Travellers who are fully vaccinated and hold a valid Confirmation of Permanent Residence (COPR) may now travel to Canada, the Government of Canada has announced. However, it is mandatory for the travellers that the COPR is valid to complete their landing in Canada. The fully vaccinated travellers also need not quarantine for 14 days once they arrive in Canada.
It has also been informed that the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada(IRCC) is working to reissue expired COPRs.
What is a COPR?
A COPR is a document issued to those who have been approved by the IRCC to immigrate to Canada. It is issued to those candidates who have met all the IRCC’s program criteria for immigration, paid their fees and cleared all health, security and criminality checks. Only those who hold a COPR will be able to travel to Canada as a permanent resident. Since March 2020, almost 23000 COPR holders have not been able to travel to Canada, owing to the travel restrictions imposed by the country in the wake of coronavirus pandemic.
Up until June 21, only those who had their COPR issued on or before March 18, 2020 were exempted from Canada’s COVID-19 travel restrictions. Those who were issued their COPRs after the said date were allowed in only if they met one of Canada’s other travel exemptions or were US residents or were moving to Canada to settle permanently.
Expired COPR holders cannot travel
It should be noted that those who have an expired COPR are not allowed to travel to Canada until a new COPR is issued to them. The Canada Government has said that more information on when and how to obtain a new COPR will be posted on the IRCC website soon.
The new announcement indicates that Canada is slowly opening up its borders for new immigrants. At present, Canada is admitting a high number of immigrants to make up the drop in the number of new immigrants in 2020 owing to the border restrictions imposed in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. Do you wish to move to Canada? Then start the preparations right away. Connect with CanApprove and initiate your immigration process with us!