New rules will apply to all inbound land, sea and air travellers to the USA from 2022, including all health and medical tourists, with no exceptions. This could reduce medical travellers from Caribbean and Central/South American countries with low vaccination rates.
In addition to the existing open air borders, a new international air travel system will be implemented in the USA in November, to begin allowing travellers from Mexico and Canada who are fully vaccinated for COVID-19 to enter the United States for non-essential purposes, including to visit friends and family or for tourism, via land and ferry border crossings.
This change follows guidance from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health experts, leading the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to amend Title 19 regulations to allow non-essential travellers who have been fully vaccinated for COVID-19 and have appropriate documentation to enter the United States via land and ferry ports of entry (POEs) across the U.S. border.
Travellers will need to have appropriate paperwork that provides proof of vaccination. Individuals who have not been fully vaccinated for COVID-19 will not be allowed to travel for non-essential purposes from Canada and Mexico into the United States via land and ferry.
Beginning in early January 2022, DHS will require that all inbound foreign national travellers crossing U.S. land or ferry POEs – whether for essential or non-essential reasons – be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 and provide related proof of vaccination. This approach will provide ample time for essential travellers such as healthcare workers to get vaccinated.
This new travel system will create consistent, stringent protocols for all foreign nationals traveling to the United States – whether by air, land, or ferry – and accounts for the wide availability of COVID-19 vaccinations.
Still in dispute for political reasons is the logical imposition of the same rules to Americans who travel abroad and return across borders. If the rules are applied, this could significantly reduce outbound medical tourism to Mexico, as most of it comes from the Southern states which have many who are not just unvaccinated but refuse to become vaccinated.
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