Lewzy said:
Hi
I'm a UK citizen and i received my Permanent residency last week, but i have a trip to the UK booked for 8 nights over Christmas, and wont receive my PR card until at least mid January.
CIC are telling me that I will require a PRTD to leave the UK and come back to Canada. But it seems like the processing times for the London office are 4-5 days (and im assuming they will not be working over xmas), plus then I'm going to guess that the document is mailed to me? I doubt I would even receive it in time.
Is this document really required for me as a UK citizen? Or is there a way i can apply for it before i arrive.. It seems like they want me to give it in person..
I'm really running out of patience with calling CIC, I always just get emailed the same copy pasted document about travel documents.. They're no help at all.
The problem you face is about clearing airline screening protocols for boarding the flight to Canada.
(Hence part of the observation by
Leon makes no sense:
Leon said:
If who asks you? If it's the airline, tell them it's not their business, you will buy it later.
It is indeed the airline's business if a passenger is at risk for being denied entry in the destination country. The airline has very broad discretion in deciding to deny boarding, and this can be at the traveler's expense.)
Your
problem is not with CIC (or, "
Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship," as it is now named). Nor is it with the CBSA (the officers at the POE). If you leave Canada, regardless how it is that you return to Canada, upon arrival at a Canadian POE you will be allowed to enter. There may be a question or three related to your PR status, but if so that will be mostly about verifying who you are and verifying you are a PR, which the cancelled visa in your passport, your copy of the CoPR, and their electronic records will readily verify.
You might say that your problem is caused by CIC to the extent CIC fails to get you the PR card before you leave, but mostly this is a matter of unfortunate timing relative to the date you landed.
You might say that your problem is caused by CIC's procedure for obtaining a PR Travel Document, but here again the problem is really a matter of unfortunate timing, again largely relative to the date you landed, creating the need for a PR Travel Document with insufficient time to accommodate this, or otherwise obtaining the PR card itself, within the framework of existing travel plans.
The problem is in dealing with airline policy and practice regarding the screening of boarding passengers.
Airline policies and practices in this regard are, of course, dictated by the Canadian law which prescribes the rules and regulations governing the obligations and responsibilities of commercial carriers who provide transportation to Canada from abroad. The burden is on the airlines to screen its passengers. The airlines can be held financially responsible for passengers who are not allowed to enter Canada. Recent media stories reflect growing concerns among the airlines regarding the extent of their potential liability (apparently it can extend to cost of detention, even health care, for inadmissible passengers, let alone cost of providing return flights).
Until relatively recently, a person in your situation who carries a visa-exempt passport has ordinarily had no problem boarding a flight destined for Canada by simply displaying the visa-exempt passport. The visa-exempt passport constitutes
authorization to enter Canada, and that has, ordinarily, been sufficient for the airlines.
Technically, however, Canadian PRs are required to display a valid PR card or a PR Travel Document in order to board a flight destined for Canada. Technically this has been true for a long while. This is because the visa-exempt passport is only authorization to enter Canada for a
Foreign National, and Canadian PRs are Canadians, not Foreign Nationals. So, technically, for a Canadian PR the visa-exempt passport is not authorization to enter Canada.
But practically, again, displaying a visa-exempt passport has been enough (or at least that is what the majority of reports have indicated). The airlines have not been in the business of screening passengers for alternative status, so when the visa-exempt passport is displayed that has sufficed.
It is likely that the implementation of the eTA system this year, to be fully implemented and mandatory as of early next year (by March was the last date I have seen indicated), has substantially changed this. Indeed, the CIC website now strongly cautions PRs, including in particular those with visa-exempt passports, that these changes require PRs to have either a valid PR card or a PR Travel Document in order to return to Canada. (This is about travel to Canada by commercial carriers; this is not about crossing the land border with the U.S. for example, or about what happens at the POE upon arrival.)
Frankly, the risks are currently unknown. Reliance on past practice is risky. It is possible that airlines are more thoroughly screening passengers who do not have the eTA now, even though the eTA is not yet mandatory. Some airlines may be doing this and others not, so what someone else reports their current experience to be is not a reliable indicator of how it will go . . . and particularly not a reliable indicator another month from now. Remember, the eTA is supposed to be fully mandatory by March.
We do not know for certain yet, but it seems likely that PRs will not get eTA. PRs are not subject to the eTA requirements, because again the eTA will be for passengers whose authorization to enter Canada is based on the visa-exempt passport, which is limited to Foreign Nationals, and PRs are not Foreign Nationals. But that means the PR will need to present either the valid PR card or a PR Travel Document in order to board a flight destined for Canada.
You could test this if you have your return flight booked. Attempt to obtain the eTA for your return flight. The cost is nominal. My guess is that you will not be able to obtain the eTA but that is really just a
guess. If you do get eTA to travel to Canada, you are good to go; your visa-exempt passport will get you on the flight to Canada.
If not, which is my guess, there is indeed a risk you will be precluded from boarding a flight back to Canada unless and until you can display a PR TD or PR card.
The
work-around suggested by
Rob_TO might work. My sense is that if the airlines are elevating screening in advance of the mandatory date for eTA, such a
work-around is not likely to work. The return ticket is more about insuring the airlines will not be financially liable for the return flight, and is more likely to be a factor for the ordinary Foreign National who might be turned away at the POE despite being visa-exempt if CBSA apprehends the individual might overstay or work or such. If the airlines is screening to the extent it is precluding PRs unless the PR is displaying a PR card or PR TD, I doubt the return flight ticket will convince the airlines to allow the PR to board the flight.
In this regard, there was a report here from a PR flying from, I think it was Ireland, who attempted to board a flight by only displaying a visa-exempt passport and not his/her PR card, but who eventually (after, it appears, a degree of wrangling and disputation) displayed his/her PR card to board the flight. So there are recent reports that the days of PRs boarding flights just using a visa-exempt passport are coming to an end.
Travel via the U.S. and then by private vehicle to Canada option:
UK passport holders can travel to the U.S. by air (eTA also required, but should be no problem) and then travel by private vehicle to the Canadian border. If tickets for the flights have not been purchased, or can be refunded, or revised for travel via an airport in the U.S., then travel via the U.S. may be the safest option. Still inconvenient no doubt. Not so inconvenient as being denied boarding a flight, losing that ticket, having to wait for a PR TD and having to purchase another ticket. If the latter happens, it will almost certainly be at the traveler's own expense.
Overall: I understand the dilemma. I sympathize with you and understand your anxiousness. This is indeed a particularly inconvenient circumstance. You are probably not the only person affected by this kind of thing. I do not know the hours or practices in how visa offices at Canadian embassies work, but given the amount of travel by Canadians over the holidays, especially to the UK, I suspect the embassies are geared to provide more service than you might be expecting. It would nonetheless be extremely inconvenient to go through the process of obtaining a PR TD while there for such a short time period over the holidays, and might require seeking in-person service.
In other words, I am afraid there are probably no sure solutions avoiding inconvenience or risks. If at all feasible, personally I would lean toward the alternative flight via the U.S. But that might not be at all practical for you.
Good luck. I hope you get to enjoy the trip. And congratulations on becoming a Canadian (even if that does not seem all that great given this dilemma).
