2023 Vaccine requirement updates

As the President’s Proclamation on requiring nonimmigrants (including international students) has been revoked as of May 12, 2023, international students no longer need to “show proof of being fully vaccinated with an accepted COVID-19 vaccine to board a flight to the United States.”

This applies to land and ferry travelers (from Canada or Mexico) as well.

In this light, most American colleges and universities no longer require COVID vaccination as one of the immunization requirements to study and stay in the United States. To confirm, please reach out to your university/college.

“On May 9, 2023, the President issued a Proclamation providing that the vaccination requirements for noncitizen nonimmigrant air travelers contained in the Presidential Proclamation Advancing the Safe Resumption of Global Travel During the COVID-19 Pandemic will be terminated effective at 12:01 a.m. EDT on May 12, 2023. At that time, CDC’s Amended Order Implementing Presidential Proclamation on Safe Resumption of Global Travel During the COVID-19 Pandemic will cease to be in effect.

This means that as of 12:01 a.m. EDT on May 12, 2023, noncitizen nonimmigrant air passengers will no longer need to show proof of being fully vaccinated with an accepted COVID-19 vaccine to board a flight to the United States.

“No Longer in Effect – Amended Order: Implementing Presidential Proclamation on Safe Resumption of Global Travel During the COVID-19 Pandemic

To learn more about the electronic I-20, continue to scroll down.

Summary 1: As SEVP formally adopted the policy that allows DSOs (International Student Advisors) to use electronic signatures and transmit the electronically signed Form I-20 via e-mail, it is highly likely that new and continuing students will continue to receive electronic Form I-20.

(Outdated as of May 12, 2023) Summary 2: “President Biden issued a proclamation which, effective November 8, 2021, will lift the four current geographic travel ban restrictions, and replace them with a global requirement that “noncitizens who are nonimmigrants” traveling to the United States by air from any part of the world establish that they are fully vaccinated, with some limited exceptions. All air travelers will also continue to have to show results of a negative coronavirus test performed on a specimen taken during the three days preceding their flight’s departure from a foreign country traveling to the United States, in addition to proof of vaccination.”

As you can see here, the pandemic has caused updates and changes to immigration regulations. In this blog post, I will share important updated rules that are here to stay at least for the year 2022.

Whether you are a new international student or continuing international student, read this post carefully as these rules will impact many areas of international students’ life cycle.

Related blog post 1: The cheapest air flight & Fall 2021 immigration documents
Related blog post 2: All about F1 immigration status; entry date, Form I-515A

Contents

• Electronic I-20
• Vaccine requirements

Electronic I-20

Before the pandemic, Form I-20, which is the document international students need to schedule the visa interview, had to be mailed directly to the student. Due to the COVID 19 virus, however, SEVP temporarily allowed schools to issue I-20s electronically.

Since then, there have been several students who were wondering if they will get the paper copy of Form I-20. Now, according to the SEVP policy guidance, that is issued in October 2021, “SEVP has formally adopted the use of electronic signatures and transmission for the Form I-20.“

For international students, this means that…

• New international students may get electronically signed I-20s via email when they get accepted from colleges and universities in the U.S.
• DSO may sign electronically on page 2 of Form I-20 under the Travel Endorsement section for current international students who plan to travel internationally.
• Current students who plan to apply for CPT may receive the new, electronically signed From I-20 with CPT recommendation via email.
• Graduating students who plan to apply for OPT may receive the new, electornically signed Form I-20 with OPT recommendation via email.
• Graduating students whose Reduced Course Load (RCL) has been approved may receive the new, electronically signed Form I-20 with RCL remark via email.

Other than the above instances, electronically signed I-20 can be used in all cases. However, it is worth noting this rule applies to DSOs (International Student Advisors) not to international students. Thus, international students should print I-20s and put their signatures under the Student Attestation section preferably with a blue pen.

Also, if you are working on the paper Form I-765 to apply for OPT, don’t forget to put the wet-signature (again, preferably with a blue pen) on the application. Electronic signatures for paper Form I-765 are not allowed. As a matter of fact, not putting the wet signature is one of the common reasons that OPT applications are getting denied.

Vaccine requirements

Before we dive into the vaccine requirements, the proclamation clears that the vaccination status of the nonimmigrant applies to the entry of the United States, not visa issuance:

This suspension and limitation on entry applies only to air travelers to the United States and does not affect visa issuance.

A Proclamation on Advancing the Safe Resumption of Global Travel During the COVID-⁠19 Pandemic

The new proclamation of President Biden applies to nonimmigrants like F-1 and J-1 students and who are traveling to the United States by air (flight). CDC reiterates this proclamation on the website by saying from November 8, 2021, international students are “required to show proof of being fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before boarding a flight to the United States from a foreign country.”

The entry into the United States by air travel of noncitizens who are nonimmigrants and who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 is suspended and limited

A Proclamation on Advancing the Safe Resumption of Global Travel During the COVID-⁠19 Pandemic

What if your country has a limited number of vaccines and it’s not feasible that you can be fully vaccinated before you come to the U.S. for Spring 2022 intake? The proclamation and CDC website outlines the list of exceptions and one of them is “Persons with valid visas [excluding B-1 (business) or B-2 (tourism) visas] who are citizens of a foreign country with limited COVID-19 vaccine availability”

…with such countries defined as those where less than 10 percent of the country’s total population has been fully vaccinated with any available COVID-19 vaccine

Seciont 4 (a)(v)

According to the CDC website, as of November 2021, there are 50 countries that have less than 10% vaccination coverage (with any vaccine). Please note that CDC will update the list every 90 days. Therefore, if you are planning to fly into the U.S. and if you can’t get the vaccines on time, please check the website to double-check if you meet this eligibility for exceptions.

Based on the category of exception, students might be asked to attest that (copy-and-pasted from the CDC website):

• You will be tested with a COVID-19 viral test 3–5 days after arrival in the United States, unless you have documentation of having recovered from COVID-19 in the past 90 days;
• You will self-quarantine for a full 7 days, even if the test result to the post-arrival viral test is negative, unless you have documentation of having recovered from COVID-19 in the past 90 days; and
• You will self-isolate if the result of the post-arrival test is positive or if you develop COVID-19 symptoms
• You agree to be vaccinated against COVID-19; and
• You have arranged to become fully vaccinated against COVID-19 within 60 days of arriving in the United States, or as soon thereafter as is medically appropriate, unless (for children) you are too young to be vaccinated.

To learn more about what to prepare if you don’t expect to be fully vaccinated by the time you fly to the U.S. check out the CDC website and consult with International Student Advisors.

If you are medically exempted, you will have to bring related documentation and attest to the top three above. Again, please consult with your advisors at your colleges and universities.

(c)  Any noncitizen who is a nonimmigrant, who is not fully vaccinated against COVID-19, and who, notwithstanding section 2(a) of this proclamation, is permitted to enter the United States by air travel pursuant to section 3(b) of this proclamation must agree to become fully vaccinated against COVID-19 within 60 days of arriving in the United States, within some other timeframe as determined by the Director of the CDC, or as soon as medically appropriate as determined by the Director of the CDC, and must provide proof of having arranged to become fully vaccinated against COVID-19 after arriving in the United States, unless:

Section 2 (c)

Accepted COVID-19 Vaccines can be found on the CDC webpage as well:

For individuals who are fully vaccinated, the proclamation also encourages individuals to take pre-caution measures including…

• provide proof of pre-departure testing for COVID-19, as determined by the Director of the CDC;
• take precautions during air travel to protect against the further introduction, transmission, and spread of COVID-19, including by wearing a face mask, as determined by the Director of the CDC;
• provide proof of having arranged for post-arrival testing for COVID-19, as determined by the Director of the CDC; and
• provide proof of having arranged to self-quarantine or self-isolate after arriving in the United States, as determined by the Director of the CDC.

Hope this blog post helps you to understand the electronic usage of Form I-20 and 2022 vaccine requirements for internationals. All other important visa rules can be found on the F-1 visa page.