Non-essential, unvaccinated visitors not allowed to enter Canada
Dear Mr Brown,
I would like to know when you think travel to Canada for visitors will be allowed. I am able to travel to the US but I am not sure what Canada is doing.
— DR
Dear DR:
Canada has discontinued the quarantine requirement for fully vaccinated Canadian citizens and permanent residents entering the country. This has been referred to as the first phase of reopening the country, in light of the pace of vaccination in Canada.
In order to avoid going into quarantine, travellers must provide proof of full vaccination at least 14 days prior to travel and a negative COVID-19 PCR test result taken within 72 hours of entering Canada. However, even though the COVID-19 numbers are declining in Canada, it has been made clear that non-essential, unvaccinated visitors will not be allowed to enter the country any time soon.
“I can tell you right now that’s not going to happen for quite a while,” prime minister of Canada Justin Trudeau stated recently. The prime minister also hinted he would like Canadians to be more than 75 per cent vaccinated, or even 80 per cent to be safe, before allowing non-essential visitors to enter Canada.
Although trade and other travel deemed to be essential between the two countries has been allowed throughout the pandemic, the Canada-US border remains closed to non-essential travel until at least July 21, and only Canadian citizens and residents are currently allowed to enter the country, unless they are exempted, in order to carry out essential work.
Unvaccinated travellers will be required to self-isolate at home until the result of their COVID-19 test comes back negative.
Fully vaccinated visitors
Any consideration that Canada has about lifting border restrictions at this point are focused entirely on fully vaccinated travellers. To be clear, all tourism, even for those who are fully vaccinated, is still banned at this time.
Some medical specialists have shared expectations that another two or three months would be required to achieve the vaccination target.
We will have to monitor the vaccination efforts in Canada and the United States, in particular.
Please visit jamaica2canada.com for additional information on Canadian Permanent Residence programmes, including Express Entry, the study & work programme, visas or appeals, etc.
Antonn Brown, BA, (Hons), LLB, MSc, RCIC, is an immigration counsel and an accredited Canadian education agent of JAMAICA2CANADA.COM — a Canadian immigration and education firm in Kingston. Send questions/comments to documents.jamaica2canada@gmail.com.
