FINALLY! Over 10 months after its own panel of scientific experts called Canada’s testing measures for travelers “excessive” and a few months after the WHO recommended removing all travel restrictions, this time the federal government has really lifted Canada’s pre-entry test requirement (only for some travelers)!
Here are the details, a summary of how you can travel, the best way to plan your trips, the global “revenge travel” phenomenon, and why the test requirement is factually illogical.
Canada is lifting its pre-entry test requirement
Flytrippers had shared the rumor in early March and it did come to fruition. So awesome!
Here’s what was officially announced this morning by the federal government:
- End of Canada’s pre-entry test requirement
- Effective April 1st, 2022
- Only for fully vaccinated travelers
- Not clear if there’s a new exemption for children aged 5 to 12
- For both Canadian and foreign travelers
- NO OTHER CHANGES
Note that very often in the past, the official version of the rules ended up being different from what was announced initially in the press conference (it just can’t be clear or simple with this government), so we’ll of course keep this post updated if anything ends up changing.
Let’s look at each point very briefly to answer any questions you might have about this excellent news!
End of Canada’s pre-entry test requirement
A pre-entry test had been required for all travelers since early 2021. This will no longer be the case.
I’m scooping the last bullet point and the next section, but I’ll repeat it to be clear: there are no other changes.
So it means that the other 2 entry requirements remain:
- Fill out the form in the ArriveCAN app (it took me 3 minutes to fill it out the 6 times I did it; it’s not the end of the world)
- Get tested for free upon arrival if you’re among the randomly selected minority of travelers (isolation is not required while waiting for results)
It’s all that’s left of Canada’s travel rules for fully vaccinated travelers.
And with 80 countries having no test requirements for Canadians, it makes travel incredibly easy, almost as easy as it was before. So, there won’t be many excuses left for not getting back to enjoying travel, but I’ll get to that in a minute.
Effective April 1st, 2022
Another very simple point: nothing changes until April 1st, 2022. I don’t know why it can’t be sooner, but then again, our government has always been excessively slow on everything…
So if you’re entering Canada in March, you can read our ultimate guide to Canada’s pre-entry test requirement. It’s not that complicated to understand; even though there’s obviously a risk of getting stuck at your destination (and we’re glad it’s going to be lifted on April 1st), the fact remains that the process itself is very simple.
And these are entry rules, so it’s obviously the date of entry that counts.
Even if you left in March before the change went into effect, if you enter Canada on April 1st, the April 1st entry rules apply. The government can’t even manage its own rules properly as it is, there’s no chance they have the capability to apply different rules depending on when you left, forget it.
Only for fully vaccinated travelers
Having 2 vaccine doses (or 1 dose of Johnson & Johnson) is considered fully vaccinated by Canada. No change there, that’s more good news. No booster dose required and no expiry date for older doses.
Each country obviously has its own different definition of “fully vaccinated” because they each country obviously always make their own rules. But for Canada, this is it.
So this means that unvaccinated Canadians will still have to take a pre-entry test and quarantine for 14 days upon arrival (yes, unvaccinated Canadians have always been allowed to enter Canada; the thing is that people always confuse the rules together).
And unfortunately, the unscientific measure of requiring vaccination to board a plane in a Canadian airport, which no other country in the world has, is not changing as of now.
But unvaccinated, untested foreigners transiting in Canada are allowed to sit on the very same airplanes from which unvaccinated Canadians are banned, because… “The Science™” 🤡
Not clear if there’s a new exemption for children aged 5 to 12
Since not all kids under 12 have been fully vaccinated, the requirement to be vaccinated to board a plane in a Canadian airport only applies to those over the age of 12 years and 4 months.
So it’s not clear if a similar special exemption will exist for the pre-entry test. They didn’t mention anything about this today though.
All children under 5 were already exempt from the test requirement, so no change there of course.
So that means that unvaccinated children aged 5 to 12 don’t seem to be exempt from the test requirement. Or the government forgot to mention it (or even to think about it; wouldn’t be the first time they forget kids).
It wouldn’t be surprising that they add an exemption, but if they do, it would probably apply only if unvaccinated kids between 5 and 12 years old are traveling with fully vaccinated parents. We’ll keep you posted.
For both Canadian and foreign travelers
Relaxed requirements apply to both Canadians and foreigners. Fully vaccinated = no test. It doesn’t matter what’s written on the front of the passport.
Credit where credit is due, especially since our government so rarely deserves it. At least it’s an improvement: back in November, when they briefly allowed traveling for less than 72 hours without testing, it didn’t apply to non-citizens.
Yep, that was another one of “The Science’s™” greatest hits! If you were in the US for 2 days and came back here, you weren’t dangerous… but if an American was in the exact same place for the exact same amount of time and came here, they were dangerous! Trust the experts!
NO OTHER CHANGES
So “no other changes” means no further changes to Canada’s rules as I’ve said in the previous sections.
It also means that besides the above-mentioned transits, unvaccinated foreigners still can’t enter either (only Canadians can enter the country without being vaccinated).
And of course, Canada doesn’t control other countries’ rules, so the announced changes don’t affect every other country’s entry rules.
It seems that some people thought that the US was going to lift its test requirement for air travel as well… but no, it’s a separate country. They require a test for everyone (by air), it’s not a question of reciprocity at all.
The USA might remove their test requirement too (and even their mask requirement on planes; detailed article to come), but probably not until April 18. So if you want to travel to the United States without having to get tested, just enter their country by land.
Summary of travel rules
So I’ll summarize all the travel rules to make it simple for you, while you await our new pandemic travel resources page (including a lot of video content) coming soon.
Rules starting April 1st, 2022
Here’s how easy it will be to travel when avoiding all tests will be possible! It’s the summary, check out how to travel during the pandemic for a bit more details.
1st set of rules: Boarding a plane in a Canadian airport
To board a commercial aircraft from a Canadian airport (NOT when you’re in another country; when you’re in CANADA):
- You must be fully vaccinated (children under the age of 12 years and 4 months are exempt)
- No test is required, same as it’s been since the start of the pandemic
- No vaccination requirement if you’re boarding a plane as part of an international transit in Canada
2nd set of rules: Entering your destination
To enter other countries:
- Each country has its own rules
3rd set of rules: Entering Canada
To enter Canada:
- Declaration to fill in the ArriveCAN app or website
- It’s easy and will take you no more than 5 minutes
- Randomized arrival testing
- Tests are
freetaxpayer-funded (over $1 billion) - No requirement to isolate while waiting for results
- Approximately 1 out of 5 travelers selected (probably going down)
- Travelers with proof of a positive test are exempt (to be confirmed)
- Tests are
- No mandatory vaccination (for Canadians), same as it’s always been since the start of the pandemic
- Additional rules for unvaccinated Canadians
- Pre-entry test required
- 14-day quarantine
- Mandatory testing upon arrival (on days 1 and 8)
Rules until April 1st, 2022
And as a reminder, here are the current rules.
1st set of rules: Boarding a plane in a Canadian airport
To board a commercial aircraft from a Canadian airport (NOT when you’re in another country; when you’re in CANADA):
- You must be fully vaccinated (children under the age of 12 years and 4 months are exempt)
- No test is required, same as it’s been since the start of the pandemic
- No vaccination requirement if you’re boarding a plane as part of an international transit in Canada
2nd set of rules: Entering your destination
To enter other countries:
- Each country has its own rules
3rd set of rules: Entering Canada
To enter Canada:
- Pre-entry test required
- 3 options: negative antigen test, negative molecular test, positive molecular test
- Negative antigen test: the day of your flight or the full day before (NOT “24 hours”)
- Negative molecular test: within the last 72 hours
- Positive molecular test: within the last 10 to 180 days
- Children under 5 years old are exempt
- Travelers only transiting through Canada are exempt
- Entry by land without a valid test is “allowed,” but you risk getting fined
- Virtual self-tests with supervision is allowed; detailed post to come tomorrow
- 3 options: negative antigen test, negative molecular test, positive molecular test
- Declaration to fill in the ArriveCAN app or website
- It’s easy and will take you no more than 5 minutes
- Randomized arrival testing
- Tests are
freetaxpayer-funded (over $1 billion) - No requirement to isolate while waiting for results
- Approximately 1 out of 5 travelers selected
- Travelers with proof of a positive test are exempt
- Tests are
- No mandatory vaccination (for Canadians), same as it’s always been since the start of the pandemic
- Additional rules for unvaccinated Canadians
- 14-day quarantine
- Mandatory testing upon arrival (on days 1 and 8)
Best way to plan your trips
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Tips like how to travel for less to go on 12 international trips as I did in 2019 alone for the same price most people pay for 3 or 4 trips… Tips like how to get $1,000 in free travel every single year as I have for the last 10 years (Flytrippers readers also surpassed one million dollars earned too!)
We’ll also soon send our free subscribers a new amazing travel resources page with everything you need to know to travel NOW.
It’s more than time for you to rekindle with the joy of travel and we’ll help you join the millions who are getting on board with “revenge travel!”
The revenge travel craze
The revenge travel term was born in the spring of 2020 when Americans started to travel again after a few months of forced pause.
(Yes — Spring 2020. While they didn’t get everything right with the pandemic, at least they understood that crossing imaginary lines is not magically riskier. With 99% of cases in Canada always being from community transmission after the first few months, the government’s travel shaming was never based on science. It’s never been popular to say so, but Flytrippers always says it how it is.)
The Europeans followed not too long after; they were traveling in huge numbers by summer.
(There were a lot of them with us when we went to Greece in August 2020 — that was a great trip that was infinitely better than staying in Canada and even less risky too since the infection rates were lower there AND since we did a quarantine afterward; that’s the real science!)
Canadians are finally getting on board with revenge travel too in much larger numbers now!
(Over 2 million passengers boarded a plane in Canada in the last month alone… and with the pre-entry test soon to be eliminated, there’s going to be an insane outburst soon!)
Better late than never as they say. Look, we are well aware that many were waiting for the elimination of the pre-entry test to travel, to remove the very real risk of being stuck elsewhere.
It will be done soon, so there won’t really be many good reasons left not to travel if you like to travel!
The origin of the revenge travel term comes from the fact that it is so frustrating to have had to cancel so many great trips because of the pandemic at first — and because of the extreme government response to the pandemic later on for us Canadians.
So those who love traveling want to “get even” afterward and get their revenge.
They want to travel more than ever. They don’t want to take the joy of travel for granted anymore. They want to make sure they don’t get screwed over again and they want to see as many new places as possible.
They want to stop spending their limited money on useless junk and use it for more travel experiences instead.
They want to stop spending their limited time off to vacation in artificial resorts and use it to travel more authentically instead.
They realized how much they missed traveling and they want to make sure they do more of it.
In short, that’s what revenge travel is all about.
Traveling more often. And traveling better.
But mostly traveling more often.
And to travel more, you have to travel for less. And that happens to be our expertise at Flytrippers! And it’s REALLY easy when you know how.
Don’t miss our downright invaluable content coming soon to help you! Our free guide on the 5 best ways to travel for less will save you literally tens of thousands of dollars!
The absurdity of the test requirement
As a reminder, for months now there has been a growing chorus of critics about the absurdity of Canada’s travel rules and the fact that they actually are anti-science. The pre-entry testing requirement is specifically criticized.
In fact, even the World Health Organization (WHO) has been recommending the elimination of ALL travel restrictions for months, including vaccination requirements.
(Remember that Canada is pretty much the only country in the entire world that (almost) bans its own citizens from leaving the country based on their medical choices.)
But more importantly, almost all Western countries are already less restrictive than Canada in terms of testing; those countries trust the experts and the science (not the political science like our government—a Liberal MP said so himself).
It is about time that Canada did the same.
The government expert committee has been recommending it for 9 months as I said… and that was even before the radical COVID-19 strategy change since omicron came along!
Imagine how stupid it is now with omicron!
You need a test because you crossed imaginary lines… but you don’t need a test after crossing other imaginary lines (the provincial ones) to go into a fully-packed arena without a mask and without a vaccination passport…
Factually, it just doesn’t make sense that you can do literally everything here (since pretty much everything is now open) without needing a test afterward… but you do need one after crossing imaginary lines.
Want to get more all updates for Canadian travelers?
Summary
Good news! Canada is lifting its pre-entry test requirement for fully vaccinated Canadian and foreign travelers effective April 1st, which means that travel is finally almost back to the way it was before
What would you like to know about these tests? Tell us in the comments below.
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