UW–Madison and ISS continue to monitor evolving conditions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and the newly identified Omicron variant. Many countries have announced travel restrictions and entry requirements.
We strongly advise you reconsider non-essential personal or business travel outside the U.S. Travel may be interrupted by rapidly declared restrictions and require quarantine and rebooked commercial airline tickets at great personal expense. If this happens, you may be unable to reenter the U.S. in time to begin the spring semester as planned. Spring semester begins January 25, 2022.
Important changes to U.S. requirements:
- Effective November 29, 2021: Restricts entry directly from seven southern African countries
A U.S. presidential proclamation established restrictions on the entry of certain travelers into the U.S. Impacted countries under this proclamation are Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Nonimmigrant students on F-1 and J-1 visas who are physically present in one of these countries 14 days before entry to the U.S. cannot enter the U.S. under this presidential proclamation.
- Effective December 6, 2021: Entry to U.S. requires full vaccination and negative COVID test results within one day
Changes to a previous U.S. presidential proclamation that went into effect November 8th now requires all air travelers, regardless of vaccination status, to show a negative COVID test within one day of travel to the U.S.
If you are considering international travel, continuously monitor global travel restrictions for each country of departure, transit, and arrival.
Global travel restriction resources:
- Your airline carrier website
- World Health Organization (WHO)
- S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
- CDC Air Travel & U.S. Entry Requirements Flow Chart
- S. embassy webpage for each location
- UW-Madison COVID FAQs for International Students
- S. Entry Requirements effective November 8 (with updates on Dec. 3)
- ISS Travel resource page
UW–Madison and ISS continue to actively monitor the potential impact of the Omicron variant on our community. We are in close cooperation with Public Health Madison & Dane County, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and will share relevant information when it is known.
In support,
Team ISS