Travel to Canada from the US 2021
Posted on 22/07/2021
As we’ve been reporting here at MaxCan Visa, Canadian health and immigration authorities are beginning to ease up on some of the many restrictions in place for travellers to Canada. Here’s the latest breaking news.
Fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents (holders of Green Cards in other words, who are living lawfully in the USA) will be able to travel for discretionary purposes to Canada, starting on August 9, 2021. Here’s how it will work but remember, more details are soon to follow and these changes in the rules and requirements depend on the rates of infection of COVID continuing to come down. If there is a sudden uptick in new cases, we may see these new rules put on hold until the statistics improve again.
Border Restrictions Changing August 9, 2021
Fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents of the U.S. will no longer need to apply for an authorization to travel (IMM 0006). They will now be allowed to travel for discretionary reasons – that is, as tourists.
The vaccines accepted by Canadian authorities remain the same:
- Pfizer-BioNTech,
- Moderna,
- AstraZeneca/COVISHIELD, and
- Janssen (Johnson & Johnson).
To be fully vaccinated you must have received all the required doses from one or a combination of these 4 vaccines. NO OTHER VACCINE IS CURRENTLY ACCEPTED BY CANADIAN AUTHORITIES.
Unvaccinated children under 12 or mentally/physically dependent and who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents can accompany their fully vaccinated parents.
Submitting Vaccine Information to Travel to Canada through ArriveCAN
You will have to submit your vaccine and other personal information digitally via ArriveCAN a government app and webpage that functions as a platform to upload the required information. All foreign nationals travelling to Canada must use this app or they will NOT be allowed on the flight to Canada. Here’s how to use ArriveCAN:
Go here and scroll down until you see:
Click on the first two options to download the app or on the third option to create an account at the webpage where you can also provide your information. You will then have to submit the following information:
- Contact information
- Purpose of travel
- Details of your travel (date of arrival, flight number, port of entry)
- Vaccination information & Proof of Vaccination which you must upload in digital form
- Countries you visited in the 14 days prior to your arrival in Canada
- Hotel information: Fully vaccinated travellers do not have to submit hotel information as they no longer have to stay at a hotel for 72 hours after arriving in Canada, however, unvaccinated travellers will still have to pre-book a hotel for their first 72 hours in Canada in order to await their entry-test results and submit that information on their ArriveCAN app via a reference code they will get when they book their hotel.
- Quarantine plan: Even fully vaccinated travellers will have to submit a detailed quarantine plan including information like:
- where the location will be;
- who will be living there including if there are any vulnerable people,
- if there are any people living there who work at a facility that has infected people,
- if it’s a group living environment.
Your quarantine plan will have to meet public health requirements.
Once you submit all your information on ArriveCAN you will get a receipt emailed to you.
YOU WILL NEED TO SHOW THIS RECEIPT TO BOARD YOUR FLIGHT TO CANADA IF YOU ARE A FOREIGN NATIONAL WHO IS ALSO A DISCRETIONARY TRAVELLER.
You can show your receipt by any one of the following methods:
- An app on your cellphone
- A screenshot of a webpage
- Your email
- A printout.
You should also print your actual vaccine certificate to show to officials along with a translation to English or French.
If you are travelling to Canada under an exemption (immediate or extended family members uniting with their family member in Canada, for example) then you may be allowed to board your flight without your ArriveCAN receipt but you will be required to upload the information to the app.
COVID Testing for Tourists to Canada
Arrival Testing for fully vaccinated travellers who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents will now longer be mandatory, but rather will be random. A few fully vaccinated citizens and permanent residents will be tested on a random basis to monitor the state of travellers entering Canada. Otherwise only unvaccinated travellers to Canada will have to comply with the full requirements of arrival testing.
Mandatory Hotel Stays for those entering Canada Ended
All travellers will NO LONGER have to book a 72-hour stay at an authorized hotel. Unvaccinated travellers will still have to go directly to their place of quarantine while fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents can go to their destination without having to quarantine.
All Other Travelers to Canada Can Come Starting in September 2021
Finally, these new easing of rules for fully vaccinated U.S. citizens and permanent residents that will come into effect on August 9, 2021, are planned to also be applied to all fully vaccinated foreign nationals on September 7, 2021.
Stay tuned for further details.
Posted in News and tagged Canada, Tourism, Travel to Canada
