Greenberg Traurig, LLP (LexBlog Canada)

Starting Jan. 22, 2022, the Biden administration will require foreign national travelers engaged in essential travel to be fully vaccinated when crossing U.S. land borders or ferry terminals. Essential travel includes travel for work or study in the United States, emergency response, and public health. The new rules apply to foreign nationals; U.S. citizens and...

The Department of Homeland Security announced the extension of restrictions along the U.S.-Canada and U.S.-Mexico borders. Restrictions to non-essential travel, including tourism and recreational travel, were initially implemented March 21, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement on May 19, 2020, Acting DHS Secretary Wolf said, “Non-essential travel will not be permitted until this...

Until most recently, Canadians working and living in the U.S. as L-1 intracompany transferees have been able to file a subsequent application for admission in L-1 status relatively easily, applying in the same manner by which they applied for their initial L entry with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).  However, a new interpretation of...

The Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) issued a reminder to Lawful Permanent Residents (“LPRs”) of the United States regarding new guidance for travelling to Canada by air.  The Electronic Travel Authorization (“eTA”) is a new Canadian entry requirement for visa-exempt foreign nationals travelling to Canada by air, which went into effect on March 15, 2016....

Following a trend from past summers, the U.S. Consulate in Toronto has suspended Third Country Nationals’ (non-Canadian Nationals’) visa appointments in the summer months of June, July, and August. This suspension only applies to Third Country Nationals and Canadian citizen applicants. Those Third Country Nationals who are legally living in Canada are unaffected. Third Country...

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has signed a trilateral agreement with its counterparts Public Safety Canada and the Secretariat of Governance of Mexico to create a North American Trusted Traveler program that will permit pre-approved, low-risk travelers to participate in expedited screening programs at international airports to facilitate travel across the continent. Under the...

Starting in March 2016, Canada will require individuals who may visit Canada without a visa to first obtain approval from its electronic travel authorization system (eTA). Visitors to the United States will recognize eTA as similar to the ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization), which is used by the United States to pre-screen its visa-exempt visitors....

The announcement of the Express Entry immigration selection system by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has resulted in a surge of applications under the current Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP). Under the current program, applications are submitted based on a list of eligible occupations, which will be eliminated under the Express Entry program. Only 1,000...

In response to the Ebola epidemic, Canada, Australia and Singapore have all implemented immigration restrictions on citizens from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.  Other countries are expected to implement similar restrictions. Starting today, Singapore requires all citizens of Ebola-stricken countries to obtain entry visas before they can be admitted into the country – previously visas...

Over the last several years, the Canadian government has increased scrutiny on the activities of employers and foreign workers to ensure compliance with Canadian local and federal agreements regarding the hiring of temporary foreign workers. Instructions and amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations were announced recently by the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)...

Ahead of the Toluca Summit – which marked the 20th anniversary of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and saw the reunion of U.S. President Barack Obama, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper – Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) CEO Emilio Lozoya asserted that, “North America will become the world’s cheapest...

The U.S. State Department has announced that it was delaying its decision on the Keystone XL oil pipeline in order to consider other pathways through Nebraska.