jc94 said:
Yeah, I'm actually not planning on landing when I return to Ottawa as I have a tight connection and didn't want to cart COPR paperwork around Russia, Siberia and Mongolia.
While I am not sure this is still the case, in the past once approved for PR you would be processed as such upon your next arrival at a Canadian PoE. But that was when visa-exempt FNs still were getting a PR visa affixed in the passport. I am not sure how the change in procedure works now for visa-exempt FNs who are only issued the CoPR and not a visa.
Before attempting this I'd suggest trying to get clarification from an authoritative source, as to what happens if you attempt to enter Canada after being issued the CoPR but do not want to go through the landing process at that time.
Not sure what happens if you just arrive at the PoE and do not have your original CoPR in possession. I suppose it is possible you'd only be admonished to have it the next time and they would allow you to enter Canada without landing.
However, this is a stage in the process most people are dis-inclined to try experimenting.
jc94 said:
Right, but I don't think I can get an eTA can I? Will CIC issue eTA to someone with a COPR?
Technically you are not a PR until the landing process is completed, but I too am not sure you are eligible for eTA at this juncture. With the CoPR you do not need eTA (and still would not even if the trip was after the fall, as long as you meet the deadline to land). My sense, based on the few (very few) reports of attempts to obtain eTA posted, is that anyone who does not need eTA will be denied eTA. But I am not sure of this either, or how in particular the eTA application system will respond for someone approved for PR but not yet landed.
Regarding this, it might be no big deal to go to the online application and see how it goes. If you do so, strongly suggest, however, you avoid fudging any of the information submitted . . . be sure, for example, to properly enter your Canadian UCI.
The caveat is that the IRCC FAQs seem to suggest if a traveler has been denied eTA, that may preclude boarding on the strength of a visa-exempt passport alone until the
problem, whatever it is, has been resolved.
Perhaps the combination of the CoPR and visa-exempt passport resolves the problem for boarding purposes, since this is specifically a circumstance in which no eTA is required.
But this is wandering toward complications, and complications tend to increase the risk even relatively routine procedures
go-off-the-rails, so to say. Leading back to the observation that this is a stage in the process most people are dis-inclined to try experimenting.
jc94 said:
I know I can technically enter the country without an eTA if I have a COPR and visa-exempt passport, and the eTA shouldn't be enforced until the fall, but I'm not convinced all countries will actually know and understand this.
Indeed, I concur, actually entering Canada should not be a concern (subject to observations about landing process above).
And the combination of the CoPR and visa-exempt passport should also mean that clearance to board a flight to Canada should be no problem (no eTA required, regardless of the leniency period). Since the clearance process is now facilitated by CBSA's IAPI system, rather than individual airline systems, it should not matter which airport in the world you are departing.
My impression regarding this is that all airlines (at points of departure for flights to Canada) are now working with the same scripts, which instruct the airline the precise Travel Documents which are acceptable for whom.
That said:
jc94 said:
I guess I can travel with a photocopy of my COPR and show it to checkin if they cause an issue :s
My
guess is that a
copy of the CoPR rather than the original might not work. Any reason to think a copy of your passport would work? (Well, sure, there are big differences, including secure document technology used in most passports. But even if an airline is totally convinced a copy of one's passport is a true and genuine copy, the mere fact it is a copy precludes its use for traveling. My
guess is similarly so as to the CoPR, that the original is necessary and a copy does not work.)
That noted, during the leniency period, however long that lasts, your visa-exempt passport alone should allow you to board a flight to Canada.
jc94 said:
I have zero faith in CIC's ability to deliver a PR card in < 60 days (I'm actually worried about the trip I have 4 months after I plan to land
I am not familiar with IRCC's current timelines or track record for delivering the first PR card to newly landed immigrants. Not sure there is cause to worry here or not.
Since it appears you intend to avoid landing soon, thus sometime later, and then you plan another trip some four months beyond that: I can, however, caution that if you are talking about traveling six months or more from now and after you have landed and are a PR, it is likely that by then there will be strict enforcement of the Travel Documents requirements for PRs (PR card or PR TD). Whether the date that eTA is absolutely required for all visa-exempt
Foreign Nationals is in August or September or November, the extent to which boarding clearance is subject to more strict enforcement of the rules will likely approach near full enforcement by late summer, or at the latest by the date the leniency period ends, which currently is indefinite. (Note: this is not a consensus view; some here have a strong opinion otherwise. My reasoning is explained at length in a topic titled "Please help! Can I renter Canada in such situation?")
