Dear valued partners,

The safety and health of our local population and international travelers remain top priorities for the Turks and Caicos Islands, which is now one of the most inoculated countries in the world with over 60 percent of the population vaccinated. Today, the Turks and Caicos Islands announces an update to travel requirements to the destination as a part of TCI Assured, a quality assurance pre-travel program and portal, which will require all travelers to present a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR, NAA, RNA or Antigen test result from a test taken within three days of travel, effective on July 28, 2021.

Under the new travel guidelines, the date of the sample collection must be within three days (72 hours) of the travel date, which was reduced from the previous requirement of a test to be taken within five days of arrival, and a Test Date Calculator on the TCI Assured portal will assist travelers in determining when to take the test. Approved amendments to the Arriving Passengers Health Clearance Regulations also in effect on July 28 include the acceptance of professionally administered Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction Tests (RT-PCR); Nucleic Acid Amplification tests (NAA); RNA or molecular tests; and Antigen tests for entry to the Turks and Caicos Islands. The test must be conducted by a medical laboratory with either of the following credentials: accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP); registered by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA); ISO 15189 certification. Previously, the destination was only accepting RT-PCR tests. Antibody tests and results from home-based test kits will not be accepted.

We realize many of your teams and guests are inquiring about protocols for travel to the Turks and Caicos Islands. As part of TCI Assured, which has been in place for travelers since our borders opened on July 22, 2020, you can share that travelers must also have medical / travel insurance that covers medevac (insurance companies providing the prerequisite insurance will also be available on the portal), a completed health screening questionnaire, and certification that they have read and agreed to the privacy policy document. These requirements must be complete and uploaded to the TCI Assured portal, which is available on the Turk and Caicos Islands Tourist Board website (www.turksandcaicostourism) in advance of their arrival. Visitors can then expect to present their TCI Assuredcertifications to local authorities upon arrival.

The Turks and Caicos Islands has remained vigilant and consistent regarding our international traveler requirements, which are the same for vaccinated and non-vaccinated travelers. Because of this, we have received an Alert Level 1 from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). This represents a major milestone our vaccine campaign, which began in January 2021 and has resulted in more than 60 percent of the adult population being fully vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

On behalf of the Turks and Caicos Islands Tourism Board, we thank you for your partnership and your individual efforts to prepare to welcome guests and promote tourism to our stunning destination. These updated procedures will go into effect on July 28, 2021, and we look forward to working with you on a seamless experience for all.

With regards,

Pamela Ewing

Director of Tourism