After 20 months of blockade, the United States reopened its land and air borders to international tourists on November 8. In addition to the large influx of people that made border control units a major enemy, a new wave of epidemics in Europe also brought variables to this policy.

The United States on Monday (November reopened its land and air borders to foreign tourists who received two doses of the new crown vaccine, ending 20 months of travel restrictions on travelers from all over the world. A large number of international tourists are expected to travel by air and land. Across its borders.

Reuters reported that Delta Air Lines said that within six weeks of announcing the reopening of the United States, international point-of-sale bookings increased by 450% compared to the six weeks before the announcement. Delta Air Lines chief executive Ed Bastian warned that travelers should be prepared to line up.

After the border is opened, airlines are striving to recover. In response to the surge in demand, they increased the number of transatlantic flights and planned to use larger aircraft.

White House spokesperson Kevin Munoz said on Twitter: “As we expect high demand when the United States lifts existing air and land travel restrictions on Monday, we are taking key steps to do a good job by providing additional resources. Prepare."


The Biden administration has held several conference calls with American Airlines to prepare for the influx of travelers arriving at U.S. airports, and warns travelers who are transiting by land or ferry from Canada and Mexico, instructing them to be ready Accept longer waits from the 8th.

List of open regulations

The original regulations required most non-U.S. citizens to enter the United States within 14 days before entering the United States, including the 26 European Schengen countries without border controls, China, India, South Africa, Iran, Brazil, the United Kingdom and Ireland, a total of 33 countries.

From November 8, although the travel ban is lifted, entry into the United States will not be completely unregulated. The United States requires air passengers to be fully vaccinated and tested within 3 days before travel. Airlines will be required to establish a contact tracking system. The US authorities also plan to closely monitor the vaccination status of travelers and will still require them to show a negative result of the new crown test.

The opening of the land border will be carried out in two stages. Starting on the 8th, "non-essential" travel-such as family visits or tourism-will require vaccinations, but travelers who have not been vaccinated will still be allowed to enter the country for "essential" travel. Comparing with the regulations of the past year and a half implement. The second phase, starting in early January, will require all tourists to be fully vaccinated when entering the United States by land, regardless of the reason for their travel.

The cost of blocking the border

Agence France-Presse reported that these restrictions separated families, hindered tourism, and strained diplomatic relations, especially in the neighboring countries of Europe and the United States, Canada and Mexico, who were quite disgusted with these restrictions. For example, in the border areas with Mexico, many cities in Texas and California are facing economic difficulties due to the anti-coronavirus trade restrictions.

In order to slow the spread of the new crown virus, the United States will close its borders to travelers from most parts of the world after March 2020, including the European Union, the United Kingdom and China, India and Brazil. Overland tourists from Mexico and Canada are also banned.

Restrictive measures affecting hundreds of millions of people have exacerbated the personal and economic pain caused by the new crown epidemic. U.S. Travel, a trade group, said these countries accounted for 53% of all U.S. overseas tourists in 2019, and border communities have been severely hit by the loss of tourists from Mexico and Canada. The organization estimates that since March 2020, the decline in international visits has "caused nearly US$300 billion in export revenue losses."

Family separation

Although Americans can start entering Europe since this summer, foreign US residents holding certain visas cannot guarantee that they will be able to re-enter the United States. Under the U.S. border policy, many families suffer from the separation of the two places.

63-year-old Alison Henry told AFP: “It’s too painful. I just want to see my son.” After 20 months of separation, the British woman plans to fly on November 8. Go to New York to visit her son. Agence France-Presse said that families on both sides of the Atlantic are eager to finally reunite with their loved ones.

Reuters also reported that Bhavna Patel, who lives in London, used FaceTime to watch his grandson grow up in the past year. After more than a year, she was finally able to fly to New York to visit her eldest grandson.

At the same time, the elderly in Canada will be able to resume their annual car trip to Florida to escape the harsh northern winter. However, the cost of nucleic acid testing required for cross-border travel in Canada can be as high as US$250 at a time, which may be prohibitive.

Ontario resident Ann Patchett told The Ottawa Citizen that it would cost her and her husband $500 to visit relatives in the South. "Do you want to hug your child? Do you want to cover your grandchildren with quilts? This is very frustrating."

New York State Assemblyman Brian Higgins's constituency touches the Canadian border, including the American side of Niagara Falls. He plans to hold a press conference with the mayors of the two countries on the 8th to urge Canada to abandon its testing requirements.

Europe's infection rate rises

However, just as the United States opened its borders, the European new crown virus infection rate rose. The WHO expressed "serious concern" about this and warned that the current trajectory may mean "another 500,000 new crown deaths" by February.

Agence France-Presse reported that although the United States has not yet commented on the increase in the number of new crown cases in Europe, the surgeon Vivek Murthy, speaking on behalf of the United States, said on the ABC on the 7th: "To our position Be cautiously optimistic...We cannot take our feet off the throttle until we reach the end."