Government Relations Report Ron Steeves First Vice-President After 20 months of continuous closure, on November 8, the U.S. land border finally opened to non-essential travel for fully vaccinated travellers. When arriving at a U.S. land border crossing, Canadian travellers should be prepared to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination and verbally attest to their reason for travel and COVID-19 vaccination status. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will accept digital and paper copies of provincial and territorial vaccination receipts. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), international travellers will be considered fully vaccinated two weeks (14 days) after their dose of an accepted single-dose COVID-19 vaccine, two weeks (14 days) after their second dose of an accepted two-dose series COVID-19 vaccine, or two weeks (14 days) after they received two doses of any “mix-and-match” combination of accepted COVID-19 vaccines administered at least 17 days apart. At the time of printing, the following vaccines are accepted in accordance with CDC guidelines: Janssen/J&J, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Covishield, BIBP/Sinopharm, Sinovac and Covaxin. While Canadian travellers entering the United States at a land crossing are not required to present a negative COVID-19 test, all air passengers arriving to the U.S. from a foreign country are required to get tested for COVID-19 with a viral test nomore than three days before their flight departs. They must present the negative result or documentation of having recovered from COVID-19 to the airline before boarding the flight. After arriving in the United States, the CDC recommends that travellers should get tested with a COVID-19 viral test three-five days after arrival. COVID-19 testing locations in the United States can be found on the following website, www.hhs.gov/coronavirus/ community-based-testing-sites/index.html. On Friday, November 19, the federal Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos announced that the requirement to obtain a pre-arrival COVID-19 molecular test would be eliminated for fully vaccinated Canadian travellers taking short-term trips abroad, which are no longer than 72 hours in duration. This new policy will come into effect on November 30, 2021. The pre-arrival testing exemption will apply to fully vaccinated Canadians and permanent residents, as well as accompanying unvaccinated children under the age of 12, who depart and re-enter Canada within 72 hours. Please note that at this time, no changes have been made for fully vaccinated Canadian travellers taking trips abroad which are longer than 72 hours. One of the CSA’s advocacy priorities is the elimination of the pre-arrival molecular COVID-19 test requirement for all fully vaccinated travellers returning to Canada, regardless of trip length. Back in May, the COVID-19 Testing and Screening Expert Advisory Panel recommended that the federal government eliminate pre-arrival testing for fully vaccinated travellers entering Canada, as travellers who have been vaccinated pose a lower risk of importation and transmission of COVID-19. We will continue to lobby the Government of Canada to adopt this recommendation from their own advisory panel. When returning to Canada, travellers must use ArriveCAN within 72 hours before their travel to enter their vaccination status, proof of vaccination, and travel information. In addition, travellers must enter their suitable quarantine plan into ArriveCAN regardless of their vaccination status. Travellers may be asked to explain their quarantine plan at the border. Given the fluid situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, these requirements are subject to change. We recommend that members visit https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covidprior to their return to Canada. The CSA is also focused on our Canadian retiree visa initiative to extend the length of time that retired Canadians are permitted to stay in the United States annually. With the land border closure lasting for more than a year-and-a-half, we have seen significant interest frommembers related to our Canadian retiree visa efforts. In the current session of Congress, we have bills in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate which, if passed, would increase the length of time that retired Canadians 50 years of age and older can spend in the United States to eight months. This is an additional two months from the existing limit of six months less a day. The House bill, H.R. 4856 the Canadian Snowbird Visa Act, now has 12 bipartisan co-sponsors from across the United States. The Senate companion bill, S. 2096 the Canadian Snowbirds Act, has three co-sponsors. Association representatives are also working on having our Canadian retiree visa provision included in additional pieces of legislation which will be brought before Congress. On behalf of Judy and myself, please stay safe. CSANews | WINTER 2021 | 11
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