Overview
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a temporary order that takes effect on 3 November 2026 requiring most international passengers and crew to present a signed declaration that they have not been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the prior 21 days.
- Airlines must verify the declarations before boarding, collect them in a digital or paper form, and retain the records for at least 42 days as part of carrier compliance duties.
- People who were in Uganda or South Sudan in the previous 21 days face special rules where U.S. citizens may enter only through designated airports for public-health checks while non-U.S. nationals and lawful permanent residents must wait 21 days after leaving those countries before traveling to the United States.
- The order exempts aircraft that merely overfly U.S. territory and narrowly allows government-authorized patient transfers and humanitarian or medical evacuations, and the Justice Department warns that knowingly providing false information is a federal crime.
- The measure is temporary, set to run through 18 December 2026 unless changed, and is based on Ebola’s 21-day maximum incubation period; it is likely to cause added preboarding checks, possible travel delays for people recently in affected countries, and extra recordkeeping and screening work for airlines and U.S. ports of entry.