Canada opens borders to vaccinated US travellers

America and Canada on a map.

Fully vaccinated USA citizens and permanent residents (currently residing in the USA) can travel to Canada from August 9.  On September 7, the country will reopen to other fully vaccinated foreign nationals from any country that meets specific entry requirements, but only if the current positive trends continue.

Vaccinated travellers are allowed to skip mandatory quarantine. All must use ArriveCAN to submit their travel information. All travellers, regardless of vaccination status, will still require a pre-entry COVID-19 molecular test result.

The USA-Canada border was closed to non-essential travel in March 2020 and only a few urgent medical travel cases were allowed to travel to or from the USA.

Although entry by air is allowed, the USA has extended the closure of the Canadian land border until August 2021.

International flights carrying passengers will be permitted to land at five additional Canadian airports.

Canada’s border has been closed to non-essential travel since the pandemic began. Even for residents, it was difficult to get back into the country with a mandatory two-week quarantine, partially in a hotel.

The government took the first step in restarting international travel by allowing fully vaccinated residents to go back to Canada without quarantine. However, a negative Covid-19 test before and on arrival is still a requirement.

For medical tourism this means vaccinated Canadians can again go to Costa Rica, Cuba and Mexico.