--- title: Ebola Canada: Country To Halt Visas From Ebola-Affected Regions description: Canada will stop issuing visas to people traveling from the West African countries most affected by Ebola, the government announced. canonical: https://time.com/3551975/canada-visas-ebola/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-31T22:31:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:09:51.356Z article:section: Health og:title: Ebola Canada: Country To Halt Visas From Ebola-Affected Regions og:description: Canada will stop issuing visas to people traveling from the West African countries most affected by Ebola, the government announced. og:url: https://time.com/3551975/canada-visas-ebola/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ebola Canada: Country To Halt Visas From Ebola-Affected Regions twitter:description: Canada will stop issuing visas to people traveling from the West African countries most affected by Ebola, the government announced. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Canada to Halt Visas From Ebola-Affected Countries  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Oct 31, 2014 10:31 PM UTC  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Oct 31, 2014 10:31 PM UTC Canada will stop issuing visas to people traveling from the West African countries most affected by Ebola, the country’s government announced Friday. “The precautionary measures announced today build on actions we have taken to protect the health and safety of Canadians here at home,” said Chris Alexander, the country’s Citizenship and Immigration Minister. “Our government continues to monitor the situation in West Africa very closely and will continue to act in the best interests of Canadians.” The restriction will not apply to Canadian citizens returning from the region, but the government warned citizens against future travel. Canada’s move is in sharp contrast to the World Health Organization’s (WHO)position that severely restricting travel impedes efforts to stop the spread of the virus. “No evidence exists to support the effectiveness of travel bans as a protective measure,” said WHO Secretary General Margaret Chan earlier this week after Australia announced a similar measure. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3551975/canada-visas-ebola/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3551975/canada-visas-ebola/"},"headline":"Canada to Halt Visas From Ebola-Affected Countries","datePublished":"2014-10-31T22:31:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:09:51.356Z","description":"The restriction follows a similar move by Australia earlier this week and will not apply to Canadian nationals returning from West Africa","url":"https://time.com/3551975/canada-visas-ebola/","keywords":["ebola","Infectious Disease","World Health Organization"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ebola/","name":"ebola"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3551975/canada-visas-ebola/","name":"Canada to Halt Visas From Ebola-Affected Countries"}}]}] ```