Business Immigration Insights

On October 15, the White House and State Department announced that, beginning November 8, foreign travelers may board US-bound flights or cross US land borders without first obtaining National Interest Exceptions, as long as they can prove they are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

The Centers for Disease Control will consider a traveler “fully vaccinated” 2 weeks after completing an FDA‑approved single dose such as J&J Janssen or 2‑dose series such as Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna.  Vaccines listed for Emergency Use by the World Health Organization, such as AstraZeneca/Oxford and Sinopharm, will also qualify.

CDC acknowledged that “mix-and-match” vaccines, while not recommended in the US, are common practice in other countries.  CDC will therefore also accept any combination of 2 doses of FDA-approved or WHO EU-listed vaccines, as long as the second dose was given at least 17 days after the first dose and 2 weeks have passed since completion of the series.

CDC and other Executive Branch agencies intend to release detailed guidance for travelers, as well as implementation orders for airline and land border officials, “well in advance of November 8.”  We will update this post as that information is made public.

Readers may also wish to monitor the official websites we listed in September, under “What we know.”