THE United States is set to announce that it will lift travel restrictions for all foreign nationals next month.
Following over a year-and-a-half of families being kept apart, travellers will be able to fly to the US freely from November 8.
Passengers will need to be fully vaccinated and provide a negative Covid-19 test taken within three days of departure, while mask-wearing will remain mandatory during flights, and contact-tracing systems will still be implemented.
President Joe Biden is expected to announce the move later today, less than 24 hours after he pledged to open America's land borders with Canada and Mexico.
Last month, the White House announced it would be easing travel restrictions in November in a rollback that affects 33 countries, including Ireland, the UK, China, India and the much of Europe.
International travel restrictions have been in place in the US since January 2020, when former president Donald Trump suspended travel from China in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Two months later, Trump suspended travel from the EU and the UK.
Since he took office, Biden has maintained a strict approach to travel restrictions, showing reluctance to open up travel routes much to the frustration of governments around Europe.
The EU began allowing US travellers into Europe back in July, only to make a dramatic u-turn a month later and take America off the safe travel list - a move supposedly fuelled by anger at the lack of reciprocation from Washington.
