Crossing Border from US to Canada - Family Reunification

[canadavisa22 197]

Did anyone reunite with a spouse or family member today or plan to now that the quarantine requirements have dropped for fully vaccinated people?

 

My in-laws are coming to Canada tomorrow and I'm just curious how the arrival testing at the land border will happen. Will it be the same process as before? Take the home kit, perform it yourself and then have it dropped off at Switch Health location or picked up by Purolator?

 

If anyone has been through the process today or in the past please let me know, thanks!

[Reebsrae 17]

Fully vaccinated don't need to take tests or do they have to quarantine. 

 

Depending where they are landing, if not vaccinated, the arrival tests are done at the airport and the day 10 test is done at a pharmacy such as Shoppers, or if someone does not have ability to get to pharmacy then switch health mails a test out.  

[SalishSea 16,772]

What is the land border situation for vaccinated Americans?  We miss our neighbor BC so much....    normally we'd be up there multiple times each year.

[mam521 1,724]

12 hours ago, Jorgedig said:

What is the land border situation for vaccinated Americans?  We miss our neighbor BC so much....    normally we'd be up there multiple times each year.

Fully vaccinated Canadian citizens or PR only are exempt from quarantine at this time.  The border is still closed to non-essential travel.  

 

I can wager a guess that many BC residents miss you too!  

[Ptitchou 117]

On 7/5/2021 at 11:42 PM, Reebsrae said:

Fully vaccinated don't need to take tests or do they have to quarantine. 

 

Depending where they are landing, if not vaccinated, the arrival tests are done at the airport and the day 10 test is done at a pharmacy such as Shoppers, or if someone does not have ability to get to pharmacy then switch health mails a test out.  

Fully vaccinated still have to get a 72 hour PCR test before entry and do a test on arrival. Just no quarantine. 

https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/covid-vaccinated-travellers-entering-canada

[canadavisa22 197]

On 7/7/2021 at 4:24 PM, Ptitchou said:

Fully vaccinated still have to get a 72 hour PCR test before entry and do a test on arrival. Just no quarantine. 

https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/covid-vaccinated-travellers-entering-canada

Just for clarification, for the land border at least, they give you an at-home covid test kit that has to be completed within 24 hours of your arrival. You still must isolate/quarantine until the test results come back negative.

 

My in-laws took the test at 6pm on Tuesday and received the results Friday at 630am. 

Edited July 10, 2021 by canadavisa22

[canadavisa22 197]

On 7/5/2021 at 11:42 PM, Reebsrae said:

Fully vaccinated don't need to take tests or do they have to quarantine. 

 

Depending where they are landing, if not vaccinated, the arrival tests are done at the airport and the day 10 test is done at a pharmacy such as Shoppers, or if someone does not have ability to get to pharmacy then switch health mails a test out.  

This is incorrect. Fully vaccinated travelers must provide a negative result within 72 hours of their arrival time to Canada. Then they must also either take a test upon entry if flying or they are given an at-home test to complete with a telehealth nurse if arriving via land border.

 

They then have to isolate/quarantine until they have received their results. In Ontario, my in-laws did it through Switch Health and the results took two full business days to receive. 

Edited July 10, 2021 by canadavisa22

[Reebsrae 17]

27 minutes ago, canadavisa22 said:

This is incorrect. Fully vaccinated travelers must provide a negative result within 72 hours of their arrival time to Canada. Then they must also either take a test upon entry if flying or they are given an at-home test to complete with a telehealth nurse if arriving via land border.

 

They then have to isolate/quarantine until they have received their results. In Ontario, my in-laws did it through Switch Health and the results took two full business days to receive. 

It seems like the eastern provinces are making this as difficult as possible for people! Western provinces is quick and easy. Done at the airport and if having to take a 10 day test, you go to the nearest pharmacy. 

 

Do people need to quarantine until they get their results? Seems like they don't trust the vaccines! Or being "careless" if the vaccinated can wander around with a "deadly" disease until they are tested positive. 😂

[Crtcl Rice Theory 2,432]

16 hours ago, canadavisa22 said:

This is incorrect. Fully vaccinated travelers must provide a negative result within 72 hours of their arrival time to Canada. Then they must also either take a test upon entry if flying or they are given an at-home test to complete with a telehealth nurse if arriving via land border.

 

They then have to isolate/quarantine until they have received their results. In Ontario, my in-laws did it through Switch Health and the results took two full business days to receive. 

Where did you see that you need to quarantine until you receive your results? You just need a quarantine plan in case you get a positive result.

 

We crossed vaccinated, with 72 hour test in hand, sent the test off as directed and we're not told to quarantine. This was in BC on the 6th.  

Every day we needed to check-in by arrivecan app. As usual, coming back the Americans didn't ask where we have been or if we had symptoms, just wanted to know if we owned our car. 

 

 

 

I will say there was plenty of confusion when my wife presented the J&J vaccine proof which only had one dose. He had to walk across to the main office to sort that out. Then we were told to head over to a tent where the nurse would admin the test. We went there and the folks in the tent said the nurse went home for the day (at 2:40) and that we needed to do our own swab and fedex it in.  

 

Then the next cluster was calling FedEx and finding someone who knew what to do with these packets.   

 

Confused? So are the folks at the border. 

[RPete 73]

On 7/5/2021 at 8:42 PM, Reebsrae said:

Fully vaccinated don't need to take tests or do they have to quarantine. 

 

Depending where they are landing, if not vaccinated, the arrival tests are done at the airport and the day 10 test is done at a pharmacy such as Shoppers, or if someone does not have ability to get to pharmacy then switch health mails a test out.  

This is incorrect. You have to take tests. And apply for a quarantine exemption

[canadavisa22 197]

On 7/11/2021 at 1:45 AM, Crtcl Rice Theory said:

Where did you see that you need to quarantine until you receive your results? You just need a quarantine plan in case you get a positive result.

 

We crossed vaccinated, with 72 hour test in hand, sent the test off as directed and we're not told to quarantine. This was in BC on the 6th.  

Every day we needed to check-in by arrivecan app. As usual, coming back the Americans didn't ask where we have been or if we had symptoms, just wanted to know if we owned our car. 

 

 

 

I will say there was plenty of confusion when my wife presented the J&J vaccine proof which only had one dose. He had to walk across to the main office to sort that out. Then we were told to head over to a tent where the nurse would admin the test. We went there and the folks in the tent said the nurse went home for the day (at 2:40) and that we needed to do our own swab and fedex it in.  

 

Then the next cluster was calling FedEx and finding someone who knew what to do with these packets.   

 

Confused? So are the folks at the border. 

So when we were initially looking into the exemptions there was no clear information about isolating/quarantining until receiving test results. The border guards also did not really clarify this and there was zero information on the pamphlet given to our in-laws when they arrived. The only information regarding the exemption was that you could ignore ArriveCan notifications if you are exempt.

 

Since I wrote that post though, the information has been updated on the official page and clarified that you DO NOT need to isolate/quarantine until you receive your negative results. All it says is you can carry onto your destination. Beyond that I assume they mean you can do whatever you want. It's super confusing though, I don't know why it wasn't clarified as this is the main question people would want answered.

 

What's more confusing is my in-laws have been getting calls and emails daily from the Public Health Agency asking if they are still abiding by quarantine rules despite being fully vaccinated. One day we answered and asked the rep why they are still being called. The rep said they work for Public Health and the information shared on the ArriveCan app (including the uploaded vaccination information) is NOT shared with them. I couldn't believe it. I asked how it's possible Public Health Canada does not have this information and she had no answer.

 

So the Public Health Agency is not working with the ministry responsible for ArriveCan at all. They have no idea who is fully vaccinated or exempt. They are still calling us to this day even though we explained they are vaccinated and exempt and already completed their arrival test.

 

On top of that, Switch Health, who is responsible for the Covid testing in Ontario, also does not receive this information and has sent daily notifications along with reminders about Day 8 testing which is not necessary.

 

Basically the government and public health did not prepare for the exemptions at all. What a confusing mess. Can't say that's a huge surprise though...

Edited July 15, 2021 by canadavisa22

[canadavisa22 197]

On 7/10/2021 at 9:51 AM, Reebsrae said:

It seems like the eastern provinces are making this as difficult as possible for people! Western provinces is quick and easy. Done at the airport and if having to take a 10 day test, you go to the nearest pharmacy. 

 

Do people need to quarantine until they get their results? Seems like they don't trust the vaccines! Or being "careless" if the vaccinated can wander around with a "deadly" disease until they are tested positive. 😂

Mentioned this in my last post but will briefly recap here:

You dont need to isolate until test results are received if fully vaccinated. This was unclear at the time my in-laws arrived (second day of exemption) but has since been clarified officially. 

[Crtcl Rice Theory 2,432]

Canada could let fully vaccinated US citizens enter the country by next month

 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/16/americas/canada-covid-us-visitors-trudeau/index.html
 

 

"Stringent testing and quarantine measures are in place for travelers arriving by air and land.

Canada will provide more details on the reopening plans early next week, according to a readout of the Trudeau's Covid-19 briefing with premiers.

First Ministers agreed to work "on a proof of vaccination credential" to ensure that Canadians could "travel internationally with confidence," the readout said."

Edited July 16, 2021 by Crtcl Rice Theory

[CDAgirlMI 51]

On 7/10/2021 at 9:20 AM, canadavisa22 said:

This is incorrect. Fully vaccinated travelers must provide a negative result within 72 hours of their arrival time to Canada. Then they must also either take a test upon entry if flying or they are given an at-home test to complete with a telehealth nurse if arriving via land border.

 

They then have to isolate/quarantine until they have received their results. In Ontario, my in-laws did it through Switch Health and the results took two full business days to receive. 

My aunt crossed into Canada and she was not given a "take home and test"...she was tested right there.   They contacted her a couple days later.

[canadavisa22 197]

On 7/21/2021 at 2:55 PM, CDAgirlMI said:

My aunt crossed into Canada and she was not given a "take home and test"...she was tested right there.   They contacted her a couple days later.

Yes, it depends on the specific point of entry land border. Some have the ability to test on site. 

Edited July 22, 2021 by canadavisa22