The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will require passengers on international flights to the United States to complete Ebola Attestations beginning at 23:59 EST on November 3, 2026. Each traveler must declare that they were not physically present in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the preceding 21 days.
The requirement applies regardless of nationality or departure country. U.S. citizens, permanent residents and passengers connecting through the United States to another destination are included.
The order is set to remain in effect until December 18, 2026, unless the CDC changes or withdraws it sooner. It adds a declaration requirement to earlier Ebola-related travel measures.
Airlines must check each declaration before boarding. Passengers without a completed, signed statement can be denied boarding unless they qualify for an exemption.
Passengers need a signed declaration before boarding
Travelers must complete a separate attestation before boarding each flight to the United States. The CDC recommends that airlines collect it at check-in or boarding at the last foreign airport on the itinerary.
The order covers commercial flights, general aviation and private aircraft. It also applies at airports with U.S. preclearance, where passengers complete U.S. entry procedures before departure.
Passengers should expect to provide the declaration through the carrier’s process, either digitally or on paper. The order does not establish a government website form; airlines may incorporate the statement into online check-in or reservation systems.
The rules also set out who may complete the paperwork:
- A parent or another authorized person may sign for a traveler under 18.
- An authorized representative may submit the declaration for a passenger who cannot complete it independently.
- An airport connection in the DRC counts as presence, even if the passenger remains aboard the aircraft. An overflight does not.
- Flights that pass over the United States without landing are excluded.
The CDC’s order counts the departure date as Day 0. Under that count, a traveler may board a U.S.-bound flight on Day 22.
Airlines can collect the attestation on paper or online
Carriers may use paper forms, authenticated digital signatures or electronic checkboxes. For a digital submission, operators must take reasonable steps to ensure that only the passenger or an authorized representative can access the entry process.
The agency encourages airlines to add the declaration to their check-in websites or reservation applications. The form is an attestation collected by the carrier, rather than a separate application through a CDC portal.
Airlines must not send the declarations through the Advance Passenger Information System, the separate channel used for passenger information. The CDC’s instructions call for the attestation to be collected and retained by the operator.
The order exempts operators transporting Ebola patients with U.S. government authorization and in line with CDC guidance. The agency can also grant individual exemptions for humanitarian reasons or other important government grounds.
Carriers must check forms and keep them for 42 days
Airlines must review each statement before boarding and refuse passengers who have not submitted a signed declaration, unless an exemption applies. Operators must keep the paperwork for at least 42 days and provide it to the U.S. government upon request.
The order and technical instructions differ on when that retention period begins: the signed order measures it from departure, while the technical instructions measure it from arrival.
The CDC warns that false or misleading information can bring criminal fines and imprisonment. An earlier enforcement case involved an Air France flight to Detroit that had to divert to Canada in May after a passenger lacked a declaration. The passenger was later barred from entering the United States on suspicion of having been in the DRC within the restricted period.
The declaration adds to screening rules already in place
The CDC adopted restrictions in May barring airline passengers who had been in the DRC during the prior three weeks. The agency extended those restrictions to U.S. citizens in July.
Separate measures cover Uganda and South Sudan. The CDC has barred foreign nationals from entering the United States if they had been in either country during the prior three weeks. Travelers who had been in Uganda or South Sudan within the applicable period and were entering the United States were also directed to fly to New York JFK, Washington Dulles or Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson.
The outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus. It spread undetected for months before authorities declared the outbreak in May. The strain kills about half of those infected, and no approved treatment or vaccine is available.
As of Oct. 21, the outbreak had reached 9,735 cases. Most were in the DRC, with confirmed cases also in Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria; France was the only European country with reported cases. The CDC described it as the DRC’s 17th Ebola outbreak and the second-largest on record. Africa CDC has confirmed about 4,700 deaths in Africa.
The CDC said in its October 22 outbreak update that no cases associated with this outbreak had been reported in the United States. The agency also assessed the overall risk to the American public and travelers as low.
The CDC scheduled briefing calls with major U.S. and foreign airlines for Friday, October 23, to explain carrier compliance. Airlines for America, which represents United Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines, did not immediately comment.
