Canada has stayed constant with travel restrictions, and the same would be applicable for all passenger or business flights from India till 21st July.
Due to the increasing number of cases and mutant variants of COVID, the country had restricted all flights from India and Pakistan. That was implemented on 22nd April this year.
Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, stated that precautions are necessary as the new variant is way more transmissible.
Initially, the ban should have been lifted by 22nd May but was increased for one more month. For Pakistan, the restrictions were relaxed on 21st June.
“Given the number of COVID-19 cases continue to be very high in India, we have extended our flight restrictions for this country,” Omar Alghabra, Canada’s transport minister said, “We will continue to assess the evolving situation and determine appropriate action going forward.”
Canada on travel ban relaxations
The country has now exempted COPR document holders. COPR stands for Confirmation of Canadian Permanent Residence. That implies that whoever has received COPR is allowed to travel to Canada. People whose documents expired will have to wait till the next announcement. Canada might help them renew their COPR documents; however, no such communication has been made until now. The earlier restrictions did not exempt COPR owners last year.
Furthermore, Canada has made more flexible regulations for fully vaccinated individuals. First of all, from 5th July, they all are exempted from travel bans and will not have to be quarantined upon arrival. However, they still have to take the RTPCR test upon and before arriving as usual. Further, they are not mandated to take the test on the 8th day.
Citizens/permanent residents of the country have been exempted from restrictions. Furthermore, some essential employees, active COPR owners, students completing their studies from DLIs also have exemptions from the country’s restrictions.
Things are taken into consideration before lifting restrictions in Canada.
Here are a couple of things that the country considers:
- Canada studies the daily count of COVID cases. That is for both domestic grounds as well as abroad.
- Increasing cases of new variants.
- The share of the population that has taken the vaccine.
Recently, Canada’s minister of public safety announced that the country is working to steadily open the borders in a phased manner; however, in order to make that happen, 75% of the Canadian population should get complete vaccination.
The country has been able to come out well from this pandemic, and that is why considering opening its borders. In the beginning, they are allowing fully vaccinated travellers to skip quarantine.
Canada will open up and lift more restrictions in the near future, as per the country’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau.
“We certainly hope… that we will have more good news about reopening in the coming weeks but, of course, it depends on the vaccination rate, the COVID situation in general, the variants of concern and what’s happening elsewhere,” said Trudeau in French during a press conference on 22nd June.
The Canadian government respects and also takes into consideration the opinions of other authorities. For instance, the country worked with DLIs (Designated Learning Institutions) to ease the travel bans for international students in various cases last year.
On similar lines, the country is expected to cater to the view of allowing students from India as well for DLIs. Indian students’ share stands at 30% in all the international students. The majority of the students start their course in September, and that’s why some of them arrive in August.
Canada to welcome a large number of immigrants in the coming years
Canada has set a goal to welcome a huge number of newcomers in the next three years. For 2021 alone, they are expecting to aboard around 401,000 newcomers. On average, Indians make around 20% of the newcomers every year.
The relaxation in travelling to Canada will surely help the country’s economic recovery after COVID. Since newcomers from India account for a large share of the immigrants, it will also help Canada’s ambitious goal.
If positive trends are able to thrive in India and as well as Canada, the bans will be lifted by July. If not July, then by August, the restrictions should be lifted.
