The Department of Homeland Security has announced that it will continue to limit “non-essential travel” at its land borders with both Canada and Mexico for an additional 30 days through October 21, 2020. Although travel for recreation or tourism is considered “non-essential,” the definition of “essential” travel for purposes of crossing the land border remains unclear. Customs and Border Protection have confirmed that services related to the movement of food, fuel, healthcare and life-saving medicines are considered “essential,” but it’s less clear whether travel for studies, business, or employment qualifies as “essential.” The adjudication trends at the land borders unfortunately have been inconsistent. Given this uncertainty, we highly recommend traveling by air instead so as to avoid any difficulty traveling across the border.

The land borders have been closed since March 21, 2020, to non-essential travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to DHS, the ongoing need to keep the land borders closed has been due to both the success of these restrictions and the emergence of additional global COVID-19 hotspots.

A copy of the announcement is available here.

We will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as soon as they become available.

This alert is for informational purposes only.  If you would like to discuss this development further, please do not hesitate to contact us.