Covid-19 Proof of Vaccination

[Malekals]

Hey guys,

I live in Saudi Arabia as an expat.

I will be travelling to Canada in Aug 20 to commence my studies, and I'm fully vaccinated.

As many of my expat friends or others here may know, the birth date (day & month) on Iqamas (resident permits) doesn't necessarily correspond to the actual date of birth of individuals as it's a common practice here to put the birth dates as 01/01/Year-of-birth on the permits by default, especially who have been living here for 15+ years who were before the unification of government services in one portal.

In my case, my resident identity and vaccination certificate states my date of birth as 01/01/1997, while my actual date of birth is Nov 1997. Can this be an issue at the port of entry? If it is, how can I explain to the CBSA officer that this is a common practice in Saudi Arabia?

 

[kwaame]

Hey guys,

I live in Saudi Arabia as an expat.

I will be travelling to Canada in Aug 20 to commence my studies, and I'm fully vaccinated.

As many of my expat friends or others here may know, the birth date (day & month) on Iqamas (resident permits) doesn't necessarily correspond to the actual date of birth of individuals as it's a common practice here to put the birth dates as 01/01/Year-of-birth on the permits by default, especially who have been living here for 15+ years who were before the unification of government services in one portal.

In my case, my resident identity and vaccination certificate states my date of birth as 01/01/1997, while my actual date of birth is Nov 1997. Can this be an issue at the port of entry? If it is, how can I explain to the CBSA officer that this is a common practice in Saudi Arabia?

That will not be any problem. It is Saudi Arabia National policy on date of birth format , you don’t have any control , other countries including Canada will be aware of that. After all, many people from Saudi has travel with such situations to Canada before , you are not the first person. Good luck.

 

[beemir]

Hi @Malekals, or anyone else who has been through this, how did it go? We have two family members who have the same issue and I am quite concerned. I am trying to submit proof of vaccination via the relevant Ontario public health unit's public health unit portal but I am not sure how to explain this to them, they just want vaccination receipts. I hope they know this is a common thing and basically care about the vaccine info more than anything. Also, there are TWO different vaccine receipts you can get from Saudi Arabia, one has passport number on it but no date of birth, and the other has date of birth but non passport info, however, it does contain more detailed vaccine info such as batch and lot number. Both have first and second dose dates though. I am leaning towards using the passport one as it does not have date of birth on it either.