U.S. To Ease Travel Restrictions For Vaccinated Visitors From Mexico & Canada

The United States is opening its border to the fully vaccinated visitors from Canada and Mexico starting in November.

“[United States] 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,” U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.

The new rules are similar to the mandate announced last month regarding international air travelers.

Democratic leaders and lawmakers from the border states welcomed the federal move to ease the restrictions, which have devastated local economies.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, members of our shared cross-border community have felt the pain and economic hardship of the land border closures. That pain is about to end,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said in a statement.