Woman flying home from U.K. says an expiring visa should be essential travel

An Ottawa woman who's coming home as her U.K. visa expires says she's concerned about the cost of the mandatory hotel quarantine and wants clarity around support for what she considers essential travel.

Emma,whose name CBC News is withholdingbecause of privacy concerns,moved to London, Englandin March 2019 on a two-year youth mobility visa, which allows people age18 to 30 live and work in the U.K. for up to two years.

"I just came over to see a different part of the world, travel, get some more life experience under my belt," Emma said.

Shesaid when the pandemic first hit, she decided against moving back home to Canadaas she already had a job at a local pub and was only a year into her visa.

She later purchased a December flight home to Ottawa, but cancelled it as countries were urging people not to travel.

This January, Emma bought a new flight to Ottawa for March 5, a few days before her visa expires. She scheduled a rapid COVID-19 test for three days before the flight, as required, and was looking forward to quarantining at her family home.

"Then theannouncement from Trudeau hits my family with the most stress any ofus have endured throughout the entire pandemic," Emma said.

I'll be putting myself into debt even before I get homeand lose all my savings.- Emma

To discourage non-essential travel, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced late last monththat air passengers returning from non-essential trips abroadwill have to quarantine in a government-approved hotel until they get back a negative COVID-19 test, at their own expense, starting Feb. 22.

It would cost about $2,000 for up to three days, the government said.

There will be "limited exceptions" to the hotel quarantine rule, it said, such as for patients receiving medical care abroadandtemporary foreign workers.

• Hotel quarantine measures for air travellers come into effect Feb. 22

"It's just an insane amount of money," Emma said."I'll be putting myself into debt even before I get home and lose all my savings.I'll just have no leg to kind of stand on when I get home."

"It's just kind of frustrating and frightening because I don't know what I'm walking into."

Lack of clarity from officials

She said she considers a visa expiring an essential reason to travel back to Canadaand would like the government to provide some subsidiesfor people who are struggling to pay for the mandatory hotel quarantine andCOVID-19 test.

She said she's called theHigh Commission of Canada in the United Kingdom,the Public Health Agency of Canadaand an international SOSline, but said no one could provide clarity around her situation.

"I am at my end of options and exhausted with trying to find answers."

• How some Canadians plan to circumvent Ottawa's new hotel quarantine requirement

Emmasaidher family in Ottawa isalso feeling the stress.

"They want me home and safe with them," she said."They also can't financially help me out We're all a little upset by this situation."

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said earlier this week there should be "ways in which [the government]will find to manage" people who can't afford the quarantine bill.

CBC has contacted Health Canadaand the Public Health Agency of Canada, but was told the government doesn't comment on specific situations. CBC is waiting for general information on what people should do if their visa is expiring abroadand cannot afford the cost of quarantine.