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Boris Johnson expected to push Joe Biden to lift UK travel ban

Prime Minister to make ‘impassioned case’

Helen Coffey
Tuesday 21 September 2021 09:32 BST
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Boris Johnson is expected to push Joe Biden to lift the ban on UK travellers during his current visit to the US.

The British Prime Minister will reportedly make an “impassioned case” for fully vaccinated Britons to be allowed to enter the States.

Following the UN General Assembly, Mr Johnson will meet the US President at the White House on Tuesday during his four-day visit.

“The Prime Minister will make an impassioned case for Brits who’ve been double jabbed to be allowed to travel to the US,” a government source told The Telegraph.

“There are a lot of family links, business links and millions of tourists usually travel every year.”

Brits have been banned from visiting the US for all but the slimmest handful of reasons since March 2020.

There were hopes this would change over the summer, following the G7 Summit in June, when a Transatlantic travel taskforce was set up to explore ways of reopening travel between the two nations.

But the taskforce came to nothing, and while the UK has since eased restrictions for US travellers, allowing those who are fully vaccinated to enter with no need to quarantine, there has been no reciprocal loosening of the rules.

Only US citizens and permanent residents can enter the country from a host of nations including the UK, Canada and most of Europe.

Some British travellers have taken to “washing” their UK status by spending 10 days in Mexico, from where they can freely enter the States.

Many on both sides of the Atlantic who have loved ones abroad have been vocal in calling for an end to the travel ban, using the hashtag LoveIsNotTourism on social media.

“The continued separation of couples, children and families in 2021 is CRUEL,” tweeted user BinationalFamiliesExist.

Before the pandemic, around four million Brits flew to the US each year.

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