Airlines started flying thousands of Europeans and others to the U.S. after Washington reopened its borders to citizens of 33 countries who had been barred by COVID-19 restrictions for more than 18 months, the Wall Street Journal reported. As of Monday, vaccinated non-American citizens from previously restricted countries — predominantly in Europe — are allowed to travel to the U.S. if they have proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test taken within the prior three days. The countries formerly on the banned list accounted for 53% of all overseas visitors to the U.S. in 2019, according to the U.S. Travel Association. In March 2020, then-President Donald Trump banned Europeans and others from traveling to the U.S., part of a series of national travel restrictions put in place in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. For many travelers, the ban kept them away from family and friends in the U.S. For business people, visits to American home offices or sales calls to U.S. clients were prohibited, long after domestic business travel started to resume on both sides of the Atlantic.
