Business Travellers Can Still Come to Canada Amid COVID-19 Under Certain Conditions

Last Updated on février 16, 2021

Business travel to Canada is still thriving for many industry sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic despite all the hype surrounding Ottawa’s air and land travel restrictions.

Immigrants coming to Canada under the Start-Up Visa Program to set up businesses and create jobs are still being welcomed with open arms. Under that program, 140 business people came to Canada and obtained their permanent residence in the first six months of 2020 alone.

But it’s not just those starting up businesses that are welcome. 

Business travellers – many of whom are foreign nationals seeking permanent residence in Canada through economic immigration programs – are able to travel to Canada to provide critical infrastructure support, economic services, supply chains, or any other activity considered essential by Ottawa. 

Although COVID-19 travel restrictions have put a damper on immigration to Canada, economic immigration programs still allowed 65,830 foreign nationals to get their permanent residence in Canada during the first six months of 2020.

Under current travel restrictions, Ottawa makes a distinction between non-Canadian travellers arriving to Canada from the United States and those coming from countries other than the U.S.

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Regardless of their country of origin, all asymptomatic persons entering Canada must quarantine themselves for 14 days. 

Every foreign national coming from a country other than the United States by air has to have a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours before boarding their flight and qualify for a travel exemption.

Those exemptions include:

• temporary foreign workers;
• some international students;
• some people who have been approved to become a permanent resident of Canada, but who are not yet permanent residents;
• immediate family members with written authorization from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to reunite with a temporary resident of Canada;
• transiting passengers;
• members of the Canadian forces, visiting forces coming to perform official duties, Department of National Defence and their immediate family members;
• accredited diplomats and their immediate family members;
• air and marine crew members;
• French citizens who live in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon and have been in only Canada, the US or Saint-Pierre and Miquelon during the 14 days before the day they seek to enter Canada;
• any person who does not pose a significant harm to public health, in the opinion of the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, and who will provide an essential service while in Canada, or;
• any person whose presence in Canada is in the national interest, in the opinion of the immigration, public safety and emergency preparedness or foreign affairs minister.

Whether they are coming to Canada by air from the United States or another country, all newcomers are required to take a COVID-19 molecular test upon arrival and then self-isolate in a designated hotel at their own cost for three days.

As of Feb. 15, that requirement for testing upon arrival in Canada will also apply to anyone coming to Canada by land from the United States.

Since non-essential travel to Canada is currently prohibited under the COVID-19 restrictions – excluding those exemptions for foreign nationals – Public Safety Canada has put together a list of essential services to provide guidance for business travelers who want to come to Canada.

Business travelers coming to Canada from the United States during the pandemic need to demonstrate to border officials that they will meet one of the needs identified under Public Safety Canada’s list of essential services and workers.

That list includes but is not limited to:

• Healthcare workers who provide direct care such as physicians, nurses, and dentists;
• Hospital and laboratory personnel;
• Workers in other medical facilities;
• Manufacturers, technicians, logistics and warehouse operators, and distributors of medical equipment or those offering medical cleaning services;
• Public health workers;
• Managers of health plans, billing, and health information, who cannot practically work remotely;
• Workers performing cybersecurity functions at healthcare and public health facilities;
• Security, incident management, and emergency operations functions at or on behalf of healthcare entities;

Mendicino Calls Immigration ‘Essential’ To Economic Recovery

Ottawa remains bullish on immigration and has raised immigration targets to bring in more than ever. 

Canadian Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino has described immigration, including economic immigration, as critical to helping the country rebuild its economy in the wake of the pandemic.

“Immigration is essential to getting us through the pandemic, but also to our short-term economic recovery and our long-term economic growth,” he said. “Canadians have seen how newcomers are playing an outsized role in our hospitals and care homes and helping us to keep food on the table.

“As we look to recovery, newcomers create jobs not just by giving our businesses the skills they need to thrive, but also by starting businesses themselves,” he said. “Our plan will help to address some of our most acute labour shortages and to grow our population to keep Canada competitive on the world stage.”

The federal government wants to welcome more than 1.2 million newcomers between 2021 and 2023. There are to be 401,000 new permanent residents to Canada this year, 411,000 next year, and 421,000 in 2023.