CIMM - Travel Restrictions and Exemptions - Nov 25, 2020

Key messages

• To protect Canadians from the outbreak of COVID-19, the Government swiftly took the necessary measures to restrict travel to Canada.
• We are taking a multi-layered approach to protect the public health of Canadians, with safety and prevention measures for travellers during boarding, on arrival and post-arrival, including mandatory quarantine.
• Exemptions to the travel restrictions have supported the Canadian economy and critical infrastructure in Canada by facilitating entry for essential service providers and temporary foreign workers, and have supported the reunification of Canadians with their immediate family members.
• Additional measures that came into force in October have further facilitated entry for certain extended family members (of Canadian citizens, persons registered as Indians under the Indian Act and Canadian permanent residents), international students and introduced an exemption for certain foreign nationals to enter Canada on compassionate grounds.
• Immigration continues to be a priority for the Government of Canada as it is key to this country’s future as we work to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. I can assure you that any easing of travel restrictions will be balanced, and done in a phased manner, to ensure that the health and safety of Canadians are protected.

Background

Orders in Council

Three Orders in Council under the Quarantine Act currently set out the parameters of the travel restrictions and requirements for isolation/quarantine upon entry to Canada. Canadian citizens, persons registered under the Indian Act, permanent residents, and protected persons are not subject to entry restrictions.

1. The Order in Council for travellers entering Canada from the United States restricts all foreign nationals from entering Canada if their purpose of travel is for a discretionary or optional purpose. No foreign nationals are authorized to enter Canada if they are symptomatic of COVID-19. At present, this Order in Council expires on the 21st day of each month.
2. The Order in Council for travellers entering Canada from a country other than the United States restricts all foreign nationals from entering Canada if they do not meet one of the listed exemptions (see below) and/or are travelling for a discretionary or optional purpose. No foreign nationals are authorized to enter Canada if they are symptomatic of COVID-19. At present, this Order in Council expires on the 30th or 31st day of each month.
3. The Mandatory Isolation Order in Council requires all travellers entering Canada—including Canadian citizens, persons registered under the Indian Act, permanent residents, and protected persons—to quarantine for a period of 14 days upon their arrival in Canada, unless they are granted a limited release from quarantine by the Public Health Agency of Canada or meet another listed exemption. At present, this Order in Council expires on the 30th or 31st day of each month.

Exemptions to Travel Restrictions

• Since the above-mentioned Orders in Council came into force in March 2020, certain amendments have been made to grant exemptions to travel restrictions for certain priority groups and to allow for non-discretionary and compassionate travel to Canada. These exemptions have been granted in a phased manner, which allows for carefully managed entry to Canada in a way that prioritizes the safety of Canadians and minimizes public health risks.

Temporary foreign workers

• Temporary foreign workers are exempt from the travel restrictions when travelling for a non-discretionary purpose; and, if travelling from outside the United States, they must hold a work permit or letter of introduction (letter attesting that a work permit application has been approved).
• Some work permit-exempt foreign nationals are not subject to the travel restrictions and may not be subject to the mandatory 14-day quarantine period, including if they are:
  • providers of emergency services;
  • persons permitted to work as a student in a health field;
  • essential workers in the marine sector for movement of goods; 
  • delivering, maintaining, or repairing medically necessary equipment;
  • technicians or specialists repairing or maintaining equipment; or
  • commercial or research open-water aquaculture workers.
• Exemptions for foreign workers recognize the important role that temporary workers play in critical sectors of Canada’s economy, including in agriculture, food processing and health care.

Family reunification

• While exemptions for immediate family had been in place since March 2020, in June 2020, to allow for greater family reunification, immediate family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents coming to Canada for 15 days or more became exempt from the optional/discretionary test in the Orders in Council. Immediate family members include spouses, dependent children and parents.
• On October 8, 2020, further amendments were made to facilitate entry for extended family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents. Like immediate family members, extended family members are also exempt from the optional/discretionary test if coming to Canada for 15 days or more. Extended family members include those in an exclusive dating relationship (of at least one year in duration and must have prior physical contact), adult children (22 years of age and older), grandchildren, grandparents, and siblings.
• On October 31, 2020, these provisions were updated to ensure immediate and extended family members of persons registered under the Indian Act are also eligible to travel to Canada.
• All foreign nationals seeking to travel to Canada as an extended family member will need to seek a written authorization from the Department and provide a statutory declaration that has been completed by their family member in Canada and solemnly declared in the presence of an authorized official in Canada, attesting to their relation to the foreign national. The extended family member will need to submit the completed and signed declaration through designated departmental channels, and those who are determined to be eligible will receive written authorization.
• Foreign nationals whose immediate family members in Canada are temporary residents may qualify for an exemption if they are travelling to Canada for a non-discretionary purpose. If travelling from outside the United States the foreign national must also obtain a written authorization from the Department.

Compassionate grounds

• On October 8, 2020, Canada introduced a new process to allow foreign nationals to enter the country for the following compassionate reasons:
  • Being present during the final moments of life for a loved one
  • Providing support to a person deemed critically ill
  • Providing care to a person who medically requires support
  • Attending a funeral or end-of-life ceremony
• In addition, a process has been created to allow foreign nationals seeking entry on compassionate grounds to apply for a temporary release from the mandatory quarantine, in cases where the 14-day quarantine period is not feasible (e.g. urgent palliative care or end-of-life visits). Foreign nationals will need to get authorization from the Public Health Agency of Canada to travel to and enter Canada for a compassionate reason.

International students

• As of October 20, 2020, study permit holders and those approved for a study permit are exempt from the travel restrictions as long as they are attending a listed Designated Learning Institution that has a provincially- or territorially-approved COVID-19 readiness plan in place. As of November 3, 2020, there were 636 approved post-secondary Designated Learning Institutions ready to receive international students distributed across Canada, the list of which can be found on the Department’s website.
• Designated Learning Institutions are expected to provide specifics to their provincial or territorial government on how they will provide information to international students on health and travel requirements before they arrive in Canada, help students with their quarantine plans, and provide guidance or assistance in acquiring the necessities of life during their quarantine. Readiness plans also need to establish protocols for the health of students in the event there are suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases at the school.
• Students who are asymptomatic, have the appropriate travel documents to enter Canada and are destined to a Designated Learning Institution on the approved list of institutions will generally be considered to be non-discretionary and non-optional; however, the final decision as to purpose of travel rests with the Canada Border Services Agency officers at ports of entry.

Permanent residence applicants

• Current travel restrictions include an exemption that allows permanent residence applicants located overseas, and whose applications were approved prior to March 18, 2020, to enter Canada.
• Even if they are not all able to travel right away, this inventory continues to grow as applications continue to be processed within the Department’s current capacity.
• This inventory includes skilled immigrants, spouses and family members that would be reunited with their Canadian relative, privately sponsored refugees, and others.

National Interest Exemptions

• Under the Order in Council for travellers entering Canada from a country other than the United States and the Mandatory Isolation Order in Council, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship, the Minister of Public Safety, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs have the authority to grant exemptions to both entry restrictions and quarantine requirements to persons whose presence in Canada is determined to be in the national interest.

  Clients who believe they may qualify for an exemption on national interest grounds request an exemption for entry and/or quarantine from the appropriate department.

• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada grants exemptions on national interest grounds, for example, to individuals who seek to enter Canada to provide services in critical infrastructure sectors, whose work is necessary but not covered under the Chief Public Health Officer’s determination of essential services. Previously, this included a number of individuals who sought to enter Canada to perform installation work in critical infrastructure sectors; installation work is now included in the Chief Public Health Officer’s determination of essential services.
• As of November 11, 2020, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship has authorized 1395 individual national interest exemptions. The Minister has also granted 5 class-based exemptions to quarantine requirements for professional sports leagues on national interest grounds. These national interest exemptions applied to 1200 individuals from the National Hockey League, 20 individuals from Major League Baseball, and 238 individuals from Major League Soccer.

Processing of Departmental Business Lines

• The processing of study permits, work permits for essential occupations, permanent residence applications, applications from individuals who qualify for an exemption, applications from those in vulnerable situations, and applications from individuals travelling for a non-discretionary purpose remains a priority for the Department.
• While most travellers are not be able to come to Canada until current travel restrictions are lifted, the Department is processing applications, to the extent possible, to better position the country to benefit from post-COVID-19 economic recovery efforts.
• Ministerial Instructions are in place which direct all overseas temporary resident applications to be submitted online. This permits the Department to process applications where capacity exists, positioning ourselves in a better place for business resumption.
• The Department has introduced several measures to support the processing of permanent resident and temporary resident applications in general. These measures include additional time to provide documents, a commitment that no application in progress will be closed or refused because of documents missing due to COVID-19, and a new pilot to digitize spousal applications which allows applications to be processed remotely.