6 months validity rule

[K3nda]

Hi everyone,

I’m planning to visit my friends and family in Canada during Christmas, I have a valid visa and a valid passport but both expire in less than six months. I called immigration and was told it’s not a problem as long as I leave before the expiry date but what about Air Canada? Since I’m flying with them, Would I be allowed to get on the plane? I called but I’m getting mixed answers from them and their website doesn’t have a specific information about that therefore I’m not sure. Anyone has an idea ?

 

[bongoman]

Look into getting a new passport, this takes a few days in some countries, then you travel with both passports.

 

[K3nda]

Look into getting a new passport, this takes a few days in some countries, then you travel with both passports.

I’m not in my home country, I would need to fly back all the way there to get it done since our embassy doesn’t offer this service overseas

 

[bongoman]

I’m not in my home country, I would need to fly back all the way there to get it done since our embassy doesn’t offer this service overseas

Thats very strange what do nationals with expired passports do in that country? There has to be another way to renew a passport. Anyway by all accounts your passsport only needs to be valid for the duration of stay in Canada when visiting.
You can search the TIMATIC system used by airlines to figure this stufff out here https://www.united.com/web/en-us/apps/vendors/default.aspx?i=TIMATIC

 

[K3nda]

Thats very strange what do nationals with expired passports do in that country? There has to be another way to renew a passport. Anyway by all accounts your passsport only needs to be valid for the duration of stay in Canada when visiting.
You can search the TIMATIC system used by airlines to figure this stufff out here https://www.united.com/web/en-us/apps/vendors/default.aspx?i=TIMATIC

I used direct IATA and the result was “ yes the documentation you hold is sufficient..etc”

Same thing with United, destination visa and transit passport are checked
Nothing about the 6 months rule and there’s no health check requirement.

Everything seems to be fine but when I contacted Air Canada to confirm there was no clear response. Do I need their confirmation or can I just rely on what these tools have told me ?

 

[Bryanna]

Hi everyone,

I’m planning to visit my friends and family in Canada during Christmas, I have a valid visa and a valid passport but both expire in less than six months. I called immigration and was told it’s not a problem as long as I leave before the expiry date but what about Air Canada? Since I’m flying with them, Would I be allowed to get on the plane? I called but I’m getting mixed answers from them and their website doesn’t have a specific information about that therefore I’m not sure. Anyone has an idea ?

There's no 6-month passport validity rule to travel to Canada.

That said, how long you are actually allowed to stay will be limited by the CBSA officer when you arrive. You won't be given the usual 6-months' stay. You could expect to be asked for your return ticket and your authorized stay (handwritten date in your passport) could be until the date of your return flight.

You should consider getting a new passport. That would make matters so much simpler for you