Thought of the Day - September 21 2021 - Borderline Progress

Canadian Restrictions Eased

As planned, last month Canada eased restrictions for Americans coming to Canada ( Thought of the Day - August 27 2021 - Border News ) and earlier this month for all travellers coming to Canada. Travellers can now enter Canada for non-essential reasons if they adhere to the following:

• Travellers must be asymptomatic (bummer during allergy season);

• Testing:

  • Have a negative result from a valid pre-arrival COVID-19 molecular test (PCR or better), taken no more than 72 hours before their scheduled flight or their arrival at the land border crossing, or, if you have had COVID, a previous positive test result taken between 14 and 180 days prior to arrival.

  • "Rapid tests” are not accepted.

  • CBSA can demand a traveller take an additional test on arrival;

• Vaccinations: Travellers must have received and show proof of the full series of a vaccine (or combination of vaccines) approved by the Canadian government at least 14 days prior to entering Canada (Pfizer-BioNtech, Moderna, AstraZeneca/Covishield and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson)) otherwise they must quarantine;

• Travellers must submit mandatory information via the ArriveCAN app or website;

• Children:

  • Unvaccinated children under 12 travelling with fully vaccinated parents or guardians are also exempt from quarantine.

  • Unvaccinated children aged 12 to 17 and dependent children 18-years or older are allowed to enter Canada with a fully vaccinated parent or guardian but are subject to the 14-day quarantine measure.

  • All unvaccinated children (except those under five years of age) will have to take a COVID-19 test on day one and day eight of their arrival into Canada.

For some reason, Canada continues to suspended direct commercial and private passenger flights from India and Morocco (the India suspension is supposed to expire today but as there has not been any update I am sure it will be extended). Thus passengers who travel to Canada from India and Morocco will still need to travel via an indirect route and get a PCR test from another country en-route.

US Restrictions Not So Much

The U.S.-Canada and US-Mexico borders will be closed until at least October 21. While travel restrictions for Canadians remain strict, the U.S. is looking to ease foreign air travel restrictions, basically allowing foreigners with acceptable vaccinations to enter their country. The updated US policy will also no longer explicitly limit travellers from specific countries like the U.K., China and India.

Starting in November, any air traveller coming to the U.S. will need to provide proof of negative COVID-19 taken at least 72 hours prior to boarding and certification of their vaccination status. While vaccinated passengers will not need to complete a quarantine, airlines now have to record information from international travellers to allow for contact tracing.

Ironically the net result for Canadians is there has been no progress on access to the US by car and soon there are will be additional vaccine restrictions for air travel.

Cheers

Cliff