Traveling without Canadian Passport, but with a visa-exempt passport after Oath – UPDATE

[jescaba86]

Hi everyone,

I'm gonna leave this here for your reference. I'm sure some of you will need such information.

My wife had a plane ticket to the US for the holidays before even getting a date for the citizenship oath. Then, we got the date 4 days before her trip. I did some research and found out about the Special Authorization to travel for citizens who don't have a Canadian Passport yet, and are allowed to be dual citizenship in their home country, AND are visa exempt to enter Canada (https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit-canada/dual-canadian-citizens-visit-canada.html)–scroll down to "flying in a few days or at the airport without a Canadian passport?". My wife and I decided to go on this route.

I'm glad to say that my wife didn't have any trouble flying back to Canada. She applied and received the Special Authorization. She only needed to show the Citizenship Certificate and the accepted application to board the flight.

I hope this helps someone.

Cheers.

 

[Mitya-kun]

Thanks for the info!
Any timeline? How long did it take to receive the authorization?

 

[jescaba86]

Thanks for the info!
Any timeline? How long did it take to receive the authorization?

No prob.
Applied 9 days prior to flight back to Canada and received that same day the application was sent.

 

[sumitbajaj07]

Hi everyone,

I'm gonna leave this here for your reference. I'm sure some of you will need such information.

My wife had a plane ticket to the US for the holidays before even getting a date for the citizenship oath. Then, we got the date 4 days before her trip. I did some research and found out about the Special Authorization to travel for citizens who don't have a Canadian Passport yet, and are allowed to be dual citizenship in their home country, AND are visa exempt to enter Canada (https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit-canada/dual-canadian-citizens-visit-canada.html)–scroll down to "flying in a few days or at the airport without a Canadian passport?". My wife and I decided to go on this route.

I'm glad to say that my wife didn't have any trouble flying back to Canada. She applied and received the Special Authorization. She only needed to show the Citizenship Certificate and the accepted application to board the flight.

I hope this helps someone.

Cheers.

Hi,

Need advise. I'll be travelling to India with my family soon. I got my son's citizenship applictaion accepted and expecting tpo citizenship certificat ein 2 weeks. but my flight is after 3 weeks and I don't think I can get canadian passport so quickly. My son is a USA citizen. can you please confirm he will be able to enter into the canada withpout canadian passport ? Will canadian citizenship certificate and his USA passsport be enough ? or I need to apply as you mentioned above ?

 

[pulkitkumar190]

Hi,

Need advise. I'll be travelling to India with my family soon. I got my son's citizenship applictaion accepted and expecting tpo citizenship certificat ein 2 weeks. but my flight is after 3 weeks and I don't think I can get canadian passport so quickly. My son is a USA citizen. can you please confirm he will be able to enter into the canada withpout canadian passport ? Will canadian citizenship certificate and his USA passsport be enough ? or I need to apply as you mentioned above ?

You need to apply for Special Authorization

 

[xf2278389393]

You need to apply for Special Authorization

That's incorrect. US passport holders who are Canadian citizens can enter Canada without a special authorization and even cannot apply for one, because US citizens are eTA-exempt.

"If you travel with just your valid U.S. passport, you
-will need to carry identification that shows your Canadian citizenship
-may be asked to go through immigration screening"
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit-canada/dual-canadian-citizens-visit-canada.html

 

[jescaba86]

Hi,

Need advise. I'll be travelling to India with my family soon. I got my son's citizenship applictaion accepted and expecting tpo citizenship certificat ein 2 weeks. but my flight is after 3 weeks and I don't think I can get canadian passport so quickly. My son is a USA citizen. can you please confirm he will be able to enter into the canada withpout canadian passport ? Will canadian citizenship certificate and his USA passsport be enough ? or I need to apply as you mentioned above ?

Like the previous answer states, US Passport holders cannot apply for the special authorization unfortunately, only a number of other type of passport holders whose country is visa exempt to enter Canada.

 

[armoured]

Like the previous answer states, US Passport holders cannot apply for the special authorization unfortunately, only a number of other type of passport holders whose country is visa exempt to enter Canada.

It's not 'unfortunately' in this context - the point is that US passport holders do not need either an ETA nor the special authorization - the US passport will be sufficient to board the plane. (Don't even bother telling the airline people about Canadian citizenship - no need)

As far as showing Canadian citizenship, just the correspondence about citizenship or even UCI# should be enough.

 

[FormaggioVolante]

I may have to go this route, but I'm unsure whether I can. My oath was scheduled for 9 days before my flight to Brazil, and this flight has been booked for quite a while now. I may have enough time if Passport Canada accepts my express request, which I'll certainly try, but I have to prepare in case they don't.

The problems is that despite being an eTA-eligible country, Brazil is not visa exempt. Should I contact the IRCC about this?

 

[sumitbajaj07]

It's not 'unfortunately' in this context - the point is that US passport holders do not need either an ETA nor the special authorization - the US passport will be sufficient to board the plane. (Don't even bother telling the airline people about Canadian citizenship - no need)

As far as showing Canadian citizenship, just the correspondence about citizenship or even UCI# should be enough.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[sumitbajaj07]

It's not 'unfortunately' in this context - the point is that US passport holders do not need either an ETA nor the special authorization - the US passport will be sufficient to board the plane. (Don't even bother telling the airline people about Canadian citizenship - no need)

As far as showing Canadian citizenship, just the correspondence about citizenship or even UCI# should be enough.

Thanks for the reply.