Coronavirus: US to reopen land borders in November to fully vaccinated travellers
- Land border reopening would end 19-month freeze due to the pandemic
- US is moving to require all international visitors be fully vaccinated
The United States will open its land borders with Mexico and Canada in early November to non-essential travellers who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
A senior White House official said the administration would give the “precise date very soon” – both for land crossings as well as international air travel, which would be timed to “go together”.
The United States had already announced in September that it would lift bans in November on all vaccinated air passengers who undergo testing and contact tracing.
In an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, US borders were closed in March 2020 to travellers coming from the European Union, Britain and China, with India and Brazil added to the list later. Overland visitors from Mexico and Canada were also banned.
The US land border restrictions have not barred US citizens from returning home. But, the nearly 19 months of restrictions led to both personal and economic suffering.
The White House source said the land border reopening would happen in two phases.