Vaccination in Canada: Is it compulsory or not to enter the country?
We get a lot of questions about whether unvaccinated tourists, workers and immigrants are allowed into the country, whether they need to sit in quarantine and which vaccines are recognized.
Vaccinations in Canada
Do I have to be vaccinated to come to Canada on a tourist visa, and are tourists allowed in at all? There are three pieces of news: good news, bad news, and very bad news. I'll start with the good news. Since September they started letting tourists into Canada. But here, only fully vaccinated people are accepted. And worst of all, only vaccines approved in Canada are recognized: Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson.
Not all countries can get these vaccines, and people have to travel to another country to get them. I hope that soon people will be allowed into Canada with all the vaccines.
Tourist visa
What does a tourist visa to Canada bring? First of all, you will be able to explore Canada and decide for yourself whether to immigrate here and which city suits you best. I first came to Canada as a tourist in 2011 and visited two cities: Montreal and Ottawa. After 5 years my family and I settled in Montreal and now we live in Ottawa.
I went to language school 10 years ago, which allowed me to better immerse myself in Canadian society and to get to know people from different countries, albeit superficially. I have made certain conclusions for myself, and I know who suits my mentality and who I should avoid.
While studying at the language school, you can try to find a job in your spare time. Or you can study at the school as a truck driver. Our company is the agent of Canada's largest language school and can offer a 30% discount on tuition. I, on the other hand, as an immigration consultant, can submit your documents for a visa. So reach out if you need help.
Work, student, immigration visas
On a work, student or immigration visa, you can come without vaccination, but then you will be two weeks on self-exclusion. This is not as bad as the quarantine hotels used to be.
I highly suggest checking the entry rules on the official website or Immigrant.Today before you travel to Canada, because things can change.
Are vaccinations compulsory in Canada
Now, about compulsory vaccination. Technically there is none in Canada, but the reality is that people have to get vaccinated. Many Canadian employers make employees get vaccinated and if they don't want to, they have to quit. Only those who have a contraindication can avoid it. Someone is trying to excuse themselves allegedly for religious reasons, but I'm not sure you can prove that.
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Also, almost all provinces in Canada are about to introduce vaccination passports or have already introduced them, which will verify that you've been injected. Almost everywhere, you won't be allowed to go to restaurants, gyms, movies, clubs, events and so on without passports, somewhere even weddings. Each province has its own rules. Somewhere you can show a negative COVID-19 test instead of a passport, somewhere you can't.
I will give you a personal example. Recently we went to Toronto, where we paid for a hotel with breakfasts. We were not asked for our vaccinations upon check-in, but when we went down for breakfast, we had to look up the confirmation of two shots on our phone and additionally showed our driver's license for identification. Then we went to other restaurants, somewhere I saw a sign that they were only for vaccinated people.
At the language school that we cooperate with, the rules for students also change depending on the availability of the vaccine. If they don't have it, their accommodation prices go up and you have to take tests on campus every week. Whoever gets it all can get vaccinated there right away. At the college open house, only vaccinated people were allowed in, if I'm not mistaken. When we were planning the trip, they mailed proofs.
Currently, only three Canadian territories are not planning to introduce vaccination passports and restrictions for the unvaccinated: Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut, but it is unlikely you would want to go there.
The constant wearing of masks and other restrictions annoys me personally. But if you have to choose the lesser of two evils, this is better than when the province Ontario had a hard lockdown. Back then you couldn't even buy socks in the store, and kids were homeschooled for almost a year. If you look at the statistics for new covid cases and the number of deaths, in Canada, where over 70% of the population is vaccinated, things are holding up okay. In countries that don't like to vaccinate, things are much worse.
We have already had both vaccinations as a family, except our youngest son, it's too early for him. My mother-in-law, who came to visit, was also vaccinated. And here is an interesting situation: in Ukraine she was afraid to get vaccinated, but in Canada she agreed. She was vaccinated for free, even though she is a tourist.
Ivanna Pavlenko, Licensed Immigration Consultant
