As Canada starts to reopen and lift restrictions, international students should be aware of what they need to do before traveling.
Keeping in mind the health and safety of the population, in addition to international students arriving from abroad to start their fall semester, new regulations have been put in place.
Some schools in Canada are requiring international students to be fully vaccinated in order to attend classes. It is important to ensure you verify the details with the school you are planning to attend.
For fully-vaccinated students to be eligible for a quarantine exemption, you must have received a full dose of a vaccine accepted by the Government of Canada. Canadian-approved vaccines currently include the following:
- Pfizer-BioNTech (Comirnaty, tozinameran, BNT162b2)
- Moderna (mRNA-1273)
- AstraZeneca/COVISHIELD (ChAdOx1-S, Vaxzevria, AZD1222)
- Janssen/Johnson & Johnson (Ad26.COV2.S)
What you need to enter into ArriveCAN
ArriveCan is a Government of Canada platform that allows travelers to securely submit information when entering the country. It is mandatory for all travelers to submit their information through ArriveCan within 72 hours before their arrival to Canada.
International students entering Canada must provide the following:
- Contact & travel information
- 14-day travel history
- Quarantine plan
- Confirmation of a negative pre-entry test (or positive test taken 14-90 days prior to travel)
- Proof of vaccination (must be in English or French, or a certified translation)
- COVID-19 symptom self-assessment
It is important to review all the requirements specified by IRCC before entry into Canada as failure to respect any of the requirements could result in a fine.
Even fully vaccinated travelers must provide a molecular PCR test upon entry into Canada. An antigen test will not be accepted.
Changes implemented as of August 9th, 2021
As of August 9, 2021, new measures will be in place for travellers to Canada, including international students. As of this date, Canada will:
- Eliminate the government-authorized hotel stay requirement for all air travellers arriving after August 9, 2021;
- Carry out randomized testing of fully vaccinated travellers ;
- Allow individuals who have recovered from COVID-19, but who continue to test positive, to present a positive COVID-19 molecular test result on a specimen taken 14 to 180 days prior to arrival in Canada as part of the pre-entry test requirements
International students that are unvaccinated will be subject to mandatory on-arrival and day 8 testing.
In order to ensure you stay abreast with all updates, please continuously verify with your school the regulations they have for on- campus learning, in addition to the updates that IRCC is implementing as they can change quite frequently.