Boarding denied at Hungarian (EU) airport to Canada

[Istvan B]

Hi everyone,

I tried to visit my friend (who is a Canadian citizen) in Welland, Ontario 2 days ago (04.06.2019).

To my greatest surprise I was not able to board my airplane on BUD (Hungary) airport due to an ad-hoc decision made in the Embassy of Canada to Austria in Vienna.

I have a valid passport, had an eTA registration and had my round-trip booked and paid for (departure from Canada back to Hungary on 03.07.2019). Before the check-in, the security crew asked me some questions, like the purpose of the visit, amount of cash I have, and how can I manage being away from work for 4 weeks. Here I kindly explained that I am planning this trip for months now, and I intentionally timed my job change for this period to be able to spend 1 month in Canada and then a few more weeks in Hungary with my family before taking a new job. Now 2 days later I think being that honest was a mistake.

The security crew took some pictures of my documents and sent it to the embassy in Vienna. Roughly an hour later they had received an answer, saying that somebody denied my boarding and already deleted my eTA registration. I still don't know the official reasons, they only told me to contact the embassy. The embassy is not available by phone due to lack of resources, they only accept emails. Processing time of an inquiry is 10 working days.

What can I do now to improve the situation, besides waiting for the embassy's answer? And is it a standard procedure, denying boarding on foreign airports based on assumptions? Not mentioning that all information is gathered and forwarded by airport workers with questionable qualifications.

 

[scylla]

Hi everyone,

I tried to visit my friend (who is a Canadian citizen) in Welland, Ontario 2 days ago (04.06.2019).

To my greatest surprise I was not able to board my airplane on BUD (Hungary) airport due to an ad-hoc decision made in the Embassy of Canada to Austria in Vienna.

I have a valid passport, had an eTA registration and had my round-trip booked and paid for (departure from Canada back to Hungary on 03.07.2019). Before the check-in, the security crew asked me some questions, like the purpose of the visit, amount of cash I have, and how can I manage being away from work for 4 weeks. Here I kindly explained that I am planning this trip for months now, and I intentionally timed my job change for this period to be able to spend 1 month in Canada and then a few more weeks in Hungary with my family before taking a new job. Now 2 days later I think being that honest was a mistake.

The security crew took some pictures of my documents and sent it to the embassy in Vienna. Roughly an hour later they had received an answer, saying that somebody denied my boarding and already deleted my eTA registration. I still don't know the official reasons, they only told me to contact the embassy. The embassy is not available by phone due to lack of resources, they only accept emails. Processing time of an inquiry is 10 working days.

What can I do now to improve the situation, besides waiting for the embassy's answer? And is it a standard procedure, denying boarding on foreign airports based on assumptions? Not mentioning that all information is gathered and forwarded by airport workers with questionable qualifications.

This is a very unusual situation. I think there must have been some sort of flag already on your eTA to trigger these questions and the cancellation of your eTA. Sometimes IRCC discovered information after an eTA is approved that causes them to change their decision in the eTA approval. I don't think you have much choice but wait for the embassy to respond.

 

[Istvan B]

Thanks very much scylla for your quick reply!

 

[canuck78]

Would also depend on your bank balance, whether you were leaving wife and children at home, not currently being employed always worries immigration officers, etc. There have been quite a few asylum claims coming from Hungary. I am not sure if you belong to a specific group in Hungary. Clearly you were flagged but even with an ETA or TRV you can be refused boarding or refused entry to Canada once you land. I’d order GCMS notes.

 

[Bornlucky]

Hi everyone,

I tried to visit my friend (who is a Canadian citizen) in Welland, Ontario 2 days ago (04.06.2019).

To my greatest surprise I was not able to board my airplane on BUD (Hungary) airport due to an ad-hoc decision made in the Embassy of Canada to Austria in Vienna.

I have a valid passport, had an eTA registration and had my round-trip booked and paid for (departure from Canada back to Hungary on 03.07.2019). Before the check-in, the security crew asked me some questions, like the purpose of the visit, amount of cash I have, and how can I manage being away from work for 4 weeks. Here I kindly explained that I am planning this trip for months now, and I intentionally timed my job change for this period to be able to spend 1 month in Canada and then a few more weeks in Hungary with my family before taking a new job. Now 2 days later I think being that honest was a mistake.

The security crew took some pictures of my documents and sent it to the embassy in Vienna. Roughly an hour later they had received an answer, saying that somebody denied my boarding and already deleted my eTA registration. I still don't know the official reasons, they only told me to contact the embassy. The embassy is not available by phone due to lack of resources, they only accept emails. Processing time of an inquiry is 10 working days.

What can I do now to improve the situation, besides waiting for the embassy's answer? And is it a standard procedure, denying boarding on foreign airports based on assumptions? Not mentioning that all information is gathered and forwarded by airport workers with questionable qualifications.

The airline makes the decision whether or not to board a passenger and they consult with different countries as to the bona fides of travellers. Some developed nations have people directly responsible as airline liaisons, providing training to airline staff on travel documents and indications of suspected inadmissible passengers.

Airlines can face expensive liabilities for boarding people under certain circumstances and this isn't unusual in certain airports and is a surprise in others as far as frequency is concerned.

It would be interesting to learn what their concerns were.

 

[Zechinova]

This also happened to my friend leaving from Budapest. Counter denied entry after calling embassy. We have not be notified at ETA was changed. We want to know if we can get back the ticket price and also if he will now be flagged forbidden entry in future.