Effective January 26, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will require all air passengers entering the United States from non-U.S. territories to present a negative COVID-19 test result.
Passengers will be required to get tested no more than three days before their flight departs and present the negative result or documentation of having recovered from COVID-19 virus within the last three months to the airline before boarding the flight. The test result must be in the form of written documentation (paper or electronic copy) of a laboratory test result.
According to the CDC regulations, airlines will confirm the negative test result or documentation of recovery for all passengers before boarding. Passengers who choose not to present a test result or proof of recovery will be denied boarding by the airline.
The CDC order applies to all air passengers, two years of age or older, traveling into the United States, including U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.
For more information about the new travel regulations, please visit the CDC webpage at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/testing-international-air-travelers.html.
For information about visa application, please visit the Embassy’s webpage at https://mu.usembassy.gov/visas/.
For additional questions, please contact the Consular Section at the U.S. Embassy via email at: PTLConsular@state.gov.
Waivers for extraordinary emergency travel
Waivers to the testing requirement may be granted by the CDC on an extremely limited basis when extraordinary emergency travel (like an emergency medical evacuation) must occur to preserve someone’s health and safety, and testing cannot be completed before travel. There are no waivers available for individuals who test positive for COVID-19. Individuals – or air carriers seeking to allow boarding by potentially qualifying individuals – who believe they meet the criteria for a waiver should contact the U.S. Embassy in Port Louis at PTLConsular@state.gov, and provide the information below. The U.S. Embassy will then submit the request to the CDC for consideration.
The following information must be provided for each passenger:
- Name (family name/surname, given name), passport number and country
- Cell phone number including country code of passenger or head of household if family unit
- Email address of passenger or head of household if family unit
- U.S. destination address
- Is U.S. destination home address?
- Departure date
- Flight itinerary
- Name of submitting entity if different from passenger
- Name of company submitting on behalf of passenger(s) (if applicable)
- Name of point of contact submitting on behalf of passenger(s) (if applicable)
- Phone and email address for POC submitting waiver request on behalf of passenger(s) (if applicable)
- Purpose of travel to the U.S. (provide brief explanation of why urgent travel is needed and how travel will contribute to health and safety of passengers(s))
- Justification for testing waiver (e.g. no testing available, impact on health and safety)
- Documentation to support justification for test waiver, if available (e.g. medical records or orders for medical evacuation)
