Canadian Gov't to end pre-arrival Covid test to enter Canada April 1st

[moonstone]

Yay! It's about time!
Official announcement due tomorrow but story is all over the Canadian news this morning.
Sister-in-law & her DH due to arrive back from their winter south on April 1st -good timing!

Federal government to end pre-arrival COVID testing for travellers entering Canada | CBC News


~Diane

 

[bizaro86]

Good news. Hopefully this extends to unvaccinated children travelling with vaccinated parents and the USA provides reciprocal access to Canadian travelers on the same basis.

I went through the annual statement from my US dollar credit card for 2021, and the "medical" category of well over $1000 jumped out at me. I only use it for travel expenses and timeshare MF, so there aren't usually medical expenses on there. But the tests I paid for in the US last year to come back to Canada (and get into Hawaii) were over $1000, and that's after we were able to get some of them for free...

 

[silentg]

When will the US stop their testing to re enter?

 

[Tacoma]

I miss it by a few days getting back from Jordan but I will be good for my trip to Seattle at the first of May. Less aggravation and costs means more trips.

 

[jabberwocky]

We come back on April 2nd. Won't have a big impact since I've just received a letter from our physician and official confirmation of our positive test results for 4/6 members of our family. But is finally nice to see this change.

Now if the US would just get on with the program and remove their requirements...

 

[moonstone]

Good news. Hopefully this extends to unvaccinated children travelling with vaccinated parents and the USA provides reciprocal access to Canadian travelers on the same basis.

I went through the annual statement from my US dollar credit card for 2021, and the "medical" category of well over $1000 jumped out at me. I only use it for travel expenses and timeshare MF, so there aren't usually medical expenses on there. But the tests I paid for in the US last year to come back to Canada (and get into Hawaii) were over $1000, and that's after we were able to get some of them for free...

We kept all our 'medical' receipts from returning to Canada last spring, including our 3 day hotel jail stay ($1500.00+) and will submit it along with our PCR Covid test costs (in Belize to come to Canada) and will be submitting them as medical expenses on our Income Tax next month. The way we see it, the Govt demanded those, so we should be able to claim them as a necessary medical expense.

~Diane

 

[CPNY]

Now if the US would just get on with the program and remove their requirements...

I fear it Won’t happen anytime soon. We are too busy arguing over masks and worried about what to do with our clocks.

 

[jabberwocky]

We kept all our 'medical' receipts from returning to Canada last spring, including our 3 day hotel jail stay ($1500.00+) and will submit it along with our PCR Covid test costs (in Belize to come to Canada) and will be submitting them as medical expenses on our Income Tax next month. The way we see it, the Govt demanded those, so we should be able to claim them as a necessary medical expense.

~Diane

You can try it, but you will likely get a request to verify the receipts from the CRA and they will then ask for a prescription to validate the test expense.

Now medical certifications by a medical professional are deductible, so if you want to be clever you could argue that you’re not paying for the test, you’re merely paying for a certification of your test results.

We’ve paid around $450 for testing (6 of us). So it hasn’t been too bad. We were fortunate to get free PCR test in the US last August. Otherwise it would be much higher.

 

[jabberwocky]

I fear it Won’t happen anytime soon. We are too busy arguing over masks and worried about what to do with our clocks.

I fear you are right. The TSA still makes us take off our shoes to go through security in the airport even though the rest of the civilized world gave that up eons ago. Hopefully it is not permanent.

 

[CPNY]

I fear you are right. The TSA still makes us take off our shoes to go through security in the airport even though the rest of the civilized world gave that up eons ago. Hopefully it is not permanent.

Right haha, apparently their fancy trwirly MRI machines can see what’s in the shoes. Didn’t United airlines put out an article in the beginning of the pandemic demonstrating the safety of air travel with the air filtration system on planes? By following the science we shouldn’t be wearing flimsy cloth “masks” on planes anymore. Yet, here we are, holding on for as long as we can

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

Next up -
getting rid of the piece of crap - called the Arrive Canada App [ArriveCAN]
that is also a federal government mandated waste of time and taxpayers money.

 

[bizaro86]

You can try it, but you will likely get a request to verify the receipts from the CRA and they will then ask for a prescription to validate the test expense.

Now medical certifications by a medical professional are deductible, so if you want to be clever you could argue that you’re not paying for the test, you’re merely paying for a certification of your test results.

We’ve paid around $450 for testing (6 of us). So it hasn’t been too bad. We were fortunate to get free PCR test in the US last August. Otherwise it would be much higher.

My total medical expenses for the year won't reach the limit so it's moot for me. But it does seem a bit ridiculous that Marijuana is deductible as a medical expense without a prescription but a diagnostic test for a virus isn't.

I dont have a big sample on getting asked for medical receipts, but I do my father in laws taxes every year and every year he has a medical expense claim and has never been asked for receipts. The dollars involved are not significant, however, which probably makes a difference.

 

[jabberwocky]

My total medical expenses for the year won't reach the limit so it's moot for me. But it does seem a bit ridiculous that Marijuana is deductible as a medical expense without a prescription but a diagnostic test for a virus isn't.

It sadly tells you where our priorities are in this country, doesn't it?

I dont have a big sample on getting asked for medical receipts, but I do my father in laws taxes every year and every year he has a medical expense claim and has never been asked for receipts. The dollars involved are not significant, however, which probably makes a difference.

I used to be professionally licensed to prepare taxes and I still do it for my parents and other family members. Because of some chronic conditions they routinely have fairly large deductions, but I'm pretty aggressive - I even deduct the cost of electricity to run my mom's O2 concentrator and my dad's CPAP. It seems every second or third year we get an inquiry about their return, which we dutifully respond to.

Interestingly enough they have never challenged the electric deductions, but they denied a $10 claim for alcohol swabs used to clean the skin before an injection. That denial was based on a lack of a prescription for the alcohol swabs themselves, even though there was a prescription for the medication needing to be injected. Not the brightest cookies at the CRA IMO.

 

[bizaro86]

I used to be professionally licensed to prepare taxes and I still do it for my parents and other family members. Because of some chronic conditions they routinely have fairly large deductions, but I'm pretty aggressive - I even deduct the cost of electricity to run my mom's O2 concentrator and my dad's CPAP. It seems every second or third year we get an inquiry about their return, which we dutifully respond to.

Interestingly enough they have never challenged the electric deductions, but they denied a $10 claim for alcohol swabs used to clean the skin before an injection. That denial was based on a lack of a prescription for the alcohol swabs themselves, even though there was a prescription for the medication needing to be injected. Not the brightest cookies at the CRA IMO.

Interesting! I'm licensed in a completely different profession, and do my father in laws taxes because they're simple and he hates paying for things.

It never would have occurred to me to write off the electricity! This year will be a bigger number on the medical expense side for him as he got hearing aids in 2021. Be interesting to see if that's enough to trigger a request.

 

[Dori]

Yay! We are heading one from Florida around the 8th of April, so we won’t need any tests!

Dori

 

[maddog497]

Nice to see this. With the vaccination rates so high, it made zero sense. We are heading to Fredericton early April for the arrival of grandbaby number 9. Now we can return to Ontario through the states and spend a day in Syracuse or Watertown without the hassle of finding a test, which appears to be getting more and more difficult.

Sent from my SM-G781W using Tapatalk

 

[AJCts411]

The pre-arrival testing may be gone but notice that the "random" testing at the airports is still going to happen. Our "random' testing inclused about everyone on our flight from Roatan. Lined up shoulder to shoulder about 350 to 400 people jamed into a unsuitable space, waiting hours in a snake line. yep the brians thought his was good covid prevention. Just can't let go of the power.

 

[moonstone]

You can try it, but you will likely get a request to verify the receipts from the CRA and they will then ask for a prescription to validate the test expense.

We do have prescriptions for the PCR test -that is how they do (did?) it in Belize. We had to make an appointment, travel to the next bigger town, see a Dr and say why we needed the test, then he wrote the prescription which we walked across the hospital grounds to the clinic where they performed the test. The results are printed on hospital letterhead, not that anybody could do the same with some cutting and pasting!

We will see what happens -it's worth a try!


~Diane

 

[bizaro86]

We do have prescriptions for the PCR test -that is how they do (did?) it in Belize. We had to make an appointment, travel to the next bigger town, see a Dr and say why we needed the test, then he wrote the prescription which we walked across the hospital grounds to the clinic where they performed the test. The results are printed on hospital letterhead, not that anybody could do the same with some cutting and pasting!

We will see what happens -it's worth a try!


~Diane

The CRA website is pretty clear (imo as a non tax professional) that medical testing qualifies if you have a prescription. Seems like this would absolutely be allowable.

 

[moonstone]

The CRA website is pretty clear (imo as a non tax professional) that medical testing qualifies if you have a prescription. Seems like this would absolutely be allowable.

Now if Justin Trudeau could have written us a prescription for the hotel jail stay we'd be all set! We have spent 3 weeks in a 1 bedroom timeshare for less cost than that 3 night stay in a room not much bigger than a queen sized bed!

~Diane

 

[jabberwocky]

It never would have occurred to me to write off the electricity! This year will be a bigger number on the medical expense side for him as he got hearing aids in 2021. Be interesting to see if that's enough to trigger a request.

We do have prescriptions for the PCR test -that is how they do (did?) it in Belize. We had to make an appointment, travel to the next bigger town, see a Dr and say why we needed the test, then he wrote the prescription which we walked across the hospital grounds to the clinic where they performed the test. The results are printed on hospital letterhead, not that anybody could do the same with some cutting and pasting!

We will see what happens -it's worth a try!


~Diane

perfect. You should be well covered then!

 

[easyrider]

Mexico wasn't the same without all you Canadians the last two winters. It will be good to have you all back.

Bill

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

The pre-arrival testing may be gone but notice that the "random" testing at the airports is still going to happen. Our "random' testing inclused about everyone on our flight from Roatan. Lined up shoulder to shoulder about 350 to 400 people jamed into a unsuitable space, waiting hours in a snake line. yep the brians thought his was good covid prevention. Just can't let go of the power.

So we returned from a PV on a Swoop flight into xx- / March xx after doing the rapid antigen test within 24 hours of the flight
(place & date redacted so government agencies cannot as easily track)

A person I know well , was given the " random "home testing kit with labeling by Switch Health.

Switch Health was paid $ 200 million ,to run the border testing program by the federal government.
Switch Health was started by cyclical entrepreneurs who were formally in the legal weed business.

The person I know has an I phone 4 , which cannot read the QR code on the packaging.
-and wasn't interested in learning how to shove a long Q-tip up the nasal cavity through a Zoom call lesson.

By calling Switch Health a Nurse [dressed in full Covid regala costume] was sent to the home to administer a Covid test.

********
I would suggest that everyone getting such a random gift from Canada Border Services call Switch Health and request a Nurse Visit.

There is no cost to you.

 

[VanX]

Random Covid testing coming back to arrival airports in Canada soon. Feels like a here we go again situation

 

[moonstone]

Random Covid testing coming back to arrival airports in Canada soon. Feels like a here we go again situation

Sure does!

Here's the press release; Government of Canada is re-establishing mandatory random testing offsite of airports for air travellers - Canada.ca

It states in part "Air travellers who qualify as fully vaccinated and who are selected for mandatory random testing, as well as air travellers who do not qualify as fully vaccinated, will receive an email notification within 15 minutes of completing their customs declaration." Since neither of us (& probably lots of incoming foreign passengers) do not have data on our cells, I sure hope the airport's wifi works well or we wont know we need to get tested until we get home.


~Diane