Travellers from the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, who are returning to the US mainland, will not have to submit a negative PCR or antigen coronavirus (COVID-19) test for entry.
This was confirmed by US Virgin Islands Tourism Commissioner Joseph Boschulte.
New travel rules, which came into effect today to prevent travellers from importing the omicron COVID-19 variant into the US, require all inbound international travellers, regardless of nationality, to test for COVID-19 within one day of their flight to the US.
It replaces a three-day old test requirement that came into effect in early November when the Biden Administration scrapped country-specific travel bans.
“We are an American overseas territory, and as such, travel to St Croix, St John, St Thomas or Water Island is within the United States’ domestic jurisdiction,” the Commissioner explained in a statement.
“While international travellers to the United States must show proof of a negative COVID-19 test (either antigen or PCR) taken within one calendar day of departure to the US, this only applies to the US Virgin Islands if you are arriving in the USVI via air from a foreign location, such as the British Virgin Islands or Antigua.”
“These travellers are coming from a foreign country and their first point of entry into the United States is either St Thomas or St Croix, so the new rules apply.”
All domestic travellers to the US Virgin Islands, five years of age or older, must use the Travel Screening Portal to submit a COVID-19 test that was taken within five days of travel to the Territory.
Persons who have been fully vaccinated in the US Virgin Islands may submit evidence of their vaccination status instead of a negative COVID-19 test result.