Really nobody outside of Canada will care about your PR status or PR card. The only 2 times you will use your PR card are:
1. To show the airline when you check-in to your return flight to Canada
2. To show CBSA when you arrive back in Canada
You need a passport for everything related to international travel. There is no situation where you can use just a PR card for anything and not a passport.
Hi all,
I've been a permanent resident for almost 2 years but so far have never traveled out of country. This summer I'll be traveling to Germany and Ireland for 4 weeks to see my family and I was wondering which document to use for flying internationally?
Am I suppose to use one document over the other (PR card or German passport) or is it up to me which document I'll be using. I know it will be easier to use my German passport as I will be able to easily go through customs but I will be traveling with my wife and son (both have Canadian passport only) so I was thinking I will use my PR card to go through customs with them.
Are there any regulations on that?
Thank you.
Flo
No one can travel internationally on a PR card alone, at least not from and to Canada. A Canadian PR Card is not a substitute for a passport - only passports can be used to cross borders if you are traveling between countries that do not have borderless agreements (such as the Schengen or the Mercosur, for example).
Your PR card, as it relates to travel and to Canada, needs to be used to show that you have the assumed right to come back to Canada. If a travelers passport is not visa-free to Canada, a document showing you have that assumed right to enter Canada must be shown upon checking in for a flight that shows Canada as the final destination. A TRV, a PR card or a PRTD can fulfill that requirement. For visa-free passports to Canada, now you have to show a eTA (not applicable if you are a PR of Canada). US passports are the exception to any of these rules.
Also, your PR card needs to be used to re-enter Canada. The document-reading machines at the airport accept Canadian PR Cards, and Canadian and US passports only. If you are a PR, you must only use your PR card on the machine. Your passport will be checked by a customs agent after you have used the machine (in Toronto this happens twice, once after using the machine and once before getting to the baggage area).
So, in your particular case, use your German passport to depart Canada and to enter Europe (I have in one case been asked to show that I am a PR when checking in for a departing flight from Canada because I had a return reservation, but this may have been an airline overreach and because my passport is visa-required to Canada). Use your German passport AND PR card to check-in to your flights to Canada, use your PR card at the document-reading machines in Canada, and always have your German passport and PR card handy while entering Canada. Oh, and in some cases, custom agents in Canada will check documents at the plane's door when getting off a flight, so have your documents handy from the moment you land. So, in a nutshell, from the moment to set foot at the airport abroad to return to Canada, have both documents (German passport and Canadian PR card) always handy and available to show.
Oh, and btw, this may not apply to you because you carry a German passport, but I have noticed that my Canadian PR card is actually useful to dramatically ease the attitude some custom agents give to carriers of other not so fortunate citizenships such as mine (Venezuela).
