US to Allow Europeans Back in, but Still Advise Americans Not to Travel to 12 EU Countries
From November, vaccinated people from the EU will be able to enter the US, with the US administration recently announcing that travellers from 33 countries will be able to travel to the US.
This is great news for the US tourism industry, as many Europeans enjoy travelling to the US for holidays, with a large influx of Europeans heading to places such as New York for the festive period. It also means that vaccinated people may be able to visit their relatives in time for Thanksgiving, provided that they are vaccinated with the accepted types of vaccinations.
Warning not to travel to 12 Schengen and EU countries
Despite the decision to open up the US borders to vaccinated travelers from the 33 countries, the US Department of States has also issued a warning that strongly advises against travelling to 12 countries in the Schengen Area. The rates in certain countries in Europe are particularly high at the minute, causing concern that travellers from these countries would be a high risk in terms of increasing infection numbers.
On September 27, The Department of State updated their travel advice for going to Norway and Bulgaria to a “Do Not Travel” instruction, where previously the advice was to “Reconsider Travel”.
The CDC published this information:
In addition to Norway and Bulgaria being considered high-risk for COVID-19, 10 further countries are on the list of countries that Americans are strongly advised not to travel to.
The list of countries was updated on September 30 and the full list of countries from EU/Schengen on the list of where Americans are strongly advised not to travel to are:
- Bulgaria (since September 27)
- Estonia (since August 30)
- France (since August 9)
- Greece (since August 2)
- Iceland (since August 9)
- Ireland (since August 2)
- Lithuania (since September 13)
- Norway (since September 27)
- Portugal (since July 26)
- Slovenia (since September 13)
- Spain (since July 26)
- Switzerland (since August 30)
Although the case numbers in the US is currently higher than in many of these countries, the US has taken the decision to advice against travel to these destinations.
This latest update follows the US administration’s decision to allow vaccinated travellers from the 26 Schengen Area countries, plus UK and Ireland to enter the US, as they are exempt from the ban due to their vaccination status.
The US, like most other countries around the world, will continue to monitor rates of countries and the risk of new variants of the COVID-19 infection and will update their travel restrictions when they deem necessary.
If you are planning on travelling anywhere then you should continue to check the relevant country’s most recent travel advice, to ensure you are able to enter the country and that you have the required documents such as proof of vaccination, or a negative test.
