According to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada will likely relax travel restrictions further this summer. Trudeau stated at a press conference on June 22 that Canada is ready to lift travel restrictions once more people are fully vaccinated.
According to the announcement made on June 21, fully vaccinated exempt travellers may enter Canada without being quarantined for 14 days. People who have recovered from COVID and received one dose of the vaccine are considered fully vaccinated in some jurisdictions, such as Quebec, but they are not covered by the new measure.
Trudeau said on Monday that the government was not ready to make that decision, but that experts are looking into it and that he hopes to have more answers in the coming weeks.
So far, the federal government has not stated what criteria Canada must meet before the border is opened to tourism. According to Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, the federal government wants to see 75% of Canadians fully vaccinated before reopening the border. Blair previously suggested in a meeting with border-town mayors in Ontario that this could happen by July 21, when the current border restrictions expire.
Trudeau did not specify a specific date for further easing of border restrictions. He was more concerned about reopening the border too quickly. It is important to note that while being fully vaccinated may prevent illness, it does not necessarily prevent transmission.
This news comes on the heels of Canada's most recent invitation round, in which they invited 1,002 immigration candidates to apply for permanent residence in their most recent Express Entry draw.
All of the invited candidates had previously been nominated by a Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). Because all PNP candidates in the Express Entry pool automatically receive 600 points, the score cut-off was relatively high at 742.
Canada invited 940 PNP candidates to apply for permanent residence in the previous PNP-only draw, with a score requirement of 711 points. It was the largest draw of its kind in history.
This year, Canada has invited nearly twice as many Express Entry candidates as the previous year at this time. The large number stems from IRCC's historic February 13 draw, in which it invited every CEC-eligible candidate in the pool, a total of 27,332 people. According to an IRCC email, approximately 87% of those invited that day applied for permanent residence before the 90-day deadline.
At this point, almost everyone agrees that the time to relocate to Canada is now, as the country continues to welcome highly skilled professionals.