The United States plan to impose mandatory registration at the immigration services for Canadian travellers who want to stay in the US for more than 30 days. This measure could have consequences for more than 900,000 Canadian citizens. The association Canadian Snowbird is negotiating with the US authorities to have Canadians exempted from this measure.
No visa or ESTA required
Currently, Canadian citizens are allowed to stay in the United States for six months without an ESTA or visa. They can travel to the USA with their Canadian passport without having to apply for a travel authorisation. This might change in the near feature if Canadians who plan to stay longer than one month in the US are obliged to register in the country.
US restrictions to foreign travellers.
The US government wants to strengthen the travel requirements for Canadian who want to stay in the US for more than 30 days. The legal basis for this already existed, although it had never been applied. However, this law will likely enter into force now.
Travellers affected by this law will have to provide their personal details and be fingerprinted as part of a background check. The new regulation will probably affect an estimated 900,000 travellers who want to escape the cold Canadian winter and spend this period in the south of the United States. According to CTV, states such as Texas, Florida and South Carolina are the ones receiving the most Canadian tourists during the winter period.
The former legal text was applied differently
The new measure comes from an existing US law that required foreign nationals over 14 to be fingerprinted if they wished to stay in the United States for more than 30 days. Until recently, Canadian travellers travelling by land to the United States did not have to comply with this requirement.
The law will be applied differently in a moment of diplomatic tension between the US and Canada, due to import tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium. So far, however, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not said how the registration process will be carried out. Before travelling to the United States, Canadians are advised to check with official sources for the latest updates on this issue.
Legislative changes in perspective
After taking office, Donald Trump stipulated in the presidential decree ‘Protecting the American People Against Invasion’, that people with foreign passports must register in the country in order to comply with the law.
Major potential impact for travellers and the economy
The US is the country with the largest Canadian population abroad. Currently, around 820,000 Canadian citizens reside in the United States. According to the Canadian Snowbird Association, this new measure will have negative consequences for the American tourism sector. Canadian tourists are the most important group for the American tourism industry. Each year, Canadians leave an estimated 20 billion USD in the United States. There are businesses in the south of the United States that are totally dependent on the revenue from Canadian visitors. According to the Travel Association, an American association, a small reduction of 10% in the number of Canadian visitors could result in losses of up to USD 2.1 billion. As a result, up to 14,000 American jobs could be destroyed.
Travellers' associations reject the new policy
The Canadian Snowbird Association has announced that they are negotiating with members of the US Congress to have Canadian travellers exempted from the registration requirement.
The ESTA for European travellers
Travellers with a Canadian passport can visit the United States without a visa or ESTA. Most European travellers can use an ESTA, and travel without a visa to the United States. The ESTA is a digital travel authorisation that can be applied for in a few minutes via this website. Find out more about the ESTA requirements. You may use an ESTA for a stay of up to 90 days within the validity period of 2 years.