On the 7th May 2021 the UK Government announced countries that would be placed in it's new "traffic light" system for travel. The United States has been placed in the Amber Zone.

Travellers entering the UK from amber countries will need a negative pre-departure Covid test, have to isolate at home for 10 days and get a PCR test on days two and eight. They can still use the test-to-release system on day five, a negative test result meaning they can end their quarantine immediately.

This system will come into place on the 17th May 2021. In theory, this means travel to the USA will be allowed from 17th May. In reality however, it is the US Government that makes the decisions on travel into their own country.

The vast majority of US Embassies and Consulates globally (including London, Belfast and Dublin) are still closed for nonimmigrant interviews, and while it is expected these will reopen after the travel restrictions are lifted, it is likely there will be delays and longer wait times than usual as they work to get back to normal.

We're all waiting on news from the US Government on when we can start things up again, and everything is moving in the right direction. We're just not quite there - yet!

Please keep checking the US Consular Twitter feed at https://twitter.com/USAinUKConsular (there's a link to this on the side of this page) and also Section 2 of their FAQs page here

For those of you who have already been approved and received your legal documentation from us, please keep checking the above links and report back as soon as you get an appointment. If Embassy delays and closures will result in a delay to your start dates as listed on your Certificate of Insurance, you must contact our team ASAP - either via direct email to your specific team member or via info@istplus.com

Many thanks,
The IST Plus InfoTeam