While a United States passport is not the most powerful passport in the world, it is certainly in the top tier. But with COVID-19 still a growing concern, might U.S. citizens be locked out of the summer travel season?
I think so often (and I am guilty of this too) we Americans think of our passport as the key, not the lock. Want to go another country? Very rarely do I even consider whether Americans are allowed in. Sure, there are some difficult visas required for some nations, but the idea of U.S. citizens being denied entry while others are allowed? Preposterous!
Yet we find ourselves in a unique situation in the year 2020 in the era of COVID-19. Europe is trying to salvage the summer. Greece may re-open first, even to Americans who have been tested. But Germany? France? Italy? With COVID-19 cases still growing in the United States, we could well see Europe re-opened again, yet U.S. citizens still excluded.
Same story in Asia and Australia. Right now, as a U.S. passport holder, I cannot transit through Taipei or Singapore. That imperils two planned trips this summer. How sad it would be if these nations, which have fought COVID-19 well (though Singapore appears to be experiencing a relapse), re-opened their borders to tourists, yet still excluded Americans?
It’s all speculation at this point. We’re all watching the figures closely and hope that the lifting of shelter-in-place orders in several U.S. states does not lead to an upsurge in cases or powerful second wave. But those images of armed protestors at state houses across the nation or even the huge protest in Los Angeles (Huntington Beach) yesterday are being plastered around the world. And those images create fear.
My wife closely monitors German news each day and there’s a strong feeling that U.S. visitors possess too much of a risk right now to be allowed into Germany.
With politics at play, especially in an election year, a reluctance to let Americans back in may also close off the United States to foreign tourists, even those who have been tested and are ready to spend money. That hurts U.S. businesses and harms foreign relations.
CONCLUSION
As this situation unfolds, I will be watching closely to see how much pressure the U.S. places on other countries to lift travel restrictions against Americans. In this case, I tend to think even as other countries re-open in the next 6-8 weeks and flights resume, travel restrictions against U.S. citizens will remain throughout the summer.
> Read More: The World’s Most Powerful Passport is Now in Asia
I was born in Australia but as a US citizen…might be a good time to get an Australian passport
Once again, we find ourselves with familiar struggles. I am really interested to see how I fare in the early days of travel reopening. I too am on a US passport, but haven’t been near the US since the end 0f 2019, well before the spread of the virus. I keep seeing that flights from within EU, or UK are allowed in to places like Sweden, but all others are excluded. It makes me wonder whether I’ll be allowed in because the notice doesn’t mention a passport restriction, just a departure point. All up in the air. Hoping the best for your family and mine.
My hope too. Take care Gib!
I stand behind the protesters as the US is the only place where people as red neck as they might be still have some sense of liberty and will call a voice against encroaching totalitarianism and the mass surveillance security state.
Nobody should be travelling anywhere, let alone taking great risks during the flight. With the same air for hours, you are certainly playing russian roulette with your health!. Good that borders are close! It is not the proper time for air travel as long as there is no decent vaccine! Business or whatever reason, stick your back at home!!
Corona virus has been around for years, please go check the facts!! The ones infected by it or death cases in 2020 are no higher then other years (meaning actual numbers, not the fake counts). Health wise, there is no threat!! The BIGGIES virus around is fake news, false information and fear spread to the people. Just considering myself, I wouldn’t have a problem meet and handshake people from all over the world as far as covid 19 is concerned.
The even bigger virus is people running around shouting fake news and false information.
If you are that arrogant and selfish with regards to meeting random people and shaking hands with them, try not to get other people killed.
Stupid is as stupid does!
You are correct. No is going anywhere before the vaccine is available.
I find a key feature/bug of this blog very annoying. Was your comment, Shelly, directed to PA100, Max, or Johnny Reiner
Sugar, between Facebook, Google, Amazon and your iPhone you are already under so much surveillance it should make your head spin. Stop the disingenuous ‘lovers of liberty” nonsense. I get it: you don’t want to have to follow any government recommendation. My hope for you is that when you get sick there is a dedicated health professional to help you; when you need to fly there are healthy, functioning air traffic control professionals, pilots and FAs to keep you safe.
I’m from Australia and while our passports would probably be an asset because of the way we’ve handled COVID-19 – our government has banned us from travelling overseas and has said the ban will remain for several months except possibly to neighbouring New Zealand.
Meanwhile, I understand the US hasn’t done such a thing. So while you may have less options than normal, you ironically might have more than us.
Travel restrictions for U.S. passport holders is sure to take place especially in the EU as most of the countries in the EU dislike Americans and especially France and the UK. There may be quarantines when entering from the U.S. There was 80k died from the flu in 2018. The U.S. government has capitalized on covid-19 for political use.
Thank you for generalizing how people in the EU think of Americans. I had no idea the hatred was so rampant and I will need to now look hard and long at my thousands of life-long friends there and ask them, “Do you hate me because I am American? Because Daniel Pearson said you did.”
“How sad it would be if these nations, which have fought COVID-19 well (though Singapore appears to be experiencing a relapse), re-opened their borders to tourists, yet still excluded Americans?”
Not sad, but prudent.
Not sad, just realistic.
If I was running the immigration/public health department for some foreign country, I’d surely put Americans on the no-entry list, too. And so would anyone else with half a brain.
America completely mismanaged this, and continues to. Tens of thousands of needless deaths have occurred (and more on the way, thanks to the Trumpist morons “liberations”) because of criminal incompetence, denial and dishonesty. It’s going to last a long time here because of this. Get used to it.
My Fortune 500 multinational isn’t going to have business travel before July, if then. So you can do the math on that.
Also, the comment section is a dumpster fire; it’s pretty unbelievable people are turning a viral pandemic into a partisan identity issue, but stupid is as stupid does when it comes to what leaders show followers.
@Matthew “…. (though Singapore appears to be experiencing a relapse), re-opened their borders to tourists, yet still excluded Americans?”
NHK news reported Singapore’s increase in cases was due to foreign workers. Not tourists.
I speculate these are the Bangladeshis living in packed squalid dorm-style rooms. These are the men building Singapore’s skyscrapers. They are on limited work permits with no government health care.
If you are relatively young and healthy, you are at very low risk of dying from COVID-19. Those who are fat, have hypertension or cancer or any other comorbidities are welcome to stay at home. Why should the healthy be forced to adhere to protocols meant to protect the elderly or infirmed? Under 5% of deaths in New York have been of people under 45 and almost 80% of those deaths involved comorbidities. Many of these comorbities are also self-inflicted (two-thirds of the US population being overweight or obese). Is forcing the healthy to shelter at home a form of imposed fat acceptance? There are health care workers demonstrating against the protestors who want to open up their states. Far more people die from diseases related to obesity than will from COVID-19. Why do we not lock up fat people? Fat is clearly pandemic.
LOL
I’m shocked. SHOCKED! I had to put my BBQ ribs down when I read this. My god, you are on to something. With that I’m warming up my Peloton now as we speak. Thank you, CargoCult for reminding me how to survive the wilds of a pandemic. Without you and your sage words all of humanity would be lost.
@Stuart you’re hilarious dude
Do you believe in anthropogenic climate change? If so, stop eating meat. Animal husbandry is responsible for far more carbon output than air travel, not to mention the cruelty of using animals to satisfy your meatlust or the detrimental effect eating meat can have on your health. Also, Peloton is for douchebags. Westerners don’t know what it is to work hard or suffer anymore.
Fat, old, and hypertension…guess Trump won’t be leaving the Lower 48 anytime soon then…
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump thank you for your loyalty!
Seriously?!?!?!
Thanks for this discussion, Matthew.
Some points:
1) The Greek tourism minister doesn’t say anything about Americans visiting Greece. The entire conversation is about European tourists — British tourists, in particular — and the testing idea likely refers to non-Greek Europeans.
2) Emmanuel Macron has said he would like to see the Schengen Zone closed to non-Europeans until September. That means Americans would be unable to visit Greece or anywhere else in the Schengen Zone. (That said, I suspect you could still travel with your wife to Germany, but maybe not other EU countries.)
3) If a country imposes a testing requirement prior to travel (i.e. a negative test administered less than three days before travel), that means you’re totally screwed if you get an asymptomatic positive result three days before you fly off to Greece where you’ve pre-booked a villa for week on Santorini.
4) Most European countries are talking about *maybe* having domestic tourism this summer and haven’t even begun to think about European tourism, let alone non-EU tourism. For example, Sicily’s regional president has said he will focus on Sicilian “indigenous” tourism, and maybe think about Northern Italians traveling to Sicily during the summer. THAT’S INCREDIBLE! Southern Italian regions aren’t even sure if fellow Italians will be able to vacation on their beaches and islands this summer.
5) I think Americans should not plan any European travel this summer. Maybe, if we are lucky, we’ll be able to travel to parts of Latin America by July.
6) I have an EU passport — I’m also a U.S. citizen and live in the U.S. — and don’t expect I”ll be able to engage in European tourism this summer, because it’s not about one’s passport, but about one’s residency, where they have been living and the potential they could spread disease. Personally, I think EU citizens should be allowed to enjoy their own continent this summer — even if they are living in the U.S. or elsewhere — but I’m not going to plan on that being a possibility.
7) IMHO, I think both the U.S. and EU should show flexibility regarding travel — for Europeans and Americans — this summer, because both of our continents have been equally ravaged by the virus — and we have both have trustworthy governments. I would also encourage the U.S. and EU to show similar flexibility with Korean, Japanese and Australian/New Zealand tourists. (Given the dishonesty surrounding the virus last year, I would want Chinese tourists to experience some degree of additional scrutiny in order to ensure they are healthy and virus-free.)
“That means Americans would be unable to visit Greece or anywhere else in the Schengen Zone. (That said, I suspect you could still travel with your wife to Germany, but maybe not other EU countries.)”
No Americans in the Shcngen Zone means no Americans in the Schengen Zone, of which Germany is a part of. Unless he has citizenship to an EU country. Or they give a special waiver to American citizens married to EU citizens.
They already do.
I’m hoping that as countries evaluate lifting travel restrictions, they will base their decisions on the traveller’s point of departure (and how long the traveller has been there) rather than strictly based on nationality. That said, as a Canadian, if I could speak on behalf of most Canadians, we remain nervous about re-opening the Canada-U.S. border now and in the foreseeable future, based on how the U.S. has been managing this crisis. When we see crowds protesting as they have been, as you have mentioned, it certainly does not bolster any confidence.
I thought that you had a German passport as well. I’m glad to have both a US and an EU passport, has made things easier when visiting a few countries.
I could have had one by now, but we spend more time in LA than Germany and I’d rather pay US taxes than taxes in both places.
I don’t like to play Cassandra, but …it’s going to be many, many months…not before northern spring of 2021 at the earliest, that borders might reopen, including to US citizens. There could be some exceptions, eg, US-Canada, Australia-NZ, etc, but for others , we’re going to have to wait.
@ Matthew- Singapore reports 85% of cases are from foreign workers, and, these workers are stuck in high density dorm style rooms. Nearly slave labor.
The pregnant gimmiegrants from Central America carrying the Zika Virus into the US weren’t coming to work.
You’re right on who is getting sick in Singapore, but it’s still a problem for Singapore because I presume they need that labor to maintain higher standards of living for citizens.
They are kept In the manner of battery chickens. It’s a scandal and a disgrace, making a mockery of Singapore’s claim to be a developed country ( “ Disneyland with the death penalty “)
“The pregnant gimmiegrants from Central America carrying the Zika Virus into the US weren’t coming to work.”
Did you interview each and every one of them to ascertain that? The fact that you call them gimmiegrants says it all.
Singapore really F’d up with the foreign worker situation – that was obviously going to happen and they should have stepped in and improved conditions / provided more accommodation much earlier. At least they’ve stepped up now, including utilising cruise ships and I hope that there is lasting change on that front which will be one good thing to come out of this whole event.
But before that the other mistake was not closing the border quick enough / implementing strict quarantine – the UK / US / France were particularly large sources of infection after China. Therefore in my opinion you can be absolutely sure that the border will remain closed to these nations for the foreseeable future and that includes keeping Singapore Airlines operating a skeleton schedule& Changi closed for transit (as 1000s of locals would come into contact with travelers at the airport / crewing these flights ). We’ve already seen Terminal 2 shuttered for 18 months.
I can also imagine that one initial relaxation will be for the ~1.7 million non-residents who live here to enable them to visit their families – perhaps with post-travel testing / quarantine. This would be a huge undertaking to facilitate at scale and would not leave capacity for short term visits. Another possibility is that I can imagine a “bubble” including Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong etc to allow APAC business to resume.
Another issue is a desire to prevent tourists from other countries travelling here to seek treatment due to the lack of facilities elsewhere in Asia. This was something that was happening in the period where short term entry was allowed even with quarantine in quite some numbers (100s per day) including travelers presenting with COVID symptoms immediately at the border requesting treatment. Singapore wants to preserve it’s capacity for residents.
So the tl;dr is personally I wouldn’t plan on travel to/transit via Singapore with any kind of US/EU/less developed Asian country passport / travel history for the foreseeable future.
Matthew you mentioned not being able to transit through Taipei or Singapore. I thought you could enter Taiwan on the condition you spend 14 days quarantined. It is at your expense at designated hotel plus you can not take public transportation from airport, TPE, to destination. You also download monitoring App . You need take taxi or friend can take you to special hotel. If I had two separate rooms in my apartment I purchased, which I do not , you could quarantine in your dwelling. In my case, I want to go to Miaoli hopefully after June or September .
What are your thoughts or any information you have would be very helpful. I know EVA has a form you fill out for immigration which shows your temperature some additional questions regarding COVD-19.
Thanking you in advance if you have time to reply.
@Chuck,
Taiwan does not transit or entry of any foreigners at the moment:
CHINESE TAIPEI –
1. Passengers are not allowed to transit Chinese Taipei.
2. Passengers are not allowed to enter Chinese Taipei.
– This does not apply to passengers with a Chinese Taipei travel document.
– This does not apply to passengers with an Alien Resident Certificate.
– This does not apply to personnel on diplomatic or official business.
– This does not apply to passengers who can prove they are fulfilling commercial and contractual obligations, or passengers requiring special permission.
– This does not apply to passengers with a visa with “SPECIAL ENTRY PERMIT FOR COVID-19 OUTBREAK” stated on remarks.
3. Passengers allowed to enter must observe a 14-day home quarantine upon arrival.
4. All arriving passengers and crew members must present a completed Health Declaration Form.
Anyone looking to travel internationally in the rest of 2020 is likely to be relatively affluent. The affluent are less likely to be obese and also are likely to have been sheltering at home until now (as opposed to Amazon warehouse workers or Tyson chicken processors). Not only is is unlikely that they are infected, they are the people most needed to pump money into the economies of the locations they are visiting. Southern Italy has millions of people at the breaking point and near starvation. The south didn’t have nearly as bad an outbreak as the north. People forget that the virus was spreading freely until March because people were not taking precautions such as wearing masks and washing their hands. Now we know how to mitigate the spread. Talking heads on cable news are losing their minds because of people walking unmasked in parks and on the beach. These chicken littles cry about following the science and yet they ignore the studies about virus transmission outdoors (exceedingly difficult) and the effectiveness of masks in stopping the transmission of influenza viruses. A locked-down economy is guaranteed poverty and starvation. Death by COVID-19 is far more infrequent than the media would lead you to believe. Consider than even among those 80+ years old the fatality rate is only about 15%, and that is conditional, of course, on being infected in the first place. In addition, those who die from it likely have other comorbidities that might have killed them soon anyway. No one is saying to raise Richard Dawson from the dead and create a Logan’s Run; let everyone know what the real risks are and act accordingly. Even those most at risk might choose to live their lives relatively normally rather than cower in fear at home for their last years. If you’re fat and afraid, maybe you should use that nervous energy to exercise and lose some weight instead of comfort eating.
We should have stopped travel to the US from any and all of these countries early on but we still had flights from China to Seattle and JFk for too long!! Also Canada kept China flights open to Vancouver and Toronto letting people drive to the US…Crazy,,,,,, we still have flight arriving from Taipei and EU daily??? WHY