Canada’s entry requirement process during covid-19

Are you planning to travel to Canada or are you a Canadian citizen coming home from a trip? Are you confused with Canada’s entry requirement process during Covid-19? I know it can get confusing and on top of that, the rules keep changing all the time.

You can find all the information on the official government website.

I thought I would break it down for you and maybe make it a little easier to understand. Make sure to check the website anyway because it changes so often. That way you’ll be sure you won’t be missing anything when you arrive at the border.

This post was written considering Canada’s entry requirement process during Covid-19 on December 28th, 2021. There might have been changes since. Make sure to confirm everything by visiting the government’s official website.

Who can travel to Canada during Covid-19

To enter Canada, you need to be a Canadian citizen which includes dual citizens, permanent residents, someone registered under the Indian Act, or have refugee status.

Foreign travelers who are fully vaccinated may also be allowed to enter the country. To be allowed to enter Canada as a foreign traveler, you need to be fully vaccinated, which means two doses, of one of these vaccines:

• AstraZeneca/COVISHIELD;
• Bharat Biotech;
• Janssen/Johnson & Johnson (1 dose);
• Moderna;
• Pfizer-BioNTech;
• Sinopharm BIBP;
• Sinovac;
• a combination of at least 2 doses of the above vaccines;

You’ll have to have gotten your second dose of the vaccine at least 14 days before the planned date of your arrival in Canada.

If you are not vaccinated, you only have one dose or are recovered from Covid-19, you may still be allowed to enter Canada for specific reasons. You can fill out this quick questionnaire to know if you are eligible or not.

Entering Canada travel rules & requirements

To qualify as a fully vaccinated traveler, you must have two doses of an approved Covid-19 vaccine listed above, have received your second dose at least 14 days before entering Canada, have no signs or symptoms, and follow all the entry requirements.

If you qualify, your entry requirements will be as follow:

• You will need a pre-entry test result
• Have your ArriveCan receipt
• Upload your proof of vaccination (entered in the ArriveCan app)
• Have a quarantine plan (also entered in your ArriveCan app)
• Your passport

While returning to Canada, you might be randomly selected to have a test upon arrival. If it is the case, you will have to quarantine until you receive your results. Fully vaccinated travelers are not exempt from this procedure if they are selected.

The random testing is free.

Pre-entry tests to Enter to Canada

To respect Canada’s entry requirement process during Covid-19, you will need a pre-entry test. Every traveler 5 years and older must provide a negative molecular test result to enter.

If you were tested positive for Covid-19 between 14 and 180 days prior to entering Canada, it can also work.

You can provide proof of a positive Covid-19 molecular test instead of a negative one when crossing the border at your arrival if you are symptom-free.

When flying into Canada, you must take the test within 72h of your scheduled departure time. If you have a connecting flight, it must be taken 72h prior to the scheduled departure time of your last direct flight to Canada.

Children under the age of 5 and those exempt from the pre-entry testing do not have to provide a negative molecular test to enter Canada.

If you are crossing the border by bus, train, car, boat, or ferry, you must take your molecular test 72h prior to crossing the border.

What covid tests are accepted

Antigen tests are not accepted. You must have either a PCR test, Nucleic acid test (NAT) or Nucleic acid amplification test (NAATs), or Reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP). These are the most common ones.

These types of tests are also accepted:

• RT-PCR – reverse transcription real time PCR
• Quantitative PCR (qPCR)
• Isothermal amplification
• Droplet digital PCR or digital droplet PCR (ddPCR)
• Transcription-mediated amplification (TMA)
• RNA (Ribonucleic acid)
• Ct (cycle threshold)
• CRISPR
• Sequencing
• Next generational sequencing (NGS) or whole genome sequencing (WGS)
• Oxford Nanopore sequencing (LamPORE)
• Detection of the N gene
• Detection of Orf1a/b
• Detection of the S gene
• Detection of the E gene
• Detection of the RdRp gene

Unvaccinated travel restrictions

If you are an unvaccinated traveler, you will still need to meet the entry requirements upon arrival.

First, you will have to fill out the questionnaire so you can know if you can qualify to enter Canada.

You will need to make plans for quarantine within your own means. Travelers qualifying as fully vaccinated may be exempt from quarantine in some cases. You will have to enter your quarantine plan in the ArriveCan app which I will be talking about more in detail later in this post.

You will also need a pre-molecular test result. And you will need to register for your arrival test as well.

You will need to fill out ArriveCan and submit it before your arrival in Canada.

Quarantine

You will be required to quarantine for 14 days if you are not fully vaccinated or if you are not given the fully vaccinated traveler exemption status at the border. Before entering Canada though, you still need to have a quarantine plan in place.

You can use this tool to help you plan out your quarantine.

ArriveCan

To enter Canada, you will need to download the ArriveCan app on your mobile device. I’ve used it on my latest trip and it is really easy to use.

You will need to create an account. ArriveCan is free for everyone.

Once you are logged in to your account, you will simply click on the start button where it is written Get started on your ArriveCan form.

You then answer a couple of questions about the purpose of your trip and if you are arriving by air, land, or water. At the next step, you will be asked about your flight details or your port of entry.

You will have to upload your proof of vaccination.

And to finish off, you will fill out your quarantine plan directly on the app.

Once everything is filled out, you will receive a QR code as your receipt which you will need to keep.

You can add as many travelers as needed to your declaration as well.

In my recent experience returning to Canada after our one-week vacation, Canada’s entry requirement process during Covid-19 wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I made sure we were well prepared and knew everything we had to provide on our return to Canada. I found the airline asked for certain forms to be filled out but they never looked at them.

We got our pre-tests done at our destination 72h prior as requested, which was a mess but that is a story for another post! We filled out the ArriveCan app and got our receipt before leaving the hotel. I would say it took us 10 minutes to fill out just because I had to take our flight information out which was the longest.

As we are all fully vaccinated except for the kids, we were in a way exempt from quarantine. Since we live here in Canada, we were able to quarantine at home.

Three of us got randomly selected, my daughter is under 5 so she didn’t have to get tested. So the process to get tested at the airport was very efficient. At least here in Quebec, it was quick. We got sent to a special line, scanned a QR code, and were able to complete our registration on our phones prior to being tested. We then got tested and off we were.

I strongly believe that traveling during the pandemic is doable you just need to do a little bit of extra research. The only difference I noticed while preparing our trip was that we checked the entry requirements for the country we visited and made sure we prepared everything properly and did the exact same thing before coming back to Canada.

I can’t believe we’ve waited almost two years before traveling again! As long as you keep track of all the changes for the entry requirements of where you are going and where you are going back home, I think it is easy to manage.

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links. At no additional cost to you, I earn a small commission if you make a purchase through these links. I would never recommend anything I don’t personally love and use!

Need a bit of inspiration to keep your wanderlust going throughout this pandemic that’s been going on for almost two years? Make sure to read these posts to help you either plan your next getaway or inspire you to travel!

How to plan an epic road trip!

7 reasons why you should travel as a family

20 photos to inspire you to visit Scotland

The ultimate coast to coast Canada itinerary

How can you travel often with a full-time job

Our 14-day itinerary across Scotland