The federal government quietly updated its rules at the border to allow fully vaccinated travelers entering through the land border a one-time exemption from fines or quarantine requirements if they inadvertently fail to submit the required health documents through the ArriveCAN app.

In an email statement sent to local news agencies today, Saturday, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) said the one-time exemption will only be granted to fully vaccinated travelers with no history of non-compliance at the border.

Meanwhile, Rebecca Purdy, spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), said in the email that their mandatory health information via ArriveCAN "As of May 2022, temporary measures were taken at the land border for fully vaccinated travelers with entry rights to provide more flexibility to travelers who have no record of non-compliance and who may not have been aware of the submission requirement."

This eligibility for the one-time exemption includes all fully vaccinated Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and persons registered under Canadian law entering through border crossings.

As of July 29, the exemption was extended to include foreign nationals as well.

However, travelers granted the exemption must still provide proof of vaccination upon entry.

After the one-time exemption, Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and persons registered under Canadian law must submit the required documents through the app or face quarantine, testing, or fines up to $5,000.

Foreign nationals will be denied entry if they violate these procedures.

Although the new measures have not been included on the Canada Border Services Agency's travel requirements website, CBSA says more than 300,000 travelers have already received the one-time exemption.

Purdy said: "We can tell you that between May 24 and August 4, 2022, among 5,086,187 travelers at the land border with entry rights, the one-time exemption was used 308,800 times."

On the other hand, calls continue to cancel the ArriveCAN app from travelers and technology experts amid updated border measures due to privacy concerns.

In July, the app faced the latest backlash after a glitch sent some people to quarantine.