During the COVID-19 pandemic, the government of Canada is making frequent changes. By adopting different measures, their goal is to protect Canadians and to stop the spread of the virus. If you are travelling to Canada, ensure you check the most up-to-date information on travel restrictions and exemptions before making any plans.

Travelling Requirements Canada

The government of Canada announced a new measure* for persons coming to Canada. All travellers entering Canada by air must present negative COVID-19 test results to the airline prior to boarding a flight to Canada. The examination must be performed using a molecular test within 72 hours prior to the departure to Canada. This results must be obtained for persons as young as 5 years of age. Furthermore, travellers are also legally required to prepare a 14-day quarantine period and present it to government officials.

Ensure you download the ArriveCAN app (iOS, Android, Web) before you get to the Canadian border. This app is designed to help you submit required contact information, including a mandatory quarantine plan and a COVID-19 self-assessment, minimizing contact with border and health officers and ultimately reducing your wait times.

For permanent residents and Canadians crossing the border by land, you can find CBSA apps to guide and help you, a duty and tax estimator tool.

Eligibility to Enter Canada during COVID-19

You are eligible to enter Canada if you are a:

  • Canadian citizen
  • Permanent resident of Canada
  • Protected person
  • Dual Canadian citizen with a valid Canadian passport or special authorization
  • Person registered under Canada’s Indian Act

Foreign Nationals Eligible to Enter Canada

Certain foreign nationals that may be eligible to enter Canada and who must meet one of the following circumstances, are:

  • An immediate family member of a Canadian citizen, person registered under Canada’s Indian Act or permanent resident who is staying in Canada for 15 days or more
  • An extended family member of a Canadian citizen, person registered under Canada’s Indian Act or permanent resident who is staying in Canada for 15 days or more
  • A person who is authorized by the Public Health Agency of Canada to travel to Canada for compassionate reasons

To add, other eligible foreign nationals that may be allowed to enter Canada must meet with one of the following requirements:

  • Be travelling directly from the US for a non-discretionary purpose
  • Be exempt from the travel restrictions and be travelling for a non-discretionary purpose

Other Travellers  

The following persons who are coming from outside de United States are exempted from travel restrictions:

  • Temporary foreign workers
  • Certain international students
  • Some people who have been approved to become a permanent resident of Canada, but who are not yet permanent residents
  • Immediate family members with written authorization from IRCC to reunite with a temporary resident of Canada
  • Transiting passengers
  • Members of the Canadian forces, visiting forces coming to perform official duties, Department of National Defence and their immediate family members
  • Accredited diplomats and their immediate family members
  • Air and marine crew members
  • French citizens who live in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon and have been in only Canada, the US or Saint-Pierre and Miquelon during the 14 days before the day they seek to enter Canada
  • Any person who:

– Does not pose a significant harm to public health, in the opinion of the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, and who will provide an essential service while in Canada

– Is coming at the invitation of the Minister of Health for the purpose of COVID-19 assistance

– Whose purpose is to make medical deliveries

– Whose presence in Canada is in the national interest, in the opinion of the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship; Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness; or Minister of Foreign Affairs. This may be applied only by any of the three ministers mentioned above. This exemption is for exceptional circumstances only.

Immigration Applications and Documents

We recommend to ensure that you:

  • Double check with the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) website, an authorized representative or any relevant authority for official information.
  • Find out if you need a Temporary Resident Visa (TRV), a Temporary Resident Permit (TRP), an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) or other types of documents to travel to Canada.
  • Get informed about immigration documents that are expired or about to expire before making any travel plans.
  • Be realistic about processing times, delays, and any unexpected changes in measures, requirements, policy and legislation. Estimated application processing times are not accurate during the pandemic.

* This measure will be in effect as of January 7, 2021 at 12:01 AM EST.

Stay current with immigration matters. For more on this and other topics of interest, visit our News page regularly or follow us on social media.

 

Did you know?

Some Designated Learning Institutions (DLIs) in Canada are open for international students, following the requirement by some provinces and territories that those institutions have a COVID19 readiness plan.

Requirements for International Students travelling to Canada during COVID19

The latest update on international students travelling to Canada is that they must have a:

  • Valid study permit, or
  • Letter of introduction showing approval for a study permit, and
  • Their DLI must have a COVID19 readiness plan before they travel

These requirements, along with regular requirements, apply to all international students, whether travelling from the United States or from any other country.

Is my DLI on the approved list?

Find out if your DLI has an approved COVID19 readiness plan using the tool on the IRCC website. We strongly recommend doing this before you start any admission process with an educational institution. Ensure you also check this before travelling to Canada if you are already admitted or are continuing your studies in Canada.

We suggest to contact your DLI to familiarize yourself with their plan, terms and agreements, as you must comply to avoid negative consequences to your learning and visiting experience.

If you require assistance to apply for your study permit or are not sure where to start, we are here to help!

 

For more information and updates on Canadian immigration matters, visit our News page.

 

Selecting candidates to immigrate to Canada originates from a set of immigration instructions from the minister and the established immigration levels set by the federal government. With the Express Entry system, an online database of eligible candidates, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has been able to invite top-ranking individuals, including French-speaking candidates, to apply for permanent residence.

In recent years, there has been an increase in invited French-speaking applicants wanting to immigrate to provinces outside of Quebec. Despite this, Canada still needs to reach its target of 4.4% French-speaking immigration admissions by the year 2023.

On October 27, 2020, the Canadian minister of IRCC, the honourable Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P., announced changes in the points awarded to French-speaking Express Entry candidates. That is, French speakers and bilingual candidates will gain more points for their language ability. In short, the change will see an increase from 15 to 25 points for candidates that speak French and from 30 to 50 points for those that are bilingual (English-French). For the complete news release go to the IRCC website.

This is great news for candidates that have strong French speaking skills who are interested in immigrating to Canada. With this announcement, it is likely that admissions of French speakers outside of Quebec will continue to increase, helping Canada achieve that goal.

It is important to note that Quebec establishes its own immigration levels as per the Canada-Quebec Accord. For this reason, the target mentioned refers to admissions outside of Quebec.

Go to News for more immigration updates.

 

 

Parents and Grandparents Program (PGP) to Reopen

The sponsorship of Parents and Grandparents (PGP) program is reopening. Due to the COVID19 pandemic, this program was put on hold. After a long awaited announcement, the Honourable Marco E. L. Mendicino, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship (IRCC) provided some details on October 5, 2020. Following one of the goals in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) for family reunification.

Canadian citizens and permanent residents who want to sponsor these relatives will be able to get an opportunity starting on October 13, 2020 at 12:00 PM EDT until November 3, 2020 at 12:00 PM EST. In other words, the intake period will be for 3 weeks. This is an important change as last year’s intake only lasted minutes on the day of the opening and a lot of people could not access the link at all.

The process starts with submitting an interest to sponsor form online on the IRCC website. The system will randomly select potential sponsors and invite them to apply. Applicants and sponsors will have 60 days to submit a complete application.

For this year’s PGP, the maximum number of applications will be 10,000. In 2021, that number will be for a total of 30,000 applications.

On another note, the government of Canada will have accommodations available to persons with disabilities. Because there are persons who are unable to use the online interest to sponsor form, they can request the form in an alternative format: paper copies, Braille or large prints.

The requirements, forms, guides, and all the specifics of this program will become available con October 8, 2020.

Are you eligible to sponsor your parents or grandparents? What do you need to start? Book a consultation to get your case assessed.

For more updates and news, visit our News page.

One of Canada’s priorities is family reunification. Today the government of Canada announced new measures and processes to allow entry to:

  • Certain extended family members of Canadian citizens and Canadian permanent residents such as siblings, adult children, grandchildren and grandparents and those in a relationship of at least 1 year.
  • Foreign nationals under compassionate reasons in circumstances such as a life-threatening illness, critical injury or death.

Read more

Permanent Residence Applicants and Biometrics

The collection of biometrics for Canadian permanent residence applications is different than that of other applications

During the current COVID19 pandemic, biometric collection worldwide has been affected. Service centres that collect biometrics have temporarily closed or operating at low capacities. Because of this, the government of Canada has taken a temporary measure that will exempt some permanent residence applicants from providing biometrics. Furthermore, if an applicant has given biometrics within the last 10 years and has applied or will be applying for permanent residence, this measure applies to them.

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Immediate Family Members

The Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced that effective June 8, 2020 at 23:59 PM EDT, immediate family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents, will be exempt from the travel restrictions upon entry to Canada during the current pandemic situation.

For the purposes of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR), an immediate family member is a:

  • Spouse or common-law partner;
  • Dependent child* of the person or of the person’s spouse or common-law partner;
  • Dependent child of a dependent child referred to in paragraph (b) of the Regulations.

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