Canadian border relaxes COVID test requirements for residents returning from short trips to U.S.

The U.S. and Canadian border should be easier to cross for Canadian travelers this week as the COVID-19 testing requirement for Canadians returning home has been lifted for short trips. 

Canadians traveling to the U.S. for trips of three days or less will no longer need to show proof of a negative COVID test to cross back into their home country as of Midnight Eastern time on Tuesday morning November 30. Whitehorse resident Aimee O’Connor says she’s long overdue for a visit to the upper Lynn Canal.

“My partner and I are super excited to go to be able to go to either Skagway or Haines, simply to just be by the water and soak up a little bit of ocean time. Specifically in Skagway pretty excited to hit up the brewpub. It’s been a while,” said O’Connor.

The U.S. border was opened to all vaccinated Canadian travelers in early November. But the Canadian government still required a negative test result for land travel between the two countries even though the U.S. border doesn’t require one. That made the trip costly for Canadian residents. Each test performed for recreational travel purposes in the Yukon Territory’s capital city of Whitehorse costs over $200 CAD, and for families that can add up quickly.

Now that the Canadian government has eased the testing requirement for Canadian residents O’Connor says that if road conditions permit, she is planning to visit.

“We’ve been waiting, mostly just for the testing requirements to lift for a quick day trip. I would justify it if I wanted to, you know, go to Alaska for more than a few days. But if we just want to go for a quick day trip, it just wasn’t really cost-effective. And it’s a couple more hoops to jump through. Right. So that’s mostly what I’ve been waiting for,” said O’Connor.

The Klondike Highway, however, has seen multiple avalanches in the past couple of weeks causing road closures and hazardous driving conditions. The latest avalanche on the British Columbia side of the border was cleared on Monday morning. The road from Whitehorse to Haines has several travel advisories as of Monday afternoon, meaning driving conditions aren’t ideal.

Two local lodges reported an uptick of bookings for this coming weekend, including The White House Inn in Skagway. Owner Chelsey Stone says her guests are excited to come to town to check their boats and hit up Skagway’s restaurants.

“In the wintertime, we go down from nine rooms to five rooms. And four of those five rooms are booked with Canadians for the weekend,” said Stone.

The relaxed requirements do not apply to U.S. citizens. So any fully vaccinated Alaskans looking to head to Canada will still need to present a negative molecular COVID-19 test and a completed ArriveCan app to cross the border.