Three weeks before Aysha Mathew is due to deliver her second child, you’d think she’d be full of joy and anticipation.
Instead, the British ex-pat is terrified she’ll struggle to cope without the support of her mother and sister who are banned from flying in from England to help with Mathew’s recovery and care for her 20-month-old son, Adam.
“It’s totally unfair that the government won’t let them in,” said the expectant mom from Glen Rock, NJ. “The bureaucracy is making me feel like a second-class citizen.”
The US currently prohibits entry to all non-citizens from the UK, citing the risk of COVID-19. But critics claim the travel restriction is arbitrary as borders are open to travelers from countries with more virus cases and lower vaccination rates, such as Mexico, the Dominican Republic and other parts of the Caribbean.
They are also frustrated by regulations in the UK that classify the US as a so-called “amber” nation. It means arrivals from this side of the Atlantic must quarantine for up to 10 days and spend thousands of dollars on a series of COVID tests. The exceptions are British citizens with a permanent residence in the UK, who received both COVID jabs over there.
These policies contrast with the rest of Europe, which has been welcoming Americans for months. Travelers to places like Italy and Spain have no problem getting back into the US. But there are complications for visa-holding Brits who don’t have dual citizenship or a green card. Even though they live, work and pay taxes in America, they risk losing their livelihoods because they are banned from returning to their adopted nation.
The rule has prevented Westchester dad Stephen — a software engineer who withheld his…