TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin No more EHAS

Government has decided to do away with EHAS altogether effective November 1. They actually listened to SHTA.

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=478920177603611&set=a.355454833283480

That’s great news! We fly in on October 31. EHAS just one last time. No big deal as we’re vaccinated and have had 3 boosters.

Nine more days…

See you two soon!

So flying to SXM on 11/01/22 no more application processes required? Show up with tix and passports and you’re good to go? Do we still need the attestation form to return to the US or has that also gone by the wayside? In April we completed it on line but it was never mentioned again and I haven’t=heard anything mentioned lately.

We returned in May and never filled out the attestation form and was asked for it.

Great news!!

SHTA weren't the only ones asking for it to be discontinued. Should have just been done on Oct 15 as originally planned, but glad it's going away. No reason to keep it in place.

We were required to fill out attestation in August

As I understood the original plan, only the insurance was to be eliminated on October 15; EHAS was to continue for "data collection". Regardless, I'm glad it's over and done with. Even though we're fully vaccinated, it was still a stresser waiting for the approval and having to show all that paperwork multiple times. It will be nice to be able to just go to the gate and not wait in the ticket counter lines!

I didn't think about that, but yes, presumably that means that one can check in online, get boarding passes and go straight to security, depending on checking bags..

Yeah that's odd. We entered in ATL and it was pure chaos. Many international flights landed at the same time. We were barley checked. Everybody went through all the lanes like they had Global entry.

Just spoke to our neighbor who returned to US a week ago, she had to fill out attestation United to EWR.

Good to know that we no longer need the EHAS forms, but
Hope there's no problem, since we are the first day--November 1st.

Great news.👍👍👍👍going to make it must faster arriving at PJIA.

Have been able to do that all year with JB and Delta. Just had to answer questions in the app. But so happy it’s over!!!!

Same for us Kim. I think in our probably 8 or 9 trips after lockdown, only once could we not get a boarding pass and skip it all.

AA did not allow us to check in online in June this year, unless you did their online BS before.

Welcome news for sure. Just one more thing off the travel list!

Exactly...one less issue to deal with

Same here.

If you are talking about Verifly, I'm not sure that allows you to check in early. I did it prior to our August trip and still couldn't do early check-in with AA.

Good news but we fly October 30 so no help for this year. I wish they would let you apply a week before if you are vaccinated until it changes in November.

If you are a US citizen, returning to the USA, you have not been required to submit an Attestation form since 12 June 2022.

Tell that to the airlines.

My wife and I just completed sending our EHAS form and got an immediate 'pre-approved' response from EHAS. We're GOOD to go. Woo hoo!

So glad to hear that
We will arrive on Nov 13.Looking forward to beautiful St Maarten which we haven’t visited since 2017
What about this attestation form mentioned ??
Still required??And did they give you the form on outbound flight?
Thank you

The airline required an on line form be completed prior to boarding passes being issued. Supposedly it is no longer required, but up to last week I know someone who was required to complete it by the airline.

Sorry, no more EHAS is false. Long story short there are many details to attend to, many decisions to be made and airlines must be notified two weeks ahead. That had not happened when Mr. Ottley made his comment. There may be a new system with a different name but it's possible people will still need to fill out and file a form online and be required to show the results upon arrival. As of the date Mr. Ottley spoke this WAS NOT a done deal.

So, what does this mean? "The minister told the SHTA that the arrival platform is being updated and should be online by the first quarter of 2023." Are we still going to have to fill out something to be able to enter?

Good question. Typical government b/s.

Anybody's guess at this point.

Great! So what do those of us who arrive on November 1 plan for?

I would say be safe rather than sorry, and fill it out.
George

So now it seems it is not a done deal re rescinding EHAS?.yet
Please continue to post any updates
Guess best info on EHAS site?
Very confusing

That’s what I was thinking but boy! They sure don’t make it easy, do they?! 😊🙃☹️

It's actually super easy right now Pat! Just fill it out and you are automatically approved if you sent vax documentation. An email comes immediately.

Pat, you can be our guinea pig!

Thanks, GaKaye. This was all settled in my mind a few days ago and I was loving doin’ nuttin’ honey. And now we’re back to that extra step again, jic.

I’m doing it because I want no issues but why make the announcement in the first place if it wasn’t ready for full dissemination?! IMHO, leaves too much room for wondering…….but that’s SXM, right?!

That's what I said in my previous post!!

Can we be sure of this on November 1st???!!!

When no one agreed, I thought maybe I'm over reacting!

I completely agree, Pat.

If the insurance is going away, and all testing is going away and the site is now automated with automatic approvals that are near instantaneous, than what is the problem? They have said that all are welcome, vaccinated or not and all without testing. If they want to keep the site up to capture data on who is arriving and where they are staying, so what! And all of this is supposed to be effective 1 November 2022. Why would anyone have any anxiety when they are telling us that everyone is welcome?


As for what Mr E-thing SXM offered, not one thing he said was anything but conjecture. I'm sure that SXM or any country can make changes to the policies about immigration without running it by the airlines and waiting 2 weeks. And, how does he know that the Airlines weren't notified back in early October when discussion started happening about EHAS. Back on Oct. 13th, the PM announced that the expected changes to EHAS would be postponed and not take effect until 1 November. Isn't it possible that the airlines were notified then and that would have amounted to 2 weeks.

I'll take Omar's (Minister Ottley) word any day over the word of Mr E-thing. Minister Ottley makes policy and Mr E-thing spreads conjecture.

I can remember having to fill out paper forms to pass through immigration into SXM. If you were lucky, the airlines would have the forms and you could fill them out during the flight - after you had located your passport, flight number etc.. If the airline ran out of forms, you had to fill them out in immigration. IMHO filling the forms out on-line a few days before your flight would seem to be much easier and more convenient..
If approval is automatic, I don't see any issue.

I agree with you 100%. They now have an automated system that captures the data they desire, they might rename it, after the testing information and insurance is done away with, but it will allow them greater flexibility in retrieving that information if there is a need. Sounds like things will start to be simpler starting 1 November.

Yes. I remember that too.

I'm glad I'm not coming down until November 19.

I agree with your comment about JB's conjecture.

How about an official document rather than conjecture.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=551933393603656&set=a.546663840797278

As long as that's all that's involved. If we have to show that at a ticket counter to get a boarding pass, it's not acceptable to me.

Georgia, I had my boarding passes when I did online check-in with Delta. No agents for boarding passes. The only people interested in seeing the EHAS was on the SXM end. You could show the QR from your phone, or have it printed.

If you had not done it prior to your flight, they gave you paper forms and cordoned you off in a seating area at the bottom of that ramp that comes into immigration and arrivals. And of course, with approval being automatic you just get back in line.

Elaine--thanks. No reason that the previous info couldn't have been as clear as that is, but glad it is clear now.

We just completed EHAS and got immediate approval for our flight Friday. Hopefully for the last time. Also completed the Verifly app info and got the necessary approval from them. The Verifly app is still a major PITA but if it gets me checked in and boarding passes I will endure the agony.

Jaybird--hopefully, once EHAS goes away, Verifly will go away also.

Thank you Elaine!

Thanks Leona. Looks like you're having fun!!

I certainly hope so.

What is Verifly

Verifly is an app that American Airlines and maybe others airlines use to verify and upload any documents a destination might require so the airline doesn't have to check the documents at the airport. In our experience (only on AA) we were unable to check in online and and get boarding passes without having prior approval of the required docs by Verifly. We leave Friday the 28th and since we have all our required docs approved by Verifly we will be able to check in online and print boarding passes or get mobile boarding passes 24 hours before our flight. I think it becomes a moot point with the changes on Nov. 1st as far as SXM goes but am not sure about other destinations.

We also are coming Oct 30. I hope that the workers approving are not unhappy and delay approval

Know this probably sounds silly but my biggest concern is downloading the vax card
Fine if I can do it from photos

Fine to fill out form
But downloading this or that might pose a problem
No other islands ask for this

IF

Take a picture of it, email it to yourself then download it as a PDF and save it in your download file. Then its always there to pull up and attach to any form you need it for. Easy even for me.

As good a response as any could be. Thanks.

Well that certainly seems official
Hope this time it is accurate and no “conjecture “
TBC I guess

I received an email from American regarding my upcoming flights to SXM on November 1 and 2. The link to flight requirements still included the EHAS form. I sent them a message with a link to the EHAS page (which is now updated), but who knows how long it will take to get accurate information uploaded.

EHAS is not dead, yet. Just landed. Flew on AA and had an extremely frustrating day before trying to check in on American’s app in conjunction with the VeriFLY app. Could not check in. Ended up going to the counter right before the flight to check in. With actual paperwork it was easy but did check for EHAS approval both at AA counter as well SXM customs.

The good news our flight scheduled to arrive at 1:33pm arrived at 1:20pm and we were being greeted by Leslie before 2pm.

Based on your experience of checking in online with Verifly and AA I am now worried about checking in online or on the app tomorrow morning. I have checked and double checked Verifly and the AA app and both say I have completed all the requirements. Was that your experience?

dolfer--Supposedly EHAS goes away on November 1, which hasn't happened yet.

Glad you arrived OK though.

Yeah!!!

We were able to check in on the app and get boarding passes this morning for our flights tomorrow. One less thing to worry about.

It doesn't start until November 1st!

My issues with VeriFLY were probably caused by the fact neither my EHAS approval, for some reason did not include a QR code and neither did my vax card.

We never needed or used QR codes. Luckily never had to use VeriFly. Seems so many hand problems with it.

We received an email from JB today stating what we need to do for our upcoming flight November 1st.

Everything is the same---- EHAS form --vaccine card.
I think that Nov 1st has to be the day you are required to fill out the EHAS form for the change to go into effect.

Just my thought, since we will be filling out the forms on October 29th for our November 1st flight.
We will see what happens!

We are flying out of EWR on United on November 7th, just went into my reservation Travel Ready section. United already updated entry requirements to SXM. It said no forms required to fill in for our trip for travel to SXM. We are good to go and will be able to get a boarding pass online.

Luda

Yeah I could do with out VeriFly and I shouldn't have let it stress me out.

The EHAS site has been updated to state that application isn't required beginning November 1.

Again, will the airlines know that?

EHAS be gone… nasal swabs and mandatory this and that will hopefully not stay?
If all this Government control shows it ugly head again some people will just say they have had enough and not comply.

I recently received an email from American regarding my flight MIA - SXM on November 2. There was a link within the email regarding required documentation. When I followed the link, it took me to a webside, Sherpa, I think, that showed the EHAS form was still a requirement. I sent them an email with a link to the updated guidelines. They wrote back thanking me for the information and removed the EHAS requirement from their site. Whether American knows this is another question.

I have followed that link to Sherpa from AA's website before, and it had wrong information then, several months ago.

Great job Jazzgal

I leave Portland, OR, on November 1 on a redeye through LAX and leave MIA for SXM on November 2. I have printed out Ottley's letter regarding no more EHAS, but out of an abundance of caution, I also went to the EHAS site. While it's boldly stated that EHAS isn't required as of November 1, it still allowed me to complete the application. I have also printed out my pre-approval JIC the airlines don't yet have current information. Apparently the EHAS website isn't sophisticated enough to "toss me out" once I entered my arrival date. Perhaps they will take the site down on November 1.

Interesting that they still let you complete the form, and smart of you to print out and have all the info with you. The belt and suspenders approach just makes sense to avoid stress.

Our friends who arrived a couple of days ago from CLT (I believe) were given paper immigration forms to fill out.

Hope it all goes smooth for you.

On the flight, or after landing, Elaine?

On the flight I believe.

Thanks. I hope that's the case, because after landing would create quite a bottleneck. Although we're arriving by boat from Anguilla this trip, so I don't have to worry about it this year.

That was the way the old one was done. Handed out before landing.