March 18, 2020 Air Travel Ban on Many Foreign Nationals Begins

On March 18, 2020, the U.S. expanded its COVID-19 entry restrictions, barring most foreign nationals who'd traveled through Europe's Schengen Area, the UK, or Ireland within the previous 14 days. The ban built on earlier proclamations from March 11 and 16. If you're a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, you weren't affected. Cutoff times, exemptions, and overlapping proclamations created urgent decisions for booked travelers — and the details made all the difference.

Key Takeaways

• The March 18, 2020 ban continued earlier proclamations restricting entry from 28 Schengen Area countries, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.
• Foreign nationals physically present in restricted regions within the prior 14 days were denied boarding to the United States.
• U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and immediate family members of both groups were exempt from the restrictions.
• The Schengen Area ban took effect at 11:59 p.m. EDT on March 13, while the UK and Ireland ban began March 16.
• National Interest Exceptions allowed case-by-case travel approvals for humanitarian, national security, and public health purposes.

What the March 18 Air Travel Ban Actually Covered

The March 18 air travel ban didn't introduce an entirely new policy—it built on two earlier proclamations that had already restricted entry for foreign nationals traveling from parts of Europe.

The March 11 proclamation covered the 28 Schengen Area countries, while the March 16 proclamation extended restrictions to the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Both used a 14 day lookback period, meaning if you'd been physically present in any of those regions within 14 days of attempting entry into the United States, you were barred.

U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents were exempt, as were certain close family members of citizens and residents.

The March 18 ban is best understood as the operational continuation of those layered entry controls rather than a standalone order. This type of executive action over territorial and population control has historical precedent, much like when President McKinley used a joint resolution of Congress to annex Hawaii in 1898.

Which Foreign Nationals the Travel Ban Excluded: and Who Was Exempt

While the March 2020 travel restrictions cast a wide net, they didn't apply universally—several categories of foreign nationals were explicitly carved out. Your immigration status and family ties could determine whether the ban affected you at all.

Three key exemptions applied:

1. Lawful permanent residents weren't subject to the Schengen-area restriction, regardless of recent European travel.
2. Family exemptions covered spouses, parents, and children of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents.
3. U.S. citizens were fully excluded from the ban's scope.

Later guidance also introduced National Interest Exceptions for humanitarian travel, national security, and public health response. These case-by-case approvals gave certain foreign nationals a pathway even when the standard rules would've otherwise blocked their entry. The concept of carving out exemptions from a sweeping nationwide restriction has historical precedent, much like the Volstead Act enforcement of 1920, which targeted the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol but operated within its own set of legal boundaries and exceptions.

The COVID Travel Ban Cutoff Dates That Determined Who Could Board

Timing was everything under the March 2020 travel restrictions—two separate cutoff dates determined whether you could board a flight to the United States.

The Schengen Area restriction took effect at 11:59 p.m. EDT on March 13, 2020, while the United Kingdom and Ireland restriction followed at 11:59 p.m. EDT on March 16, 2020.

Each order applied a 14-day lookback period, meaning officials checked where you'd physically been during the 14 days before your attempted entry. If you'd been in a restricted region within that window, you faced a boarding cutoff.

One narrow exception existed under the March 16 proclamation—flights already scheduled to arrive after the effective time but departing before the cutoff remained exempt, giving some travelers a final opportunity to enter.

The International Date Line placement between Big Diomede and Little Diomede islands illustrates how a matter of miles can separate two entirely different days, much like how hours and cutoff times created drastically different outcomes for travelers under these restrictions.

What Happened to Travelers Already Booked When the Ban Took Effect

For travelers who'd already booked flights when the proclamations dropped, the cutoff times created an urgent, narrow window of decision-making.

If you were a foreign national who'd already booked travel, your options depended entirely on timing and status.

Here's what the situation looked like for many affected travelers:

1. Departures before the cutoff — You could still board if your flight left before 11:59 p.m. EDT on the applicable effective date.
2. Ticket refunds — Airlines began processing refunds for travelers suddenly barred from boarding under the new restrictions.
3. Exemption verification — If you qualified as a spouse or lawful permanent resident, you'd to confirm your exempt status quickly before airlines denied boarding.

The overlap between proclamations made this process particularly disorienting.

Which Other Countries Faced the Same U.S. Entry Restrictions in March 2020

Europe wasn't the only region caught up in the March 2020 U.S. entry restrictions. If you'd traveled to mainland China or Iran before the European bans took effect, you were already subject to similar entry blocks.

The U.S. had imposed those restrictions earlier in 2020 as COVID-19 spread globally.