Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Who can travel to Canada – Citizens, permanent residents, foreign nationals and refugees 

Who can enter Canada

You can travel to and enter Canada if you’re a

• Canadian citizen
• dual Canadian citizen with a
  • valid Canadian passport or
  • special authorization
• permanent resident of Canada
• person registered under Canada’s Indian Act
• protected person

Foreign nationals, including United States (US) citizens, can travel to Canada only if they’re eligible.

Foreign nationals who are eligible to travel to Canada

To be eligible to travel to Canada as a foreign national, you must meet the requirements for one of the following:

• an immediate family member of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident who is staying in Canada for 15 days or more
• an extended family member of a Canadian citizen 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
• all other foreign nationals

Immediate family members of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident

To be eligible, you must be both

• an immediate family member of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident
• staying in Canada for 15 days or more

You must also have a quarantine plan that shows how you’ll quarantine for 14 days when you arrive in Canada. This plan is mandatory.

Find out who’s considered an immediate family member and how to unite with them

Extended family members of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident

To be eligible, you must

• be an extended family member of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident
• be staying in Canada for 15 days or more
• have written authorization from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)

You must also have a quarantine plan that shows how you’ll quarantine for 14 days when you arrive in Canada. This plan is mandatory.

Immediate and extended family members staying for less than 15 days must be travelling for an essential^{Footnote 1}(non-discretionary) purpose.

Find out who’s considered an extended family member and how to unite with them

Coming for compassionate reasons

If you’re a foreign national travelling to Canada for a compassionate reason, you must get authorization from the Public Health Agency of Canada to travel to and enter Canada.

Examples of compassionate reasons can include:

• 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

If you’re not eligible to come for compassionate reasons, you must meet the requirements for immediate or extended family members or all other foreign nationals who are eligible to travel to the country.

All other foreign nationals

To be eligible, you must meet one of the following requirements:

• You must be travelling directly from the US for an essential^{Footnote 1} (non-discretionary) purpose.
• You must be exempt from the travel restrictions.

Travellers coming from outside the US who are exempt from the travel restrictions

• temporary foreign workers
• some 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 (see Uniting with immediate family members for more information)
• transiting passengers (must remain in the secure transit area of a Canadian airport to complete their connection)
• 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 (includes North Atlantic Treaty Organization [NATO], those under the United Nations Headquarters Agreement, other organizations)
• 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
• any person 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
  • If you fall under this exemption, you don’t have to demonstrate that you’re entering Canada for an essential ^{Footnote 1} (non discretionary) reason.
• any person who is coming at the invitation of the Minister of Health for the purpose of COVID-19 assistance
• any person whose purpose is to make medical deliveries

You must also have a quarantine plan that shows how you will quarantine for 14 days when you arrive in Canada. This plan is mandatory.

Public health measures for travellers to Canada

If you’re travelling by air, you need to

• pass a health check conducted by airlines before you’ll be allowed to board your flight
• wear a non-medical mask or face covering during travel (including to the place you’ll quarantine)

Arrival in Canada

Travellers entering Canada by air or by land must

• provide basic information using the traveller contact information form, available through
  • the ArriveCAN mobile app (available for iOS or Android)
  • an accessible web-based form
  • a paper form
• be screened by a border services officer or quarantine officer to assess symptoms

Get the ArriveCAN app for iOS or Android.

Use this mobile app at Canadian ports of entry (POEs). Make sure you have the official version by installing it from this page.

Quarantine requirement

When you arrive in Canada by air, land or sea, we’ll assess your health before you leave the POE. If you’re a foreign national, and you have symptoms of COVID-19, you won’t be allowed to enter Canada.

You must have a plan to quarantine for 14 days when you arrive in Canada, including

• a place to stay
• how you’ll
  • get to your destination
  • get your groceries
  • access essential services and medical care

This plan is mandatory, even if you have no symptoms. If you don’t have a plan, you should not travel to Canada. Otherwise, you may not be allowed to enter the country. A border services officer will determine if you can enter the country.

The penalties for not following your quarantine plan once you’re in the country can include

• a fine of up to $750,000
• 6 months of jail time
• being found inadmissible, removed from Canada and banned from entering for 1 year

Only people who provide essential services, for example truck drivers who regularly cross the border to maintain the flow of goods, are exempt from the quarantine requirements.

Updates and related links

• Find more information on COVID-19
• Canada provides update on exemptions to travel restrictions

Guardian or tutor

A guardian or tutor cares for a foreign national minor child who lives apart from a parent, for example, to attend a secondary school in Canada. The guardian or tutor must be able to prove that they normally live at the same address as the minor child.