On April 30, a piece of news suddenly raged: Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada said that he was dealing with the request from Doug Ford, the Premier of Ontario to “ban foreign students from entering Ontario.”
Trudeau said that “Premier Ford asked that we suspend the arrival of international students,” he said, adding, “because at this time Ontario is the only province requesting this, we’re happy to work more narrowly with them.”
At a subsequent video press conference, the Premier of Ontario Ford said that more measures are needed to prevent the invasion of the pandemic. “I assure you, if I had the power, I would close down Pearson Airport immediately,” he said, “I would shut down the land border crossings to only those who are absolutely essential, because I would do anything in my power to stop a vaccine-resistant variant from getting into our country and bringing a fourth wave with it.”
Due to current policy regulations, passengers entering Canada by flight are required to undergo a virus test upon customs and are compulsory to stay in an isolated hotel for 3 nights. However, passengers entering Canada by land can escape the compulsory quarantine, only if the passengers show a negative test report within 72 hours and prove that there is a quarantine plan, and they can be tested 8 days later.
Among the passengers who choose to enter Canada by land, there is no shortage of cases in which direct flights to Canada from their country of departure are banned, and after they fly to the United States, they enter Canada by land.
Ontario is the province with the most population and universities in Canada. As soon as the news came out, all high schools and universities got shocked in an instant, which is undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for many international students who have returned to their home country to take online courses.
This news will cause the education industry, which has already suffered a major impact, to suffer even greater losses!
The Rumors Refuted from the Government:
Later, many media asked the Ontario government to verify the authenticity of the information, and the Ontario government clarified that they have not formally requested the prohibition of foreign students from entering Canada!
Then, the Director of Media Relations to Premier of Ontario, Ivana Yelich also issued the same statement and emphasized that Ontario has not made a formal request to ban international students but look forward to the federal government providing solutions to reduce the importation of cases and introduction of variants into Canada.
The statement emphasized that statements from Ontario and the federal government have contradictions, and theirs is accurate.
Response from Universities:
After reconfirming that Ontario has not officially banned international students from entering Canada, many Ontario universities also clarified that they still welcome international students to return to school in September.
Both the University of Toronto and McMaster University have posted similar content on Twitter:
Hotel Quarantine can be Avoided by Holding China Vaccine Report:
A week ago, a Chinese netizen said on Weibo that a friend submitted a vaccine report when he entered Canada after being vaccinated in China. Then he was exempted from compulsory hotel quarantine by the customs and went straight home to self-quarantine.
The Weibo blogger stated that “The friend who landed at Vancouver Airport with positive lgG in the COVID-19 antibody test report, can be exempted from hotel isolation and nucleic acid testing (go directly to the destination).”
The ArriveCan mentioned that if a positive antibody is detected within 14-90 days before departure, there is a chance that the passenger will be exempted from nucleic acid testing and three days of the mandatory hotel isolation when entering Canada, the passenger can go directly to the home isolation in the destination.
However, the exemption of hotel isolation requires the following conditions, and none of them are indispensable. At the same time, the customs officer has the final decision whether the passenger is necessarily exempt from hotel isolation:
1. The passenger was vaccinated;
2. After vaccination, the “chemiluminescence method” is tested, and the report shows that lgG is positive;
3. The “chemiluminescence method” test report must be within 14-90 days before the plane takes off;
4. The passenger still needs to make an appointment for a Canadian quarantine hotel, but it can be refunded later.
According to an experienced passenger, the Canadian Customs was the first time to encounter this situation and finally agreed on her to directly go home to isolate.
In addition, Canada does not currently have a policy showing that compulsory isolation can be exempted after vaccination. As we all know, the Canadian Customs has a lot of discretionary powers, and the policy implementation may be different for each customs. Some cases that have appeared may only be special cases, and there are elements of luck. Therefore, everyone should not have a fluke.
Conclusions:
At present, international students can still enter Canada and Ontario in accordance with the temporary policies during the epidemic.
Holders of vaccination reports from China or other countries and regions may obtain customs approval to exempt hotel isolation.
Students who have already returned to their home countries to choose online courses, and those who are planning to go to Canada to register for the September fall course, don’t have to worry for the time being. There is currently no additional immigration policy to prevent entry into Canada.
In addition, students who have not yet entered Canada can consider vaccinating in their own countries, so that they may be exempted from mandatory hotel isolation after entry into Canada.
