As of Nov. 8, foreigners who have been vaccinated or show proof of a recent negative COVID-19 test are welcome to enter the United States. Lifting the international travel ban will impact the lives of many USC students, especially international students. Lida Li has the story.
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Jin Suh Yu has not seen her family in three months. She is a first-year graduate student studying molecular pharmacology and toxicology. Yu is grateful that the international travel ban has finally been lifted.
JIN SUH YU: I’m so happy to hear this news. So, I strongly support this new policy because as a foreigner, it was quite stressful because, you know, my family and friends couldn’t come to the U.S. to see me. But now, through this new policy, probably my family can come and visit where I live without any burden.
It’s tough when families are separated. Ju Young Park is a second-year Ph.D. student studying social work. Park’s husband is working in Korea, and before the ban was lifted, he wasn’t able to visit his family.
JU YOUNG PARK: So, it’s going to be much easier for him to visit me and my daughter from time to time. I mean, previously, it was kind of hard to take all the process even if you got vaccinated in Korea. You know, it’s all complicated process, but if, you know, things going to be kind of easier for those who are fully vaccinated, I think, yeah, he can arrange those times, you know, to come and go back and see us more often than before.
Other international students said that the new travel regulations will make it easier for them to fly back to their home countries for the holidays and then return to Los Angeles to resume their studies. For Annenberg Media, I’m Lida Li.