out of the way places, how would they know?

That's why in the near future a smart phone will be necessary for travel; no smart phone with the required apps and updates no travel.
All your data will be accessible on the phone, health records which include your latest vaccination will be one of the features available.
Let's be honest, nearly 100% of people who travel own a smart phone, so it will be pretty straightforward to implement and make it a requirement, no one will complain.
So, a forged piece of paper may get you by in 'third world' town but won't do for international travel, except illegal crossing of course.

 

[bacon]

Not sure if Americans outside the USA or who have plans to travel outside the USA are aware of even more rules for the unvaccinated:

New COVID-19 rules for U.S. citizens​

For fully-vaccinated U.S. citizens, entry requirements haven't changed. They'll need to provide a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of departure when returning to the United States.

Unvaccinated U.S. citizens will also need to provide a negative COVID-19 test, but it will now need to be within 24 hours of departure. They'll also need to provide proof that they've purchased a viral test to take after arrival.

It will be a tight window for unvaccinated travelers. Getting a test within 24 hours of departure doesn't provide much time, and any issue could result in missing a flight.

What I am curious to know is say you buy a viral test after arrival, what happens if you don't show up for that? What happens if you then test postive? How will they enforce this? At the moment the PCR test is something you just have to show to your ticket counter before they issue you the ticket on the day of your flight.

 

[Stadtaffe]

That's why in the near future a smart phone will be necessary for travel; no smart phone with the required apps and updates no travel.
All your data will be accessible on the phone, health records which include your latest vaccination will be one of the features available.
Let's be honest, nearly 100% of people who travel own a smart phone, so it will be pretty straightforward to implement and make it a requirement, no one will complain.
So, a forged piece of paper may get you by in 'third world' town but won't do for international travel, except illegal crossing of course.

It sounds like you are supporting this step rather than resisting it, and encouraging others thereby to do the same

 

[elixirhtc]

The Covid-19 Corona virus ruined the life of many people, many were dead and many have finanacial problem , I am aslo a vitim of it .....

 

[Mrredsquare]

The Covid-19 Corona virus ruined the life of many people, many were dead and many have finanacial problem , I am aslo a vitim of it .....

That would be your Governments policies, not some made up virus that's never been isolated or even proven to exist.

 

[Geo Martin]

It sounds like you are supporting this step rather than resisting it, and encouraging others thereby to do the same

How did you understand that from what I wrote? You can ask me to clarify what I wrote if it's not entirely clear to you instead of suggesting I support the enslavement of humanity via technology!
On the other hand, please tell me how you are resisting the new reset we are under right now.

I haven't taken a test, not once, I haven't downloaded any covid apps, I haven't been to a single event where I'd be required to leave my health details and needless to say I haven't taken nor will I ever take the injections. Tell me how you are resisting the new system?

 

[Stadtaffe]

instead of suggesting I support the enslavement of humanity via technology!

Well good that you don't! It was the wording - phrasing it "that's why in the near future a smart phone will be necessary for travel" makes it sound like an unavoidable inevitability in every country of the world some time very soon. There's no point resisting so why even try.. There are simply better ways to word this.

You also wrote: "it will be pretty straightforward to implement and make it a requirement, no one will complain" - People complain more in some countries than others and resist this more in some countries than others. Again no qualification about where it will be so straightforward etc. People are on the streets en masse already in many places which constitutes complaining.

I also have strongly avoided the apps but have unfortunately gotten tested a lot and given up my details. None the less I went everywhere where there were crowds unmasked until I caught covid. When Normies ask the question, I tell them that I believe it's all a lie and conspiracy and won't get vaxxed as that would be participating in the lie.

 

[Geo Martin]

Well good that you don't! It was the wording - phrasing it "that's why in the near future a smart phone will be necessary for travel" makes it sound like an unavoidable inevitability in every country of the world some time very soon. There's no point resisting so why even try.. There are simply better ways to word this.

You also wrote: "it will be pretty straightforward to implement and make it a requirement, no one will complain" - People complain more in some countries than others and resist this more in some countries than others. Again no qualification about where it will be so straightforward etc. People are on the streets en masse already in many places which constitutes complaining.

I also have strongly avoided the apps but have unfortunately gotten tested a lot and given up my details. None the less I went everywhere where there were crowds unmasked until I caught covid. When Normies ask the question, I tell them that I believe it's all a lie and conspiracy and won't get vaxxed as that would be participating in the lie.

Well, I'm sorry to tell it like it is, but do you really see the masses in a personal level resisting this change into a digital life where everything is recorded and controlled?
People in the middle of a park with no one around, or in a small village in the middle of nowhere wearing masks, doesn't look so promissing to me. But again it's not my intention to burst anyone's bubble, just pointing out the facts.

You haven't taken the vax, that's great, but you've taken several of their tests, given up your details and believe you've cought covid for not wearing your mask, and also would like to know about legal 'loopholes' for entering America. That's not exactly resistance.
The truth is there is no resistance in the material world, the only resistance in the spiritual realm. So don't get mad at me for pointing out how things are going on the material world man.

It seems to me like you're looking for logical explanations in an illogical world. Now more than ever before the upside down and the lie reigns supreme. In Romans 1 St Paul puts it perfectly, read it to remind you what we are navigating through. God bless.

 

[Catholic_Conversion]

Joe Biden's Vaccine Mandate Doesn't Exist. It's Just A Press Release

Americans don't live under representative government. We are living under government by the screen people, of the screen people, for the screen people.

thefederalist.com

(link has whole article)

Yes, we’ve heard all about Joe Biden’s alleged vaccine mandate for private companies employing 100 or more people. It was all over the news even before he announced it on September 9. His announcement has jeopardized the employment of millions of Americans and increased worker shortages in critical domains such as health care.


There’s only one problem. It’s all a mirage. Biden’s so-called vaccine mandate doesn’t exist — at least, not yet. So far, all we have is his press conference and other such made-for-media huff-puffing. No such rule even claiming to be legally binding has been issued yet.



That’s why nearly two dozen Republican attorneys general who have publicly voiced their opposition to the clearly unconstitutional and illegal mandate haven’t yet filed suit against it, the Office of the Indiana Attorney General confirmed for me. There is no mandate to haul into court. And that may be part of the plan.


According to several sources, so far it appears no such mandate has been sent to the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs yet for approval. The White House, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Department of Labor haven’t released any official guidance for the alleged mandate. There is no executive order. There’s nothing but press statements.


Despite what you may have been falsely led to believe by the media fantasy projection machine, press statements have exactly zero legal authority.


“There is nothing there yet that gives employers any mandate,” Stephanie McFarland, spokeswoman for the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration, told me Oct. 6. “The president made an announcement on this asking OSHA to do it, but we’ve not yet seen anything come from it yet,” she also said. When the state agency gets any further information, she said, they’ll review it.



To impose the public perception of a mandate, the Biden administration is following an unusual rule-making process it also employed earlier this year, called an emergency temporary standard (ETS). The spring ETS rule took nearly six months to issue. Meanwhile, companies are telling reporters their vaccine mandates will have at the latest December deadlines. (For those who can’t calendar, that’s four months after Biden’s non-existent mandate was proclaimed. According to OSHA, an ETS takes up to six months to go into effect after the initial mandate is issued in the Federal Register — which, again, for the proclaimed 100-employee mandate hasn’t happened yet.)

 

[kel]

My cousin's wife, dual Mexico/US citizen, is flying to Mexico next month and then back. She's vaxxed, I believe. I will ask her what the experience at the airport is like either way and update here.

Would like this thread and forum at large to focus more or practical information and strategies than doomerpoasting (which I do myself sometimes, I admit).

 

[Stadtaffe]

My cousin's wife, dual Mexico/US citizen, is flying to Mexico next month and then back. She's vaxxed, I believe. I will ask her what the experience at the airport is like either way and update here.

Would like this thread and forum at large to focus more or practical information and strategies than doomerpoasting (which I do myself sometimes, I admit).

Yes, that's the spirit, all anecdotes are good. Will be useful to hear, although I make my own choices being neither American nor vaxxed.

I have lightly considered going to just Mexico, but will more likely enjoy instead numerous other good options not in the Americas. Just no point with big flights and especially with the stress of time zone changes to have only half a trip.

Yes, "doomerposting", that's what upset and revved me up before although appreciate @Geo Martin 's latest post. I really just want to continue with my own goals, some of which are linked to travel, and tune out from this whole thing. Really, by giving the media an audience when they won't shut up about it, we are feeding the monster.

Well, I'm sorry to tell it like it is, but do you really see the masses in a personal level resisting this change into a digital life where everything is recorded and controlled?
People in the middle of a park with no one around, or in a small village in the middle of nowhere wearing masks, doesn't look so promissing to me. But again it's not my intention to burst anyone's bubble, just pointing out the facts.

I am lucky to have spent about 60% of the whole pandemic in parts of Europe which are enjoying the old normal, no walking around in the middle of nowhere wearing masks. In fact I just got back from another place in which was completely the old normal, like really completely, packed venues, people happy and normal, no policing of masks whatsoever neither by the actual police nor by fellow citizens. It was totally voluntary wearing of masks only by those who are worried, as it should be. Just a few signs and announcements which everyone was ignoring.

Of course in the other 40% of the pandemic I have experienced the worst of it, police accosting people in the streets over masks and curfews, people driving alone in their car with a mask, near total compliance. But as that is well less than half of the experience, I have grown less able to tolerate covidiots and the countries in which they dwell. Only in the weeks after I actually tested positive and was sick did I take it seriously at all, not wanting to spread it anyone.

So, "just pointing out the facts".. - everywhere is not universally brainwashed - it varies from place to place. A lot of places might succomb to further tyranny we haven't even experienced yet but not everywhere, it's not uniform or universal.

 

[Geo Martin]

Of course in the other 40% of the pandemic I have experienced the worst of it, police accosting people in the streets over masks and curfews, people driving alone in their car with a mask, near total compliance. But as that is well less than half of the experience, I have grown less able to tolerate covidiots and the countries in which they dwell. Only in the weeks after I actually tested positive and was sick did I take it seriously at all, not wanting to spread it anyone.

So, "just pointing out the facts".. - everywhere is not universally brainwashed - it varies from place to place. A lot of places might succomb to further tyranny we haven't even experienced yet but not everywhere, it's not uniform or universal.

It's not only about this 'pandemic', it's a new phase of the system of technocratic control. I don't think you're seeing this and I don't mean that in a condescending way at all.
You'll still be able to travel for as long as you comply with the regulations/restriction in place at the time, which probably will include having up-to-date vaccinations like many countries are announcing (Italy, Austria, France, Canada, USA, and so on). You can say that's not the whole world and you're right, it's only the western nations, so maybe restrictions will only apply in the west and the rest of the world will just go on as they please...I wouldn't be on it, nbut maybe I'm being too cynical right?