With the pandemic up against the wall of all of the vaccines being administered worldwide, you might be itching to travel internationally again. As exciting as that sounds, you may want to hold off on doing so. There aren’t just restrictions on travelers from other countries entering those countries, but restrictions on re-entering the United States. Yikes.
To understand how international travel will work this year, you need to know what you’re up against. Unless you don’t mind and have the resources to stay abroad, you may want to reconsider international travel plans. Here’s why.
The EU Won’t Take You.
The European Union of countries has shut down its borders from all other countries. Not even Britain is allowed to fly tourists into France and Germany after Brexit and the high COVID numbers Britain has experienced. These countries won’t even admit business “tourists” via plane, so any place you would want to go that is part of the EU is closed to you anyway.
Some parts of the Middle East Are Locked up Tight Too
Recent news reports that Israel has the highest number of fully vaccinated citizens in the world. You may think that’s wonderful and that you can now visit the Holy Land, but again you’re out of luck. To reduce cases and keep up with vaccinations, Israel has shut down completely. No planes in or out of their country and that includes friendly planes from the U.S. Other Middle Eastern countries are being equally restrictive, but some are allowing business flights.
If You Can’t or Don’t Test Negative for COVID Before Flying Home, You Can’t Fly at All.
The U.S.’s recent flight restrictions have informed all international business flights that people have to get a COVID test three days or less before flying home. They have to have the paper in hand showing a negative test before they board. If you can’t get a test before returning, or your test is positive, you have to spend fourteen days in total quarantine in that country on your dime and take another test before you can fly home again.
You might be spending a lot of time in one country, which can turn tricky if you are there for more than a few months. At that point, you may need a visa. Plan any business travel well, and hold off on pleasure travel for at least another year.