Traveling/Flights to Canada from India during COVID 19

[mage]

Booking starts in a few mins.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1289184692625842177

Nice, particularly this part: "Bookings will open on 31st July 2020 at 2000 hrs IST, through Air India Website and Booking Offices ONLY."
Yay for no agents, meh for such a late notification (<1.5 hrs)

 

[hasandhu]

Price of those tickets are like 60% of POF for single person. Plus in current scenario having direct flights is better option.

Is Qatar Airways flying from Delhi to Toronto or they are just booking the tickets just like emirates, and later on the flights are getting cancelled because the commercial flights have been cancelled till Aug 31 now ?

 

[SithLord]

Nice, particularly this part: "Bookings will open on 31st July 2020 at 2000 hrs IST, through Air India Website and Booking Offices ONLY."
Yay for no agents, meh for such a late notification (<1.5 hrs)

They must have done that after people started protesting tagging aviation minister Hardeep Puri on twitter for past 2 days.

 

[crackMBA]

Nice, particularly this part: "Bookings will open on 31st July 2020 at 2000 hrs IST, through Air India Website and Booking Offices ONLY."
Yay for no agents, meh for such a late notification (<1.5 hrs)

How many of you were successful?

 

[canuck78]

I agree that people are booking flights thinking that these are normal flights but I have a bit different opinion on not welcoming the flights from Covid hit places.
Even when Europe was at peak of cases, there were flights from Europe to Canada.
Flights from USA never stopped (Worst hit country now), still going on.
I think Brazil and Mexico flights are also operating (not too sure about it)

I personally feel its India who is trying to curb the influx then Canada.

Flights from Italy were stopped when they were the covid epicenter. There was also quite a lot of flights cancelled going to Europe. Mexico didn't have the same rates of covid and is visa exempt. Many of the flights have mostly PRs and citizens. Believe many Brazilian flights have been cancelled and many would not qualify to travel. There are only a few Candian flights to Brazil Many of the flights go through the US. There is far fewer Brazilians in Canada versus Indians. I am sure Canada also wants to minimize people coming to Canada from Brazil.

The Indian healthcare system does not have the same testing or treatment capacity as many European countries so it is very hard to compare some of these countries and the true extent of covid is unknown. There are a lot of visitors who may want to travel to Canada if they qualify. Canada wants to try ro minimize visitors, especially elderly, because they will not be able to buy health insurance and Canada will have to pay for their testing and care if they get sick. In general Canada is trying to minimize visitors from all areas of the world. There is only a small fraction of flights coming into Canada versus pre-covid.

 

[PUNK_434]

I have booked tickets for Delhi - Vancouver, 30th August. And Vancouver - Calgary (domestic) .
My visa has expired on 1st July.
I'm looking for a place to quarantine for 14 days on Airbnb.

Will they provide an extension or do i have to book a place first ?

 

[pkhare23]

I have booked tickets for Delhi - Vancouver, 30th August. And Vancouver - Calgary (domestic) .
My visa has expired on 1st July.
I'm looking for a place to quarantine for 14 days on Airbnb.

Will they provide an extension or do i have to book a place first ?

You should not have booked flights before getting extension. IMO

 

[PUNK_434]

You should not have booked flights before getting extension. IMO

Ohh !

 

[crackMBA]

Flights from Italy were stopped when they were the covid epicenter. There was also quite a lot of flights cancelled going to Europe. Mexico didn't have the same rates of covid and is visa exempt. Many of the flights have mostly PRs and citizens. Believe many Brazilian flights have been cancelled and many would not qualify to travel. There are only a few Candian flights to Brazil Many of the flights go through the US. There is far fewer Brazilians in Canada versus Indians. I am sure Canada also wants to minimize people coming to Canada from Brazil.

The Indian healthcare system does not have the same testing or treatment capacity as many European countries so it is very hard to compare some of these countries and the true extent of covid is unknown. There are a lot of visitors who may want to travel to Canada if they qualify. Canada wants to try ro minimize visitors, especially elderly, because they will not be able to buy health insurance and Canada will have to pay for their testing and care if they get sick. In general Canada is trying to minimize visitors from all areas of the world. There is only a small fraction of flights coming into Canada versus pre-covid.

Totally agree with you. There were very small fraction of flights operating and still the nos are very less. Even for USA nos have come down to very 50% YOY but still the current way of opening flights is like "SALE" valid for limited periods. Canada can easily limit the entry on Visa types.
If we have same no of flights in a normal environment instead of this sale trend. People like you and me could have got the tickets before COPR expiration(if your COPR has expired).

Anyways, just my thought. I can not change anything.

 

[ankurgupta325]

I have booked tickets for Delhi - Vancouver, 30th August. And Vancouver - Calgary (domestic) .
My visa has expired on 1st July.
I'm looking for a place to quarantine for 14 days on Airbnb.

Will they provide an extension or do i have to book a place first ?

Man !! Should've got an extension first. But no worries. I would say raise a web-form ASAP that you are ready to travel and send in an email to NDVO too. Follow up every 3-4 days till you get some confirmation.

P.S. I was in same dilemma today as I could see tickets available to Toronto in AI app. It was tough to let it go but I just wanted to let NDVO open first and IRCC give some timeline.

But now that you have put your money in.. Follow up insanely with IRCC and NDVO. Good Luck !!

 

[dsr236]

So I booked the July 29th Qatar Airways flight from Delhi to Toronto through Doha. I am from Delhi itself so it was just this flight. Be sure to arrive at the airport atleast 4 hours before departure as your baggage will be sanitized by a UV machine and you have to fill a Covid declaration form. This will have two copies. One will be taken once you enter the terminal. All these will happen before you enter the Terminal so there will be a long queue. Once inside, you can check in your baggage and an airline representative will verify your eligibility to travel. Atleast that was the case for Qatar Airways.

Once that is done, the Indian immigration process takes place. The officer will again verify your documents, namely passport and CoPR. The second copy of the Covid form will also be taken here. After that, it is just the usual security check.

Once in Doha, I had a 10 hour layover. I just used one of the quiet rooms available and luckily I got a lounge chair there. These are mostly free so there is always a rush. See details below.

https://www.sleepinginairports.net/sleep-guide/sleeping-in-doha-airport.html

The second flight took off without much hassle and they do not check any other documents apart from your boarding passes. Before landing, the flight attendants will give you a declaration form which is for Covid quarantine. You have to enter your quarantine address and other details. Once you reach Toronto, you will be redirected to the Immigration Kiosks where you will need to answer some related questions, like the nature of your travel and if you are carrying any substance. It will generate a paper slip with your picture and you have to present this to the Border officer and say you are for the landing formalities. You will have to submit the Covid form with the quarantine address in a box. Then, you will be guided to the immigration office where the officer will take your immigrant visa, two COPR copies and validate them. May or may not ask about funds but will ask your plans for quarantine. I guess they can validate this from the form which you submitted. They will also take the address to which the PR card will be mailed. Then, he/she will sign and stamp the COPR copies and hand one over to you by which you become an official PR of Canada. Till you get your PR card, the stamped COPR copy is your PR proof.

After that, just baggage collection and customs declaration. You have to hand over the BSF forms if you have any accompanying goods, ie, if you plan to ship any goods to Canada from India afterwards.

Some important points:

1) They are very serious about quarantine, so plan in advance and go to the quarantine place immediately from the airport.

2) Register for ArriveCAN app. This is similar to Aarogya Setu app which is used for contact tracing. The Border officials never asked for this but it is better to register so sometimes they may ask. Similar app available in IOS as well.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ca.gc.cbsa.coronavirus&hl=en_CA

All the best and thanks for the help!

Hi, congrats on your landing. Given the recent emphasis on only allowing landing for permanent settlement, did you get any questions regarding this? Did you carry any specific documentation to prove your intent to settle permanently?

 

[PUNK_434]

Man !! Should've got an extension first. But no worries. I would say raise a web-form ASAP that you are ready to travel and send in an email to NDVO too. Follow up every 3-4 days till you get some confirmation.

P.S. I was in same dilemma today as I could see tickets available to Toronto in AI app. It was tough to let it go but I just wanted to let NDVO open first and IRCC give some timeline.

But now that you have put your money in.. Follow up insanely with IRCC and NDVO. Good Luck !!

Ya no other option ! Cancellation fee was around 6k so i thought let me give it a try as it's still a month apart. Hopefully, an extension is provided. And if not, then won't book anything till international flights resume and an extension is given prior ! Will update you all whatever the case!

 

[Sidd1988can]

Ya no other option ! Cancellation fee was around 6k so i thought let me give it a try as it's still a month apart. Hopefully, an extension is provided. And if not, then won't book anything till international flights resume and an extension is given prior ! Will update you all whatever the case!

Mailing Delhi High Commission is key to get ETA...one case i knw of a lady from Brazil she got Eta on 14th jul and her flight was on 15th...she use to follow up almost daily with her local visa office...finally they asked her to send copy of ticket

 

[PUNK_434]

Mailing Delhi High Commission is key to get ETA...one case i knw of a lady from Brazil she got Eta on 14th jul and her flight was on 15th...she use to follow up almost daily with her local visa office...finally they asked her to send copy of ticket

Fingers crossed man !
I've already mailed them asking for an extension along with the soft copy of the ticket booked.
DELHI-IMMIGRATION@international.gc.ca
This is the only e mail id i guess!

 

[Sidd1988can]

Fingers crossed man !
I've already mailed them asking for an extension along with the soft copy of the ticket booked.
DELHI-IMMIGRATION@international.gc.ca
This is the only e mail id i guess!

Yes...you may reconfirm email id on CIC website as well