Canada is poised to welcome back fully vaccinated travelers, including Americans, after over a year of strict controls at the border.
Beginning on Aug. 9, citizens and permanent residents of the United States will be allowed to enter Canada as long as they have been fully vaccinated for at least 14 days before travel, federal government officials said on Monday.
Canada then hopes to allow visitors from other countries beginning on Sept. 7, a date that could change depending on conditions.
Pressure has been building on both sides of the border to reopen, to bolster tourism and allow separated families to reunite (though Canada has already made some exceptions for relatives). The two countries have renewed the closure every month since the border closed to nonessential travel on March 21, 2020. Commercial traffic was never halted.
Before the pandemic, Canada was the second most popular foreign destination for Americans, behind Mexico.
Canada is ready to lift border restrictions because it has made rapid progress vaccinating its population after months of delays. It now has higher vaccination rates than the United States, with 50 percent of its population fully vaccinated, and 75 percent of residents having received at least one dose, according to its federal public health agency.
