Culture

US to Open Mexican and Canadian Borders to Vaccinated Travelers

Lead Photo: Photo by Mark Spowart/Getty Images
Photo by Mark Spowart/Getty Images

The United States border will soon be opened to fully vaccinated travelers on both the Mexican and Canadian sides. The Biden Administration announced earlier this week that the travel restriction for non-essential travel will be lifted in November. 

You may remember that all non-essential travel was shut down in March 2020 as North America began to feel the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic.  The lifting of the ban will in effect reopen the U.S. to travelers and with it their tourism dollars. 

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, members of our shared cross-border community have felt the pain and economic hardship of the land border closures. That pain is about to end,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.

This also means that families that have been separated can now be reunited ending a 19-month period of being apart. It is important to note that the Biden administration has reemphasized that Title 42 wouldn’t be lifted. That is the order put in place by former President Trump that denies asylum for hundreds of thousands of migrants seeking to enter the U.S. 

While the U.S. will allow all vaccinated travelers next month, a ban on unvaccinated travelers remains. Those Americans who want to travel to Mexico or Canada are allowed to do so. Canada lifted their restrictions in early August and Mexico never had one in place.  And, those who were not banned from traveling, including students, health care workers, and commercial drivers will need to start showing their proof of vaccination. But, not until January of 2022, giving people in those groups time to adjust to the new rule. 

Before the pandemic, more than 15 million people visited the United States in 2019 from Mexico. From Canada, the number was over 10 million. Officials did not give an exact date for the lifting of the restriction, only offering up a November timeline.