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ARCHIVED_COVID-19 Visa and Travel Status Update

11/10/21: With the COVID-19 travel bans lifted, travelers planning to enter the U.S. by air should be sure to review and prepare for new requirements that have been put into place regarding vaccination and showing adequate proof. The CDC website contains important details and answers to frequently asked questions.

10/25/21: Narrow exemptions to proof of vaccination rules for new international travel requirements going into effect November 8 have been announced for: children under 18, those who have severe allergic reactions to the vaccine, those who need to travel for emergency or humanitarian reasons and those who are traveling on non-tourist visas from countries with low-vaccine availability, as determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Children between the ages of 2 and 17 are required to take a pre-departure test; if traveling with a fully vaccinated adult, an unvaccinated child can test three days prior to departure (consistent with the timeline for fully vaccinated adults). If an unvaccinated child is traveling alone or with unvaccinated adults, they will have to test within one day of departure. 

It should be noted that travelers who receive an exception will generally be required to attest they will comply with applicable public health requirements, including, with very limited exceptions, a requirement that they be vaccinated in the U.S. if they intend to stay in the country for more than 60 days. 


10/15/21: 
COVID-19 Travel Bans will be lifted November 8, 2021 for fully vaccinated travelers to the U.S. Non-U.S. travelers will need to show proof of full vaccination and a recent negative coronavirus test before boarding a flight. Land crossings by non-essential travelers will need to be fully vaccinated but not required to provide a negative test. All FDA-approved and authorized vaccines, as well as those that have an Emergency Use Listing from the World Health Organization, are considered acceptable (see below). The CDC will issue guidelines on acceptable proof of vaccination in the coming weeks.
 

10/13/21: The U.S. soon plans to reopen land borders to nonessential travel. Thus far, non-air border crossing from Canada and Mexico has been primarily restricted to essential travel, but the new rule will allow fully vaccinated foreign nationals to enter for non-essential purposes starting in early November (exact date TBA). The vaccination requirement for land crossing will initially apply only for non-essential travel, but by early January, even essential travelers seeking to enter the U.S. will need to be fully vaccinated. More information is available in a statement by U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas.

9/29/21: The CDC's Frequently Asked Questions about COVID-19 Vaccination currently lists the following information regarding full vaccination in a non-U.S. country:

If you have received all recommended doses of a COVID-19 vaccine that has been authorized or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or is listed for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO), then you are considered to be fully vaccinated. This currently includes the following vaccines:

    • Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine – FDA-authorized, (labeled as COMIRNATY in European Union), 2 doses
    • Pfizer-BioNTech (COMIRNATY) COVID-19 Vaccine – FDA-approved, 2 doses
    • Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine – FDA-authorized, 2 doses
    • Johnson and Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine – FDA-authorized, (labeled as Janssen-Cilag in European Union), 1 dose
    • AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine – WHO-listed, (labeled as COVISHIELD in Canada and others, labeled as AstraZeneca/SKBio in Republic of Korea), 2 doses
    • Sinopharm BIBP COVID-19 Vaccine – WHO-listed, 2 doses
    • Sinovac-CoronaVac COVID-19 Vaccine – WHO-listed, 2 doses

If you received a COVID-19 vaccine that is not authorized or approved by FDA or listed for emergency use by WHO, you may start over with an FDA-authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccine. Please note that no data are available on the safety or effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination after receiving a non-FDA-authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccine. Wait at least 28 days after you received the last dose of the non-FDA-authorized or approved vaccine before receiving an FDA-authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccine.

9/20/21: News outlets announced today that the Biden Administration will revoke its travel ban currently effecting visitors from 33 countries. Instead, "Foreign nationals flying to the United States will be required to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus and test negative when the policy takes effect in early November" and this guidance will apply to all international travelers - not only those that are subject to the current restrictions. Some additional information about testing and contact tracing is available, but this CDC webpage may be helpful in the meantime. Until the new policy goes into place, National Interest Exceptions are still required for people coming from or traveling through any of the 33 countries named below.

As of 9/13/21: New Q&A added about vaccines. Also, a dedicated webinar on U.S. Guest Artist Visas and International Travel in the Age of COVID-19 is available, along with a transcript and slide deck, free of charge. 

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, several U.S. presidential proclamations have been issued to suspend entry of all noncitizens who were physically present in any of 33 countries. These proclamations are still in place today, which requires a large number of international guest artists to obtain a National Interest Exception (NIE) waiver to enable them to enter the U.S. without first needing to quarantine elsewhere for 14 days. There have been reports of widely varying interpretations by consulates on the policy of issuing NIEs for artists and there is a lack of consistent guidance as to how best to seek a waiver. Below is a summary of what we know about the overall process to date:

Which countries are subject to these restrictions?
Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom. These travel restrictions do not apply to U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and certain other designated travelers listed in the June 24 State Department NIE guidance.

How long will the NIE waiver remain valid? Is it one-time only?
The State Department recently announced that NIE waivers will be valid for 12 months from the date of approval and eligible for use for multiple entries. The condition is that the purpose must be the same as what was indicated in the approved NIE, which is somewhat open to interpretation. Artists, of course, will still require a visa to enter the U.S.

What does it take to qualify for an NIE?
In June, the State Department slightly expanded the NIE eligibility opportunities in its latest update on the travel ban directive. In addition to the broad "national interest" category, and specifying that the somewhat complex critical infrastructure criterion applies beyond supply chains to all areas of critical infrastructure (including the commercial facilities sector), the State Department has reinstated opportunities for NIEs for:

  • travelers providing vital support or executive direction for significant economic activity in the United States


This criterion had been withdrawn in the previous version of the State Department directive and may provide an opportunity for international ensembles and artists to qualify. There is no specific formula for success, but one must be able to connect economic impact to a specific artist’s unique and necessary presence. Many petitioners are finding it helpful to obtain letters of support from their mayors, business leaders, and others who can speak to the value of the U.S. employer and of the specific arts event that requires the beneficiary seeking an NIE waiver. While one does not need to hire an attorney to apply for an NIE waiver, it may be very helpful to do so. Experienced visa practitioners who have been advisors on the NIE-related content of this website include Tamizdat, GG Arts Law, and Blue Skies Immigration, LLC.

How much lead time is required for both visa and NIE approval?
It’s always best to allow for as much processing time as possible (up to one year) for visa classification approval by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Be sure to keep an eye on the posted processing times (currently up to 4.5 months for O visas at California Service Center), and consider whether you might need to upgrade to Premium Processing Service.

Remember that USCIS approval is only the first step; staff reductions due to COVID-19, as well as a number of public health measures such as social distancing, has resulted in very lengthy wait times for appointments to complete the final visa processing steps at consulates worldwide. Whereas a 2- or 3- week window for consular processing used to be possible, some consulates are not even scheduling appointments until 2022, and emergency appointments are limited to medical and humanitarian needs. When seeking to schedule an interview, note that NIE waivers cannot be issued more than 60 days before intended entry into the U.S. and consider whether artists who already have an NIE issued earlier in the year may qualify for the mail-in program. If you don’t have at least several months of lead time and are not prepared to pay the PPS fee, success seems dubious.

Is there a vaccination mandate for artists entering the U.S.?
There is not currently a vaccination requirement to enter the U.S. but before departing for the U.S. travelers do need to present proof of a negative COVID test or recovery from COVID. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website is the best source for international travelers to stay informed about the latest guidance, requirements, and answers to frequently asked questions. The Biden Administration has announced that beginning in early November (exact date to be announced), all foreign nationals flying into the U.S. will need to be "fully vaccinated" as well as show a negative COVID test result taken within 3 days of intended departure. Additionally, there will be a vaccination requirement for nonessential land crossing from Canada and Mexico beginning in November and for essential travelers in January 2022. Exact dates for the two phases of the land crossing vaccination requirement have not yet been announced.

Does "fully vaccinated" make allowance for mixing and matching vaccines?
The CDC's latest update allows for combining different types of vaccines so long as both doses are on the FDA and WHO lists. While this is not a recommended course of action, the CDC recognizes this practice is widely in place outside the U.S. and so international travelers will be considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving an FDA- or WHO-approved single-dose vaccine, such as the Johnson & Johnson shot, or “any combination of two doses of an FDA approved/authorized or WHO emergency use listed COVID-19 two-dose series,” such as the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

What Can I Do? What Does the Future Hold?
Experienced visa professionals are advising arts organizations to carefully consider plans for programming international artists for this fall given the sustained consular delays. Even if the travel restrictions were to be lifted, consular delays will only worsen due to a likely surge of new requests for visa interviews. If your artists are located in any of the 33 countries (or cannot avoid passing through them en route to the U.S., as even layovers count) and do not already possess an NIE waiver, consider your back-up plan, should travel not be possible.

Many U.S. national arts service organizations have been working together to urge the U.S. Department of State to support artist travel and other policy improvements (PDF) and remind USCIS about several longstanding requests that would improve the artist visa process (PDF).

The situation around the presidential proclamation remains fluid, so artists and petitioners should prepare for several scenarios and be sure to set reasonable expectations given the backdrop of the global pandemic, the intricacy of policymaking, and the high level of discretion afforded to consulates. This news page will be updated with the latest news and implications relating to NIEs and travel from COVID-19 restricted countries.

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