Canada Issues New Travel Warning for U.S. Over New Entry Rules

After the United Kingdom and Germany issued similar advisories last week, Canada has issued a travel advisory for Canadians heading to the United States.

The advisory is not a warning against travel — the U.S. is still categorized as “take normal security precautions” under the Government of Canada’s travel warning system. Rather, it is an update on new entry and exit requirements for Canadians traveling to the U.S.

The new rule, effective April 11, requires Canadians staying in the U.S. for longer than 30 days to register with the U.S. government. Failure to do so will result in penalties, fines and possible misdemeanors, the advisory says.

The U.K. and Germany advisories last week were also focused on border rules and encounters with U.S. government officials at crossings.

All of the warnings follow a new executive order requiring foreign travelers to comply with an existing law that mandates anyone staying in the country for 30 days or longer to register with the federal government. That law hadn’t been enforced for all visitors until the executive order.

The warnings also follow the detention of three European tourists who were attempting to cross the Mexico-U.S. border into San Diego, along with the arrest of a British tourist who detained after trying to cross into the Canada-U.S. border in Washington state.