British Virgin Isles Will Open to Fully Vaccinated Travelers Without Quarantine on May 15
by Daniel McCarthy /
Starting on May 15, the British Virgin Islands will again reopen its borders for travelers with no mandatory quarantine for travelers as long as they are vaccinated and test negative upon arrival.
BVI will start welcoming tourists who meet the following criteria:
- Are fully vaccinated (two weeks out from the second dose of a two-dose vaccine or from the first dose of a one-doe vaccine);
- Who can provide proof of a negative PCR test no more than five days prior to the trip;
- Who test negative upon arrival (those travelers will have to quarantine until the test comes back).
All travelers will have to meet those three criteria in order to enter the BVI.
“These vaccines are shown to be effective in preventing severe COVID-19 symptoms and deaths. They also reduce transmission of the disease in settings where vaccination rates are high. However, these vaccines do not eliminate the risk of transmitting the virus from a vaccinated person to a non-vaccinated person,” Minister for Health and Social Development Honourable Carvin Malone said in a press release.
“This is why we have been encouraging everyone to get vaccinated while the vaccines are freely available, to protect both themselves and the people around them from the increasing risk of severe sickness and death.”
The rules also say that anyone who has been in the BVI for 14 consecutive days and travel to the USVI, St. Martin, or Puerto Rico for a period not longer than 24 hours will not need to quarantine or test upon arrival. They would, however, have to take a PCR test seven days after returning to the BVI.
Since April 20, the U.S. State Department has listed the BVI under a Level 3: Reconsider Travel warning because of COVID concerns in the country. While that is the second-highest warning level, it’s still a step below 80% of other international destinations, which the U.S. has listed at Level 4: Do Not Travel because of COVID issues.