Hi there,
My COPR also expires early August. For several reasons, that I have put in a webform, we are willing and able to travel at the start of August, complete our landing, quarantine then come back to our home country after 3 weeks. I see here that some have pointed to a Tweet from IRCC stating that soft landings are not possible at this time. However, I have read multiple times the guidance from the official website regarding this and I don't see anything here to suggest that a soft landing from abroad, if your COPR was issued before 18 March, is not allowed. In fact it basically says that if you can travel, you should. It says in black and white that COPR holders from before 18 March are exempt from the travel restrictions - with no caveats. Only if you are unable to travel should you raise a webform and apply for a COPR extension.
The advice given from Twitter (or it might have been someone on here) that said they are prioritizing:
- Canadians trying to return to Canada
- vulnerable people
- people who perform or support essential services
refers to applications still being processed, not to people that have received COPR before 18 March.
We (myself and partner) would very much like to book our trip for the start of August as getting medicals and police checks done again will be costly and difficult for us. It is unclear as to whether these will be extended as again, on their website it says that all documents should still be valid when you are ready to travel.
Also, these travel restrictions apply to the end of July. As we want to book for the start of August they may well be relaxed by then. But we are unable to wait until the start of August to get this organized. As AirTransat have announced that their direct flights from the UK will resume at the end of July, surely this is a sign that non-essential travel may be possible. These flights cannot just be for Canadian Citizens, PR card holders and people ready to move to Canada (this is just an aside, main points above).
If anyone has found any other information regarding this, it would be much appreciated. Really a link to the source of information, not just someones thoughts (unless you work for IRCC), as I don't think 1 Tweet is enough to base our entire future plans on - who knows who wrote that. I would really like some official, from the horses mouth, specific clarity on these things. And I know I am not the only one.
Here are the official websites I am basing this on:
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/operational-bulletins-manuals/service-delivery/coronavirus/permanent-residence.html#approved_permanent_residence
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/coronavirus-covid19/immigration-applicants.html
Like I said, there doesn't seem to be any confusion here, travel if you can with no * next to it. You need valid medicals. If you cant travel, raise a webform and request and extension. Personally I don't think it would be unreasonable to plan a trip based on the official guidance written on their own website, this is what it is for surely.
I have not requested an extension on the webform, just asked because of our predicament (and gone into more detail about that) if we can travel and our plan for doing so is sound. I will of course update this forum if / when I get a response.