A border patrol officer collects a traveller’s passport at the Canada Border Service Agency border crossing with the United States in Stanstead, Que., on March 13.Evan Buhler/Reuters
Ottawa has updated its official advice for travellers to the United States, warning that permanent residents from Canada could have their status south of the border revoked.
The notice from Global Affairs last week cautioned Canadians settled in the U.S. that they could face a reassessment of their eligibility to remain there, for reasons such as prior criminal convictions.
At the same time, Ottawa is also warning LGBTQ Canadians that they may be affected by U.S. President Donald Trump’s ban on the use of the X gender marker.
The updated advice warns Canadians who are permanent residents of the U.S. that their status “can be terminated,” including after “a re-assessment of eligibility, including because of previous criminal convictions” or living outside the U.S. longer than permitted. It also warns that U.S. authorities periodically review visas, which can also be terminated. Canadians can usually stay in the U.S. for up to six months without a visa.
In June, Canadian Johnny Noviello, who was a permanent resident of the U.S., died while in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Florida. He was facing deportation because of several drug-related convictions from 2023.
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Mr. Noviello was detained at a Federal Bureau of Prisons detention centre in Miami pending deportation proceedings and was found unresponsive on June 23. Dozens of Canadian citizens have been detained in the U.S. by immigration enforcement officers.
The travel advice also warns Canadian permanent residents that they may be barred from entry to the U.S. if they came to Canada from certain countries subjected to a complete or partial travel ban enacted by Mr. Trump, including Iran, Libya and Yemen.
In June, Global Affairs updated its advice to warn Canadian residents they could be affected by a travel ban to the U.S.
Mr. Trump introduced a travel ban in June for citizens of 12 countries: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. He also introduced a partial ban on citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Ottawa’s travel advice warns that this ban could affect Canadian permanent residents, who could be denied entry, although not dual nationals with a Canadian passport.
“Since June 9, 2025, the U.S. proclamation ‘Restricting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats’ is in effect. It may impact your ability to obtain a visa if your country of citizenship is designated in the proclamation,” the advice says.
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In addition, the updated travel advice warns Canadians they may be asked to declare which sex they were assigned at birth, including on applications for visas or Nexus travel cards.
The change follows Mr. Trump’s executive order in January that says the American government will now only recognize the male and female genders. U.S. passports and other identity documents are no longer issued with an X gender marker.
In August, The Globe and Mail reported that Canadians renewing their Nexus travel cards or applying for new ones to make it easier to cross the border to the U.S. must identify themselves as either male or female, even if they are transgender or non-binary.
Immigration lawyers have said that Canada’s decision to force non-binary or trans Canadians to choose a male or female gender designation for Nexus raises human-rights concerns and could prompt a court challenge in Canada on constitutional grounds.
Global Affairs has inserted a special section for LGBTQ persons in its advice on U.S. travel, warning that “federal systems in the U.S. are changing to no longer accept markers of gender identity.”
“Sex assigned at birth may now be requested by federal forms and processes including: visa applications, NEXUS applications, passenger manifests, passport applications, Social Security Applications,” it says.
The advice also warns that some U.S. states have enacted laws targeting LGBTQ people.
Several states, including Florida, have laws barring transgender people from using bathrooms designated for the sex they identify as, and there are restrictions in several states on their participation in sport.
Transgender advocate Gemma Hickey welcomed the Canadian government’s updated advice.
They said that U.S. federal agencies requesting information based on sex assigned at birth, rather than gender markers aligned with a person’s gender identity, risk creating “emotional distress for transgender, non-binary and gender-diverse travellers.”