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Unfortunately for Canadians who want to leave the country by land, the federal government confirmed that the Canada-USA border closure is being extended once again. But this time it’s a bit different… And they also announced the date when we will know more details about the end of the 14-day quarantine announced for “early July.”

First, it’s worth reminding everyone about this, since many people confuse all these rules even after one year: the quarantine, the land border closure, and the restriction on who can enter Canada are 3 completely separate and 100% unrelated things.

Now, here are all the details of yesterday’s 2 updates.

 

Canada-USA border closure officially extended

The closure is extended for the 15th time.

But what is different this time is that there are very decent odds that this is finally the last extension.

At first, it seems like there is nothing surprising with yesterday’s news, as the federal government is again sticking to its extreme measures, against its own expert panel’s recommendations…

But the thing is that the current order was due to expire on June 21st and the government is obviously not even ready to announce a reopening plan at the very least (they only had 15 months to prepare for this, after all…)

So they had to extend it, officially it is until July 21st. But could there be exemptions for the border at some point in July before the 21st, as they already promised for the 14-day quarantine? We might know very soon (check out the next section).

So there is a slim possibility the land border will reopen faster.

It is not impossible that US President Biden reopens the land border unilaterally to Canadians before July 21st too, as Canada has no say in who can enter the USA. It seemed likely at one point, but now it seems Trudeau convinced him to wait for July 21st…

 

Flytrippers will continue to follow this closely.

As a reminder, the land border closure changes nothing to the fact that:

(The government’s own committee of scientific experts recommended abolishing the hotel quarantine right away because of its ineffectiveness… but like with most travel measures since February, the government is not following the science once again—except maybe the political science.)

Those border rules mean that regardless of how fast the land border reopens, all Canadians—regardless of their age and their theoretical wait time for the vaccine here—have the option to travel as soon as the next few days with no quarantine upon return.

You need to:

  • Get vaccinated for free in the USA easily by going by plane (if needed)
  • Return overland and quarantine at home for free
  • Leave to another country from Canada (or directly from the US, of course)
  • You CAN leave Canada during your 14-day quarantine to take an international flight*

*Contrary to what the government’s own website says, the Public Health Agency of Canada confirmed to Flytrippers that this is allowed if you have no symptoms (and that’s what the official government order-in-council also says).

So when you’d come back from that trip, you’d be exempt from the 14-day quarantine since your vaccine will be considered valid 2 weeks after the last required dose. Details in the next section.

Anyway, you can read more information about the land border in our detailed post about the Canada-USA border closure.

 

14-day quarantine end details coming soon

On June 9th, the federal government held a press conference and officially announced the end of the 14-day quarantine—and not just the end of the hotel quarantine, unlike many people seem to have understood (for reasons that are frankly beyond me).

Obviously, this is only for fully vaccinated Canadians (but thankfully, as I said, with a quick stop in the USA at the beginning of your trip, every Canadian has the option to get fully vaccinated for free and therefore return with no 14-day quarantine, as long as you travel for at least 2 weeks).

But they not only had they not given the start date (they said “early July”)… they also had not given the date when they would give the start date (they said “soon”).

Well, to everyone’s surprise, for once they are not waiting at the last minute!!!

Yesterday, they announced that more details would be announced on Monday, June 21st.

This is amazing news, and Flytrippers will provide all the details in real-time Monday.

If the date is truly in the first week of July as initially announced, this means you could even leave as soon as next week with the certainty that you’d have no 14-day quarantine upon return, as long as:

  • You return after the announced date for the new rules to take effect
  • You return at least 2 weeks after your last dose (to be considered immunized)
  • You stop in the USA first (if you are not yet fully vaccinated)

Tomorrow morning, Flytrippers will publish the list of the dozens of countries open (without quarantine) to all Canadians regardless of vaccination status… to help you start planning your summer trip!

It will finally be easy to travel abroad with no quarantine upon return, after 15 long months of waiting for many of you!

 

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Summary

The federal government announced that the Canada-USA border closure has been extended to July 21st, but we will see whether some exemptions to this will be announced like the one that exempts fully vaccinated Canadians from the 14-day quarantine starting in “early July.”

What would you like to know about these rules? Tell us in the comments below.

 

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Featured image: USA flag in Florida (photo credit: Tony Fawcett)

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Andrew D'Amours

Andrew is the co-founder of Flytrippers. He is passionate about traveling the world but also, as a former management consultant, about the travel industry itself. He shares his experiences to help you save money on travel. As a very cost-conscious traveler, he loves finding deals and getting free travel thanks to travel rewards points... to help him visit every country in the world (current count: 71/193 Countries, 47/50 US States & 9/10 Canadian Provinces).

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