Re-entering Canada on an expired TRV

[fatbat93]

Hi,

I have a valid PGWP and an expired TRV. I already applied for a TRV online and CIC requested my passport today. I need to travel to US on March 9th. I am debating whether I should mail my passport to Ottawa and risk getting delayed. If I do not mail it in I know there will be complications in the airport on my way back to Canada. Can I call the airlines in advance to talk about my situation?

Please let me know if you have a similar experience.

Thank you!

 

[PMM]

Hi

Hi,

I have a valid PGWP and an expired TRV. I already applied for a TRV online and CIC requested my passport today. I need to travel to US on March 9th. I am debating whether I should mail my passport to Ottawa and risk getting delayed. If I do not mail it in I know there will be complications in the airport on my way back to Canada. Can I call the airlines in advance to talk about my situation?

Please let me know if you have a similar experience.

Thank you!

1. Without a passport, how are you going to board the plane to the US?

 

[fatbat93]

Hi,

Sorry if I was not clear enough.
I have 2 options:

1. Do not send my passport and use it with expired TRV during my travel. This will arise complications while boarding the plane to Canada from US.

2. Mail in my passport and risk my travel plans which I do not want to do as this is work related.

For option 1, to make things go smoothly, I am wondering if I can contact the airline/airport in advance to let them know about my situation.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Hi,

Sorry if I was not clear enough.
I have 2 options:

1. Do not send my passport and use it with expired TRV during my travel. This will arise complications while boarding the plane to Canada from US.

2. Mail in my passport and risk my travel plans which I do not want to do as this is work related.

For option 1, to make things go smoothly, I am wondering if I can contact the airline/airport in advance to let them know about my situation.

1. No complication. You will be denied boarding.

 

[fatbat93]

@canuck_in_uk not correct. Check this:
https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=527&top=15

please do not confuse people if you do not know enough. Thank you.

 

[Bs65]

@canuck_in_uk not correct. Check this:
https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=527&top=15

please do not confuse people if you do not know enough. Thank you.

This may well be true once an individual gets to the boarder as this is guidance for CBSA but nobody here can predict what an airline checkin agent will ask for and checkin agents may not necessarily be aware of the expired/US only travel exception and refuse checkin/boarding.

So OP should check with the airline directly as a start point regardless of what the IRCC site says given that might seem to be more biased to a land crossing

 

[fatbat93]

This may well be true once an individual gets to the boarder as this is guidance for CBSA but nobody here can predict what an airline checkin agent will ask for and checkin agents may not necessarily be aware of the expired/US only travel exception and refuse checkin/boarding.

So OP should check with the airline directly as a start point regardless of what the IRCC site says given that might seem to be more biased to a land crossing

Thank you for your reply. I plan to contact the airline. May I ask why you think the IRCC clause is biased towards land crossing?

 

[scylla]

Thank you for your reply. I plan to contact the airline. May I ask why you think the IRCC clause is biased towards land crossing?

It's not an IRCC bias really. It's the airline.

If you take a flight and get to Canada, and then CBSA refuses you entry, the airline has to eat the cost of flying you back out of Canada. Airlines don't want to take on this risk. So they refuse boarding if you don't have the right documentation.

 

[Bornlucky]

Thank you for your reply. I plan to contact the airline. May I ask why you think the IRCC clause is biased towards land crossing?

Hi, this is something of an allowance that people may visit countries contiguous with Canada's border and be able to come back in on a single entry TRV, and it pretty much envisions short or "day" trips to the USA while you're visiting Canada.

There are some incredibly frustrating differences between air and land travel between Canada and the USA and the reception which you will receive by the CBSA and/or airline staff. The proviso when in Canada and leaving is always that it's a discretionary decision to readmit you back into Canada and no one can ever say with certainty that entry will be granted.

As for airline staff, they fear hefty fines for boarding inadmissible passengers. If they board the wrong passenger and receive a fine then the profits for that flight vanish, so they're under some pressure to err on the side of caution.

Anyhoo, the British invented bureaucracy and Canada perfected it.

 

[Bs65]

Thank you for your reply. I plan to contact the airline. May I ask why you think the IRCC clause is biased towards land crossing?

As explained by Scylla and bornlucky it will be the airline that people have to be concerned with given would be dealing with checkin staff that do not have any discretion , rules are black and white , valid visa you can board, expired visa you cannot .

This compared with presenting self with expired visa to CBSA at the land border given they have the discretion and traveller background that a checkin agent does not have plus implied above the Airline can worst case suffer a financial penalty if they let someone board who should not be able to.

 

[Copingwithlife]

It also depends if you get a airline agent who is brighter then the norm. I was a airline agent for decades and I can say this, some aren't that quick on the draw . If they run the passengers particular s thru Ti-matic it'll advise them the passenger is cleared to board. Occasionally I'd have calls from the states asking this very same question .I'd refer them to Ti-matic and tell them to board the passenger
Some agents are good, some well.............won't dig a little deeper for the information, and as mentioned will just say No board