What You’ll Need to Know to Travel to Canada When Border Reopens

Canada announced earlier this month that it would open its border to fully vaccinated Americans starting Aug. 9. However, the U.S. is continuing its restrictions on nonessential travel between the two countries. Journalist Amanda Coletta explains what’s behind this divide, and what Americans should know before crossing the border. 

“We haven’t had much in the way of an explanation from the Biden administration for why it sort of diverged from Canada [this time] on the border restrictions.” –Amanda Coletta, The Washington Post 

Listen: What’s going on with plans to reopen the border with Canada? 

Guest

Amanda Coletta is a reporter covering Canada for The Washington Post. She says there’s a disconnect between the U.S. and Canadian governments on plans to reopen the border, possibly due to the highly infectious delta variant. “We haven’t had much in the way of an explanation from the Biden administration for why it sort of diverged from Canada [this time] on the border restrictions.” Coletta says the different vaccination policies of the two countries may also influence U.S. apprehension to nonessential travel. “Canada is allowing fully vaccinated travelers … to enter. If the Biden administration were to reciprocate … one question would be what that means for Canadians who have been vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine.”

Coletta says American travelers will be required to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination upon entry to Canada. “For now, it seems like [policymakers] are comfortable enough where Canada is with its case count … but again it’s a phased reopening so it’s only fully vaccinated residents for now.”