Fully vaccinated foreign nationals will be allowed to enter Canada for discretionary travel on the following dates if they meet specific criteria:

• August 9: American citizens and permanent residents of the United States, currently residing in and arriving from the United States, and who qualify for the fully vaccinated traveller exemption
• September 7 (intended start date): All other foreign nationals who qualify for the fully vaccinated traveller exemption

Travellers are no longer required to book a 3-night hotel stopover when entering Canada.

• Check if you qualify for the fully vaccinated traveller exemption

Valid Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR) holders can complete their landing in Canada as of today, June 21, 2021.

The Government of Canada made the announcement this morning at 10 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST).

Discover if You’re Eligible for Canadian Immigration

In its announcement, the Canadian government said that the COPR must be valid for an individual to travel to Canada to complete their landing.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is working with expired COPR holders to reissue new COPRs.

A COPR is issued to those who have been approved by IRCC to immigrate to Canada. This means the individual has met IRCC’s program criteria, paid their fees, and passed health, security, and criminality screenings. With a COPR, they can travel to Canada to begin their new life.

However, a total of 23,000 COPRs, according to Canadian government data, have not been able to travel to Canada since March 2020, when the Canadian government imposed coronavirus travel restrictions.

Up until today, only those who held a valid COPR issued on or before March 18, 2020 were exempt from Canada’s COVID-19 travel restrictions. Those who got their COPR after March 18, 2020 could only come to Canada if they met one of Canada’s other travel exemptions or were a resident of the United States and were moving to Canada to settle permanently.

Canadian government: Do not travel to Canada if your COPR is expired
The Canadian government noted that more information on when and how to obtain a new COPR will be posted shortly on IRCC’s website.

It stressed that anyone with an expired COPR should not book their flight or attempt to travel to Canada until IRCC issues a new COPR to them.

COPRs are valid for up to one year. They are tied to the applicant’s passport and their immigration medical examination. Many individuals have been unable to travel to Canada due to coronavirus disruptions or because they do not fall under one of Canada’s travel restrictions. This has caused their COPR to expire. They will not need to go through the immigration process again, however they will need IRCC to reissue a new valid COPR to enable them to travel to Canada.

COPR holders will need to follow Canada’s travel rules upon arrival, such as possibly quarantining for 14 days. However the federal government also announced today that those fully vaccinated will be exempt from the quarantine requirement.

The Government of Prince Edward Island has released its June 17 PNP draw results.

The province invited a total of 113 immigration candidates through its Provincial Nominee Program (PNP).

Most of the invitations, 101, were issued to Express Entry and Labor Impact candidates. The remaining 12 invitations went to Business Impact candidates who had a minimum point threshold of 60.

This is the sixth draw of the year held by the Canadian maritime province.  PEI has invited 905 candidates, 816 of which were from the Labor Impact and Express Entry streams and 89 from the Business Impact stream.

Canada will be extending its restrictions on international travellers until July 21.

Public safety minister, Bill Blair, confirmed the news in a tweet on June 18, saying Canada is extending travel restrictions on non-essential international travel until July 21st, 2021.

Blair also said the government is planning measures for fully vaccinated Canadians, and others who are currently exempt from the restrictions to enter Canada. More details are forthcoming Monday.

Canada invited 6,000 more Express Entry candidates to apply for permanent residence on June 10.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) invited candidates with scores of at least 368. The new draw targeted candidates who are eligible for permanent residence under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC). Invited candidates have had at least one year of skilled work experience in Canada, as this is a key eligibility requirement of the CEC. Candidates also have at least an intermediate language proficiency in English or French.

As per administrative requirements, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) published a cutoff time for the tie-break rule, whether or not there was any actual tie. In the new draw, candidates who had the minimum score were only invited if they submitted their Express Entry profile before April 28, 2021 at 05:45:14 UTC.

Canada has been holding CEC-only draws with historically low score cut offs. The previous CEC draw only required candidates to have a score of 380. At the time, it was the lowest for a CEC-only draw since the record-breaking February 13 draw. CEC candidates with scores as low as 75 got invitations in that draw.