The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced that they will tighten COVID-19 travel restrictions on travelers from Mexico and Canada at land ports of entry (POEs) and ferry terminals. 

As you can read about in this article about the November 8th travel policy, the only ways for individuals to enter the United States by land or ferry were to be:

• Under the age of 18 (under the required age to be vaccinated)
• A US citizen or hold a permanent US resident
• A fully vaccinated traveler as described here
• Or an essential traveler, which included persons on diplomatic or official foreign government travel, persons traveling to the US for public health/infrastructure purposes, and more.

In January, the DHS plans on removing unvaccinated essential travelers from the list making it so that only individuals under the age of 18, US citizens/permanent residents, and vaccinated travelers can enter the United States via land and ferry.

Even for essential purposes, unvaccinated travelers over the age of 18 and who aren’t permanent residents will not be able to cross the border into the United States.

There is no official start date for this policy as of yet. We will update you once the start date is announced.