Mikerussell, Wikimedia Commons
Flags of Canada and the United States over a metal boundary marker in the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.
For the first time since the pandemic started, the U.S.-Canada border will finally reopen to non-essential travel — but only those vaccinated against COVID-19.
According to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the administration "will begin allowing travelers from Mexico and Canada who are fully vaccinated for COVID-19 to enter the United States for non-essential purposes, including to visit friends and family or for tourism, via land and ferry border crossings."
A firm date has not yet been announced, but the policy is expected to go into effect in early November.
"The relationship between Michigan and Canada is one built on trade, travel, and friendship," Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement. "I am grateful to the government of Canada and our federal partners for coming together to reopen the Michigan-Canada border. I look forward to welcoming our neighbors as they cross the Ambassador Bridge or Detroit-Windsor Tunnel into Detroit, the Blue Water Bridge into Port Huron, or the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge into Sault Ste. Marie."
Canada began allowing vaccinated U.S. visitors for non-essential travel in August.
