philipbla

1 hour ago, slavaskii said:

I'll reserve my comments on the Chinese vaccine as I know of many Chinese citizens who came to the US openly denouncing it, but I digress  

 

I did want to add that when you sift through the legalese in the White House post, there's an exemption under 4(a)(v) for citizens of countries where there is either less than 10% fully vaccinated rate or an approved vaccine is not available. A list of these countries is to be distributed soon. This is extremely interesting to note because this is a massive exemption they never hinted at before, and would cover those with Sputnik and the likes. Very pleased to see this, though I certainly foresee many issues; i.e., a Russian boarding a flight to New York after transiting in Frankfurt, and being met with a confused gate agent who believes they should be subject to requirements from Germany and not Russia. 

 

In any case, 4(a)(v) appears to put many of your worries to permanent rest, and considering this is only for non-immigrants, I wonder if the immigrant restrictions will be even more lax.

This is the case with my fiancé whose K1 was approved in Managua today but they won’t return his passport for three weeks, making travel to the US before Nov 8 impossible. Nicaragua only has Sputnik and Cuban vaccines available so getting an approved one would take weeks of travel to nearby countries. Nicaragua only has 2% COVID vaccination rate though so would seem to fall under this exemption of 50 such countries when the CDC publishes this list. I hope they do so soon and the border agent accepts this too when the time comes.

My fiancé has his K1 visa interview at the Managua US embassy next week. He would like to get the COVID vaccine but the only one available in Nicaragua is the Cuban Sovereign one, not on the CDC or WHO approved list. As I understand it, he has two options. 1, assuming his visa is approved, travel to the US before November 8 when the vaccine requirement comes into effect at the airport (currently just a negative PCR test is needed). Or 2, get a medical waiver stating that the vaccine is not routinely available in the country (which may carry no weight at the point of entry after Nov 8). Backup options include moving to Costa Rica for long enough to get the right vaccine there, or fly to Canada or Mexico and drive across the land border. 
 

no one seems to be offering a workaround or clear solution to this rapidly closing door conundrum. Any suggestions?