As one of the most important countries in the world, the United States of America is the ‘land of dreams’ for many. However, even those with the affluence and opportunity to go and visit the USA has found it increasingly tough to make the trip in the last year. With COVID-19 hitting the USA extremely hard, many countries have either restricted or stopped travel entirely. The USA, for example, has been off-the-limits for British travelers for most of 2020 – and that looks set to continue into 2021.
Indeed, despite former President of the United States Donald Trump ending the travel on British, European, and Brazilian travelers, it looks like newly appointed POTUS Joe Biden will bring in tougher measures on top of what was already available. Biden looks to take the COVID situation more seriously than his predecessor, with a range of extensive travel bans and restrictions, tipped to come into place in the near future.
At the moment, anyone from the United Kingdom is not allowed to leave their own homes, nevermind counties or countries, for anything other than essential or business purposes. This means that any leisure and non-essential business trips from Britain to the USA are currently off-limits. This is only likely to get worse, though, as the US continues to battle in vain to stop rising death counts and infection rates across the country. Britain, too, is among the most perilous nations in the world for COVID-19 deaths at the moment. Neither country, then, is really in a position to relax laws or make it easier to get in and out of the country.
Where do we stand?
Today, it is hard to say until POTUS Biden and co. actually provide a full update. Trump, for his part, decided that anyone from the UK coming over would be able to do so, so long as they can show they have either had a negative test prior to arrival or they have proof that they have already had the virus in the past.
So, at the moment, the rules are somewhat in limbo – and regardless, UK flyers are unable to head to the USA for anything other than essential travel reasons per the UK law. At the moment, the UK is fighting increasingly hard to find a means of stemming the flow of the virus and stopping the problem from getting any more severe than it already is.
Naturally, such solutions are going to mean closing off the chance to visit other nations and go to other parts of the world. Sadly, this is just going to be part of the experience for every person – Briton or American – for some time now. Regardless of whether or not you could gain entry into the USA, at the moment any British citizen trying to fly from the UK for anything other than essential travel is likely to find their path blocked.
So, keep that in mind – regardless of what Biden agrees, there is still the need for the UK government to find similar consensus.