Americans finding ‘loophole’ to cross into Canada, escape virus: lawyer

CALGARY (CITYNEWS) – A U.S. immigration lawyer says Canadians should be “worried” about the number of Americans crossing the border to escape the COVID-19 pandemic.

With cases continuing to spike in many states, lawyer Len Saunders says he is receiving calls from Americans who are seriously considering moving to Canada either temporarily or permanently.

“They either have a fiancé, a spouse, a partner in Canada, or they possibly have a Canadian parent that they can claim citizenship through,” said Saunders. “They’re looking at fleeing the country for safer haven. The grass is greener on the other side, up in Canada right now.

“I think if I was a Canadian citizen, I would be worried about these Americans going north.”

While the Canada-U.S. border remains closed to non-essential travel, Saunders says some Americans are successfully immigrating to Canada through what he calls a “loophole” in the system.

He says many Americans are marrying Canadians at the Peace Arch Port of Entry – the border crossing between Washington state and B.C.

“As of right now, Americans are not admissible to Canada,” said Saunders. “But if they marry a Canadian citizen – and I’ve seen this many times in the last month or two – they can immediately seek entry under that loophole as a spouse of a Canadian citizen.”

There have been nearly 115,000 COVID-19 cases in Canada since the start of the pandemic.

In the U.S., the total number of cases is approaching 4.5 million.