U.S. border is reopening to Canada. What you need to know before you travel

Beginning Nov. 8, all ports of entry into the U.S., including ferries, will allow non-essential travellers, such as tourists, if they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

The U.S. is set to reopen its land border to non-essential travellers, including from Canada, on Nov. 8 after an over year-and-a-half closure.

The border has been closed since March 2020 to non-essential travellers due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Canada reopened its land border to non-essential American travellers in August, the U.S. did not reciprocate until now.

Here’s what you need to know about the changing rules.

Beginning Nov. 8, all ports of entry into the U.S., including ferries, will allow non-essential travellers, such as tourists, if they are fully vaccinated. The new rules will go into effect as of midnight Nov. 8.

To be considered fully vaccinated, 14 days must pass after either a second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine or after a one-dose vaccine, namely the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine.

The U.S. will accept all vaccines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and those given Emergency Use Listing (EUL) by the World Health Organization (WHO).

These include COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Covishield.