The year 2021 began with the announcement of a new requirement that went into effect last Tuesday, January 26: now all persons wishing to enter the United States by air must prove that they took the COVID-19 test and that they tested negative.

This includes both foreign nationals and lawful permanent residents of the United States. Testing must be done three days prior to travel. Similarly, if you wish to travel and you have already become ill with COVID-19, you will need to have a recovery test.

Despite this, there are exceptions: people who do not need to meet the requirements due to various reasons. These may be humanitarian and will only be considered when the country from which the departure originates lacks the capacity to perform the tests.

"The country of departure lacks adequate SARS-CoV-2 testing capacity and cannot meet the requirements to provide a negative COVID-19 viral test within three (3) calendar days of departure" stated the U.S. Government from the State Department's official website.

The following information must be shared by all passengers:

–Name (last name / surname, first name), passport number and country
–Cell phone number, including country code of the passenger or head of household if a family unit
–Passenger's or head of household's e-mail address if family unit
–U.S. destination address
–Is this the home address of the U.S. destination?
–Departure date
–Flight itinerary
–Name of remitting entity if different from passenger
–Name of company sending on behalf of passenger (if applicable)
–Name of point of contact who is sending on behalf of passenger(s) (if applicable)
–Phone number and email address of POC submitting waiver request on behalf of passenger(s) (if applicable)
–Purpose of travel to the U.S. (Provide a brief explanation of why urgent travel is needed and how the travel will contribute to –the health and safety of the passenger(s))
–Justification for waiver of evidence (e.g., no evidence available, impact on health and safety)
–Documentation supporting justification for test exemption, if available (e.g., medical records or medical evacuation orders).
–With information from the U.S. Department of State

Border News: Third week of January 2021