Canadian border will no longer require tests for vaccinated travelers

For the first time in two years, Americans will be able to drive across the border to Canada without having to hunt down a COVID test first — provided they are fully vaccinated.

Starting April 1, 2022, travelers entering Canada by air, land, and water will no longer need to provide a negative test result if they can show that they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. They will still need to upload their travel and vaccination documents into the free ArriveCAN app before arrival, as has been required since the Canadian border reopened to vaccinated foreigners last summer.

In the televised announcement, Canadian Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said the time was right to make such a move.

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“High vaccination rates and strong adherence to public health measures have pushed us through the peak of the omicron wave,” he said. “We have more tools available now, like the wide availability of rapid tests, and a range of new treatments that will keep some patients from getting seriously ill.”

Travelers to Canada may be still pulled over at the border and asked to take a random test. However, they will not need to quarantine while waiting for this test result.

Since the border reopened last August, Americans have had to show a negative PCR test taken no longer than 72 hours before entry. This became a challenge for many during the omicron surge, when travel-related PCR tests became hard to find.

Last month, Canada began allowing travelers to show a negative antigen test instead, but this still had to be either taken at a testing provider’s location, such as a pharmacy or doctor’s office, or observed by a doctor, pharmacist, or similar testing provider via telehealth.

This new relaxation of restrictions is expected to ease the travel process, especially for Canadians who are driving to Washington for a day trip or weekend trip and who will no longer need to spend time finding a test within the required window.

“I think it’s fair to say that we are now entering into a transition phase of this pandemic,” Duclos said. “As the weather warms and people spend more time outside, we can expect to see transmission decline in the coming months.”

People who are unvaccinated and who qualify to enter Canada will still need to test before travel and quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.

The easing of the testing requirement is news that Washington’s border communities have been looking forward to for months.

Guy Occhiogrosso, president of the Bellingham Chamber of Commerce, told KIRO Newsradio that this will make all the difference for the local businesses that depend on Canadian tourists. Businesses in Bellingham hope they will finally have the tourism boom they have waited for since the border reopened to Canadians in November.

“This is a step that we have been looking forward to as a region for a very long time,” he said. “And I think it is one of the steps that’s going to get us back to a place that feels more normal.”

Occhiogrosso believes the testing requirement has been a deal breaker for would-be Canadian visitors, especially since most of Bellingham’s usual Canadian patrons are day-trippers. Apart from a few weeks in December when the testing requirement was lifted for Canadians going on short trips, every Canadian driving down to Bellingham has had to figure out how to get a PCR test — or, in the last three weeks, an antigen test at a health facility — in order to return home.

“It makes it really difficult to plan with a test requirement, especially one that’s hard to get,” Occhiogrosso said. “At a certain point, things start adding up, and it’s just a roadblock.”

Now, Canadians who come to Bellingham for dinner or for an afternoon of shopping will not have to spend time hunting down a test. Occhiogrosso is hopeful that this will turn things around.

“The overall reaction that I’ve been hearing is, ‘Welcome back, Canada,'” Occhiogrosso said. “We’re so looking forward to being able to welcome back our Canadian friends and family and shoppers, and to see the benefits of being a border community.”

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