Re-entering Canada without PR Card, only CoPR and passport - by plane

[donnanne]

I am in a similar situation to the original poster, here are my details:

- British Citizen.
- Permanent Resident (PR) of Canada since 19 Dec 2017.
- Initial PR Card not yet arrived.
- Short trip to the US scheduled.
- In possession of signed CoPR and valid visa-exempt passport.

My question; would an eTA applied for before you were granted Permanent Resident status still work? When I check the status of my previously approved eTA it still says it is valid until 2022.

If it is still valid then surely I would be able to board my flight to Canada as long as I don't mention I am a PR? And upon landing in Canada CBAS will easily verify my status.

Hello,

My understanding is that eTA is null and void when you are PR. If you apply for one after becoming PR it will be immediately rejected.
In your case you already have one.

It's risky if you take the chance of flying to US. Not sure if they check the status of your eTA at check in or just confirm with you that you have one. From other posts I have followed, the airline can manually check your eTA status so if it returns a result that tells them your ETA is not valid you'll not be allowed to board.

CIC fine airlines for letting passengers travel without valid PR card so it really depends on the airline staff you get on the day.

Options:
1. Fly to US and come back to Canada via land border (fly to Buffalo and cross into Ontario at Niagra Falls) using your CoPR, totally permitted albeit add to travel time
2. Risk flying back on the flight to Canada but potential to not be allowed to board the plane.
3. Wait for card to arrive. You've waited 52 days for your PR card at this point. I would recommend waiting for the card to arrive as it will likely arrive in the next 10days and avoid the potential refusal to board the inbound Canadian flight. CIC state 61 days for and processing and this has been the time for past 6 months. My card arrived on day 59 so they are pretty accurate with the timing.
FYI the processing centre for the cards in in Surrey, Nova Scotia and they are sent via regular mail.

Good luck!

 

[steaky]

Isn't PR card process in Sidney, Nova Scotia instead?

Also, fly to Bellingham WA and walk/drive to Surrey, BC is an alternatative to Niagara Falls.

Hello,

My understanding is that eTA is null and void when you are PR. If you apply for one after becoming PR it will be immediately rejected.
In your case you already have one.

It's risky if you take the chance of flying to US. Not sure if they check the status of your eTA at check in or just confirm with you that you have one. From other posts I have followed, the airline can manually check your eTA status so if it returns a result that tells them your ETA is not valid you'll not be allowed to board.

CIC fine airlines for letting passengers travel without valid PR card so it really depends on the airline staff you get on the day.

Options:
1. Fly to US and come back to Canada via land border (fly to Buffalo and cross into Ontario at Niagra Falls) using your CoPR, totally permitted albeit add to travel time
2. Risk flying back on the flight to Canada but potential to not be allowed to board the plane.
3. Wait for card to arrive. You've waited 52 days for your PR card at this point. I would recommend waiting for the card to arrive as it will likely arrive in the next 10days and avoid the potential refusal to board the inbound Canadian flight. CIC state 61 days for and processing and this has been the time for past 6 months. My card arrived on day 59 so they are pretty accurate with the timing.
FYI the processing centre for the cards in in Surrey, Nova Scotia and they are sent via regular mail.

Good luck!

 

[spousalsponsee]

I am in a similar situation to the original poster, here are my details:

- British Citizen.
- Permanent Resident (PR) of Canada since 19 Dec 2017.
- Initial PR Card not yet arrived.
- Short trip to the US scheduled.
- In possession of signed CoPR and valid visa-exempt passport.

My question; would an eTA applied for before you were granted Permanent Resident status still work? When I check the status of my previously approved eTA it still says it is valid until 2022.

If it is still valid then surely I would be able to board my flight to Canada as long as I don't mention I am a PR? And upon landing in Canada CBAS will easily verify my status.

If your eTA is still valid when you fly back, that will work; the eTA will get you on the plane, the CoPR will get you in the country.

Your problem is, you cannot be confident the eTA will still be valid. It's been two months already, at some point they're going to, either through batch processing or random sweeps, see that you're no longer entitled to one, and you'll get an email saying it's been cancelled because you don't qualify (mine took about four months to do that). If that happens while you're in the US, you have a very annoying sudden change of travel plans.

Safer option is to use the land border.

 

[MikeRoCutz]

Thank you all for your quick replies, the answer is pretty much what I expected, it would definitely be a risk. Unfortunately I booked my flights in December as I didn't foresee this issue.

I know for sure that my card will not arrive in time for my trip on the 13th February; I received a letter yesterday stating that the photograph provided does not meet the required specifications - it is the photo that I originally provided with my PR application so I'm guessing it isn't recent enough, in which case why didn't they say something when I officially landed?

Anyway, I have decided to still fly to the US from Sudbury via Toronto (I live in North Bay), I will cut my losses and search for an alternative route home across a land border. I see Buffalo has already been suggested but I assume it is also possible to fly to Detroit and cross there with no problems?

Thanks again for your replies, I wish I was brave enough to risk the eTA.

 

[zardoz]

Thank you all for your quick replies, the answer is pretty much what I expected, it would definitely be a risk. Unfortunately I booked my flights in December as I didn't foresee this issue.

I know for sure that my card will not arrive in time for my trip on the 13th February; I received a letter yesterday stating that the photograph provided does not meet the required specifications - it is the photo that I originally provided with my PR application so I'm guessing it isn't recent enough, in which case why didn't they say something when I officially landed?

Anyway, I have decided to still fly to the US from Sudbury via Toronto (I live in North Bay), I will cut my losses and search for an alternative route home across a land border. I see Buffalo has already been suggested but I assume it is also possible to fly to Detroit and cross there with no problems?

Thanks again for your replies, I wish I was brave enough to risk the eTA.

Look at the current status. https://onlineservices-servicesenligne.cic.gc.ca/eta/applicationQuery?lang=en

 

[MikeRoCutz]

Look at the current status. https://onlineservices-servicesenligne.cic.gc.ca/eta/applicationQuery?lang=en

I check the status and everything seems good but the following has me worried:

It's been two months already, at some point they're going to, either through batch processing or random sweeps, see that you're no longer entitled to one, and you'll get an email saying it's been cancelled because you don't qualify (mine took about four months to do that). If that happens while you're in the US, you have a very annoying sudden change of travel plans.

 

[PMM]

Hi

I am in a similar situation to the original poster, here are my details:

- British Citizen.
- Permanent Resident (PR) of Canada since 19 Dec 2017.
- Initial PR Card not yet arrived.
- Short trip to the US scheduled.
- In possession of signed CoPR and valid visa-exempt passport.

My question; would an eTA applied for before you were granted Permanent Resident status still work? When I check the status of my previously approved eTA it still says it is valid until 2022.

If it is still valid then surely I would be able to board my flight to Canada as long as I don't mention I am a PR? And upon landing in Canada CBAS will easily verify my status.

1. You can probably assume that the ETA will be cancelled fairly shortly. YOu can take the chance, but be prepared to be denied boarding.

 

[devnill]

It took IRCC almost a year to cancel my eTA. Until you get the email saying it's cancelled, I think you should be good to travel on it. You can always check the status using http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/helpcentre/answer.asp?qnum=029&top=3 . Of course a problem may arise if it's cancelled during a trip.

 

[canada@2018]

Hello Folks,

I got my PR visa last year and I am planning to land in Canada this March for some job interviews from US. After the interviews I need to come to back US within a week. Since PR card takes around 2 months to arrive, can I reenter Canada with my PR visa and COPR document again? I am planing to cross the rainbow bridge and land in Toronto via land. Before I get a confirmed job in Canada, I might have to go back and forth since I stay very near the border and don’t want to stay in hotel in Canada. Is that posible?

TIA...

 

[steaky]

Hello Folks,

I got my PR visa last year and I am planning to land in Canada this March for some job interviews from US. After the interviews I need to come to back US within a week. Since PR card takes around 2 months to arrive, can I reenter Canada with my PR visa and COPR document again? I am planing to cross the rainbow bridge and land in Toronto via land. Before I get a confirmed job in Canada, I might have to go back and forth since I stay very near the border and don’t want to stay in hotel in Canada. Is that posible?

TIA...

You should have create your own thread. Look at the subject heading .... traveling by plane!

 

[canada@2018]

You should have create your own thread. Look at the subject heading .... traveling by plane!

Missed that...payed more attention on reentering canada without pr than mode of travel..

 

[dpenabill]

Missed that...payed more attention on reentering canada without pr than mode of travel..

But the answer to your query is simple: You should have no problem.

 

[axolotl]

I had to go back to Europe before receiving my PR card. I read from multiple posts that a PR needs to have his/her PR card or PRTD to be able to board a commercial airline. For this reason I asked someone to send me my PR card by post to Europe. It cost me about 18 CAD. It turned out to be an unnecessary cost.

Today I flew back to Canada, from Amsterdam to Toronto via Keflavik, with WOW Air. For both legs of the flight, I was allowed to board simply with my boarding pass and passport. No one asked for an ETA or a PR card.

 

[axolotl]

Unless a person holds a Canadian or American passport, Canadian immigration law requires that airlines verify that they have the correct travel document, meaning either a PR card, a PRTD, an eTA or a TRV. As you have none of those, you will not be allowed to board.

CBSA will be able to determine your status by simply swiping your passport.

Not true.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

Not true.

Yes, true. The simple explanation for your experience being that as a fairly new visa-exempt PR, your eTA was not cancelled in the system. This has happened to a few others as well.

Don't spread bad information.