Non-Essential Travel Between Canada & US – What’s The Latest?

When Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and then US President Donald Trump agreed to close the border between the two countries in March of 2020, little did we think that it would take 506 days for non-essential travel to return.

That changed last week when it was announced that Canada reopened its air, land and sea borders. Only fully vaccinated US citizens and legal residents are allowed through, and here’s what’s needed:

• Proof of vaccination
• A recent negative coronavirus test result
• Information on the ArriveCan app, including a 14-day travel history
• Travellers may also have to take a test on arrival

If travellers don’t meet all of the conditions above, they need to be able to present a suitable quarantine plan. Those who are making their way up from the States must have received a full course of one of the Health Canada-approved vaccines:

• Pfizer-BioNTech
• Moderna
• Oxford-AstraZeneca
• Johnson & Johnson

So, that’s the Americans coming into Canada, but what about Canadians traveling to America?

Border restrictions for non-essential travel into the US from Canada or Mexico are due to be lifted on Saturday (21^st). The US Government extended its restrictions on travellers due to the rising numbers of cases and the surge of the Delta variant.

The Canadian Government plans to reopen its borders to fully vaccinated travellers from the rest of the world on the 7^th of September, but that depends on whether Canada gets hit with a serious fourth wave of the virus.

Canada’s infection rates are ticking upwards, and while Canada has one of the leading rates of vaccinations anywhere in the world, there are still over five million Canadians who haven’t yet received at least one dose.