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The Canada and United States land border will remain closed to all non-essential traffic until at least October 21st.
Public Safety Minister Bill Blair announced the update on his Twitter on Friday stating, “We are extending non-essential travel restrictions with the United States until October 21st, 2020. We will continue to base our decisions on the best public health advice available to keep Canadians safe.”
We are extending non-essential travel restrictions with the United States until October 21st, 2020. We will continue to base our decisions on the best public health advice available to keep Canadians safe.
— Bill Blair (@BillBlair) September 18, 2020
Canadian and U.S. officials have agreed to keep the border between the two countries closed to all non-essential travel for at least another month.
The current agreement was set to expire on September 21st which banned all recreational travel between the two nations.
The agreement exempts the flow of trade and commerce, as well as foreign workers and vital health-care workers who live and work on opposite sides of the border.
Americans also transiting to Alaska are also exempt from the ban.
As of June 9th, foreign nationals who are immediate family members of either Canadian citizens or permanent residents are permitted entry into Canada.
This has allowed both foreign and cross-border Canada-U.S. families to reunite under strict regulations including having to self quarantine in Canada.
Although the land border is closed, air travel from Canada to the United States is still allowed under the current U.S. Covid entry requirements.
However, Americans are not permitted to travel to Canada by air under the current travel restrictions put in place by the Canadian government.
In July, 29 members of the US Congress were pushing to get the United States-Canada border back open and asked for an immediate reopening plan from the Canadian government.
Since then, the border has been closed for an additional 30 days three times with no news of the Canadian government bending to pressure from their southern neighbor.
By October 21st, the land border between Canada and the United States will have been closed for a total of 7 months.
Here are the current travel restrictions between the US and Canada.
U.S citizens can NOT travel to Canada by land or air for non-essential purposes.
Canadian citizens CAN travel to the U.S by AIR for non essential travel
Canadian citizens can NOT travel to the U.S by land for non-essential travel.
The United States has confirmed more than 6.8 million cases of COVID-19 while Canada has reached just over 141,000 cases.
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