Can I enter Canada by land without PR Card or PRTD?

[dpenabill]

Is it really that I am not allowed to travel to Canada anymore , if my PR card is not valid anymore or I go there just for a vacation? That just seems to o harsh in my opinion.

What @armoured said . . . but with added perspective:

For Context I: In regards to how "harsh" it is to not be able to travel to Canada for a vacation, that describes the majority of people in the world outside North America and Europe, meaning many BILLIONS of people. In regards to what YOU want, OK, that's different, but that is about YOU.

For Context II: In regards to who is "allowed to travel to Canada," as far as Canadian law and rules go, a Canadian PR is allowed to travel to Canada and MUST BE ALLOWED to enter Canada. In regards to the means of travel, again that is a different story, and sure there is a difference depending on an individual's finances, such as whether the PR can afford to fly a private jet or travel abroad a private yacht to travel to Canada. Oh, you can only afford to fly commercial? That's harsh. Maybe not as harsh as it is for the majority of people in the world outside North America and Europe who cannot afford to fly internationally at all. But that's about the person's finances.

To Be Clear I: Canada does NOT have laws or rules prohibiting travel to Canada by a Canadian PR. And, again, Canadian PRs must be allowed to enter Canada.

To Be Clear II: But before allowing passengers to board a conveyance coming to Canada, commercial transportation companies must screen ALL passengers for authorization to enter Canada, which requires presentation of specified documents. This applies equally to ALL passengers, including ALL CANADIANS, meaning both Canadian CITIZENS and Canadian PRs. Canadian citizens, for example, can only be approved to board a commercial flight to Canada if they present a valid Canadian passport or Canadian issued Travel Document specifically for travel to Canada. Similarly for Canadians who are PRs, who can only be approved to board a commercial flight to Canada if they present a valid Canadian PR card or Canadian issued Travel Document specifically for travel to Canada.

Reminder: The extent to which a person with Canadian PR status can travel internationally is NOT controlled by Canadian law or the Canadian government . . . NOR facilitated by the Canadian government. PRs' international travel depends mostly on the passport they carry.

Other than practical and logistical restraints (again, for example, most people in the world cannot afford to fly internationally, even though there may be a billion or two of us who can), a person's access to international travel depends on:

-- the laws and rules of the country that issued the person's travel document, typically a passport​

-- -- contrary to some views, the Canadian PR card is NOT a travel document; it is a status document​

-- the laws and rules of the destination country​

-- exit controls in the country in which the person is located​

So the fact that you have Canadian PR status imposes near ZERO restrictions on your ability to travel internationally. In fact, the only impact Canadian PR status has on an individual's capacity to travel internationally is limited to requirements for boarding commercial transportation coming to Canada, which again are very similar to the requirements imposed on Canadian CITIZENS: that is, presentation of a valid PR card or valid Canadian passport, or a Canadian Travel Document for PRs or citizens.

 

[canuck78]

Is it really that I am not allowed to travel to Canada anymore , if my PR card is not valid anymore or I go there just for a vacation? That just seems to o harsh in my opinion. I don't really care of my PR status because I don't live there anymore.

You can apply to renounce your PR status and then apply for an ETA.

 

[jakklondon]

Is it really that I am not allowed to travel to Canada anymore , if my PR card is not valid anymore or I go there just for a vacation? That just seems to o harsh in my opinion. I don't really care of my PR status because I don't live there anymore.

There is no such ban. If you want to travel as non-immigrant (which you can do without PR card), you will have to renounce your PR status, then get a visa and travel to Canada.

Fortunately, as a US Citizen, I don't have to jump through the hoops. I will use my US Passport to travel to Canada without any hurdles and I will make sure to NOT tell CBSA upon inspection that I am Canadian PR. This way I can travel to Canada as non-immigrant and keep my PR status. It's so good, to do what I want and disregard what CBSA wants me to do.

DISCLAIMER: Some of my posts are written with pun intended, to satirize and ridicule Orwellian Triple Hermetic Secret Worshippers. At no point I would recommend ANYONE to do what I say I will be doing. I am not concerned about anyone doing what I say and then suing me for it, I will get away with it because I am not a lawyer, don't give legal advise and never told anyone to do what I say I will do. My main concern is your, as Canadian PR, present and future. If you are Canadian PR and plan to stay in that country for the foreseeable future, it's in your best interest to not do anything that may result in your removal or permanent ban from Canada, So, read my posts, have some laughter and joy, make fun of and ridicule Orwellian Triple Hermetic Secret Worshippers. but do not rely on my posts as a source of legal advise or inspiration for action. Whenever you have a doubt or legal question CONSULT a LICENSED immigration attorney who will be the best in guiding you forward. Good luck.

 

[fdelliott2]

If you have visa exempt passport, you can always approach Canadian POE and present yourself for admission. Unless you are US Citizen, you won't be able to board a plane as PR without PR card. But you can still walk to Canadian border and ask for admission at the border.

BTW: If I ever return to Canada, I will make sure to misrepresent myself (I will LIE and withhold any information about my PR status. I will show only my US passport and will tell a LIE if they ask me about me being a PR). I have ZERO risk in doing so. At worst, they will charge me with civil violation of misrepresentation and ban me for life from entering to Canada (to which I will respond with Olympian laughter, very loud and jovial). At best, my LIE will work (just like it works for politicians who run for offices and then pontificate about rule of law), I will enter Canada, stay 3 years, get Canadian citizenship, then return to USA until my retirement age. Once I am too old to work, I will once again return to Canada, to take an enormous advantage of Canadian social services (free Medicare, free financial support and etc.) and come to siphon all the taxpayer funded benefits I can. Life is good!

So just to clarify - people with American passports can enter the country even without a valid PR card or PRTD?

I just landed as a PR on May 30th and intend to go back to the states for 48 hours in mid-August. If I don't have a PR card by then will I be fine? I have an American passport and will bring my COPR document obviously along with proof my PR card application is processing. I would rather fly in and out of Canada then trekking to the states in a private vehicle. The IRCC website doesn't seem to make a mention of American's being exempt, so I wanted to ask where you read that.

Thanks in advance.

 

[armoured]

I just landed as a PR on May 30th and intend to go back to the states for 48 hours in mid-August. If I don't have a PR card by then will I be fine? I have an American passport and will bring my COPR document obviously along with proof my PR card application is processing.

I posted on a different thread about this. Basically you should be fine. Check with your airline. Check also covid requirements.

 

[dpenabill]

Remember, the decision to issue a PRTD is discretionary, so providing as much information and evidence supporting the urgency of your return to Canada is essential.

Not sure what particular questions you are responding to, and no idea why the response, given the subject here is a situation more than TWO YEARS ago, with the most recent later commentary (largely a confusing tangent) posted well more than a year ago.

But it probably warrants correcting, or at least clarifying, the erroneous premise in your last statement. In regards to an application for a PRTD by a PR outside Canada, it is NOT correct that the decision to issue a PRTD is discretionary. To be clear, visa office officials do NOT have discretion to deny (refuse) a PRTD for a PR with valid status. Even a PR who is deemed inadmissible due to a Residency Obligation breach, upon further application MUST be granted a PRTD if they appeal the refusal to issue a PRTD for inadmissibility and were in Canada within the previous year.

Remember, Canadians, including Canadian PRs, have a "right of return" to Canada. Upon making a proper application for a PRTD, a visa office MUST issue the PR a PRTD unless it is determined the PR is inadmissible. A failure to do so is "not valid in law," and will be set aside on appeal.

A good example is illustrated in Badra v Canada, 2020 CanLII 75258, https://canlii.ca/t/jb1fg in which the evidence was sufficient to show the PR met the RO, relying on credit for days abroad accompanying the PR's Canadian citizen spouse, so the decision denying a PRTD was "not valid in law." In this particular case even though the PR apparently did not submit a lot of the evidence supporting the claim for accompanying-citizen-spouse credit with the PRTD application itself, but submitted it in the appeal, the IAD ruled the PR "has complied with the residency obligation and the visa office refusal of her PR travel document is not legally valid."

Some Further Observations:

The "right of return" is among those rights Canadians have, including PRs, which have been described as "Shamlou rights," based on the Federal Court decision in Shamlou v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) (1995), 103 FTR 241 (FCTD), and the right of return as part of these rights has been affirmed in multiple Federal Court of Appeal decisions (that is, courts whose rulings establish binding precedent), and have been recently referenced as specifically applicable to Canadian PRs in Huang v. Canada, 2023 FC 1491, https://canlii.ca/t/k14ql (not to Huang's advantage however; can get complicated).

PRs denied a PRTD have a right of appeal, and the first question addressed by the IAD in those cases is whether the decision to deny the PRTD was "valid in law." If, as in the Badra decision cited above, the facts show the PR is admissible (including compliance with the RO), the visa office refusal to issue a PRTD is "not valid in law," and in such cases there is no need for an assessment of H&C considerations or the exercise of discretion.

More regarding the right of return and entry into Canada:

The right of return also means that being allowed entry into Canada is NOT an exception. When a PR makes an application for entry into Canada at a Port-of-Entry, upon establishing their identity and status border officials MUST allow entry into Canada. A valid PR card is not required. Cannot be required.

On the surface, and in terms of what PRs need to know generally, what is needed to board commercial transportation destined to Canada is different, but quite simple. PRs need to present an airline with either their valid PR card or a valid PRTD.

What underlies that is more complex, has to do with regulations governing transportation, but not something the vast majority of PRs need to be concerned with or know much about. To fly back to Canada they need a valid PR card, of if outside Canada without a valid PR card, a PRTD obtained on application to a visa office. That is, PRs do not need to know or understand the distinction between documents which show authorization to enter Canada versus status which by law authorizes entry into Canada, or to understand why a person with the latter, status authorizing entry into Canada, can be denied boarding a flight to Canada.

H&C relief for inadmissible PRs:

For PRs seeking relief for breaching the RO, asking to be allowed to retain PR status despite their inadmissibility, yeah, visa office officials have substantial discretion in whether IRCC will, in effect, waive their inadmissibility and issue the PR a PRTD. There was no hint the OP for this topic had any inadmissibility issues.

 

[Naturgrl]

Not sure what particular questions you are responding to, and no idea why the response, given the subject here is a situation more than TWO YEARS ago, with the most recent later commentary (largely a confusing tangent) posted well more than a year ago.

But it probably warrants correcting, or at least clarifying, the erroneous premise in your last statement. In regards to an application for a PRTD by a PR outside Canada, it is NOT correct that the decision to issue a PRTD is discretionary. To be clear, visa office officials do NOT have discretion to deny (refuse) a PRTD for a PR with valid status. Even a PR who is deemed inadmissible due to a Residency Obligation breach, upon further application MUST be granted a PRTD if they appeal the refusal to issue a PRTD for inadmissibility and were in Canada within the previous year.

Remember, Canadians, including Canadian PRs, have a "right of return" to Canada. Upon making a proper application for a PRTD, a visa office MUST issue the PR a PRTD unless it is determined the PR is inadmissible. A failure to do so is "not valid in law," and will be set aside on appeal.

A good example is illustrated in Badra v Canada, 2020 CanLII 75258, https://canlii.ca/t/jb1fg in which the evidence was sufficient to show the PR met the RO, relying on credit for days abroad accompanying the PR's Canadian citizen spouse, so the decision denying a PRTD was "not valid in law." In this particular case even though the PR apparently did not submit a lot of the evidence supporting the claim for accompanying-citizen-spouse credit with the PRTD application itself, but submitted it in the appeal, the IAD ruled the PR "has complied with the residency obligation and the visa office refusal of her PR travel document is not legally valid."

Some Further Observations:

The "right of return" is among those rights Canadians have, including PRs, which have been described as "Shamlou rights," based on the Federal Court decision in Shamlou v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) (1995), 103 FTR 241 (FCTD), and the right of return as part of these rights has been affirmed in multiple Federal Court of Appeal decisions (that is, courts whose rulings establish binding precedent), and have been recently referenced as specifically applicable to Canadian PRs in Huang v. Canada, 2023 FC 1491, https://canlii.ca/t/k14ql (not to Huang's advantage however; can get complicated).

PRs denied a PRTD have a right of appeal, and the first question addressed by the IAD in those cases is whether the decision to deny the PRTD was "valid in law." If, as in the Badra decision cited above, the facts show the PR is admissible (including compliance with the RO), the visa office refusal to issue a PRTD is "not valid in law," and in such cases there is no need for an assessment of H&C considerations or the exercise of discretion.

More regarding the right of return and entry into Canada:

The right of return also means that being allowed entry into Canada is NOT an exception. When a PR makes an application for entry into Canada at a Port-of-Entry, upon establishing their identity and status border officials MUST allow entry into Canada. A valid PR card is not required. Cannot be required.

On the surface, and in terms of what PRs need to know generally, what is needed to board commercial transportation destined to Canada is different, but quite simple. PRs need to present an airline with either their valid PR card or a valid PRTD.

What underlies that is more complex, has to do with regulations governing transportation, but not something the vast majority of PRs need to be concerned with or know much about. To fly back to Canada they need a valid PR card, of if outside Canada without a valid PR card, a PRTD obtained on application to a visa office. That is, PRs do not need to know or understand the distinction between documents which show authorization to enter Canada versus status which by law authorizes entry into Canada, or to understand why a person with the latter, status authorizing entry into Canada, can be denied boarding a flight to Canada.

H&C relief for inadmissible PRs:

For PRs seeking relief for breaching the RO, asking to be allowed to retain PR status despite their inadmissibility, yeah, visa office officials have substantial discretion in whether IRCC will, in effect, waive their inadmissibility and issue the PR a PRTD. There was no hint the OP for this topic had any inadmissibility issues.

Would assume that @sararose is a consultant since her link in her response is to a consultant‘s firm. Her posts link to the firm in the response.

 

[armoured]

Would assume that @sararose is a consultant since her link in her response is to a consultant‘s firm. Her posts link to the firm in the response.

Text reads like written by a chatbot, so it's another step in the spamtroll escalation game.

 

[dpenabill]

Would assume that @sararose is a consultant since her link in her response is to a consultant‘s firm. Her posts link to the firm in the response.

I generally will not overtly disagree with professionals. However, while I do not infer this individual is a professional, regardless, even if they are, it needs to be made clear the statement that "the decision to issue a PRTD is discretionary" is NOT accurate, not in regards to PRs who are not inadmissible. A visa office refusal to issue a PRTD to a PR in RO compliance is not valid in law.

I acknowledge that in general I harbour a bias that affords far less deference to immigration consultants than I give to immigration lawyers. I often suggest obtaining the assistance or at least input from immigration lawyers, and in more than a few circumstances do so emphatically. No hesitation here to respond: Lawyer-Up. In contrast, I have never suggested, hinted even, anyone should rely on an immigration consultant. With apologies to those who are reputable, competent, and doing a good job.

Perhaps that profession has improved dramatically in the last decade. I expect that in regards to certain particular types of services, they offer and provide legitimate, helpful assistance. Routine visa applications perhaps. That is not within the ambit of issues I follow, which is only a small range of issues that tend, if and when matters get complicated, to be potentially subject to litigation and adjudication (like PR admissibility).

 

[armoured]

However, while I do not infer this individual is a professional, regardless, even if they are, it needs to be made clear the statement that "the decision to issue a PRTD is discretionary" is NOT accurate, not in regards to PRs who are not inadmissible.

The statement "Remember, the decision to issue a PRTD is discretionary, so providing as much information and evidence supporting the urgency of your return to Canada is essential" is classic chatbot tell of unreliable data done from plagiarizing thousands/millions of internet pages.

So is the "I understand your frustration" just a tell that it's a chatbot.

Don't argue with chatspambots.

 

[naren-in]

Not an advice but this is just to let you all know that I have entered Canada via land border just with my Indian passport(Non-visa exempt) and no PR Card/PRTD.
Background:
I am on PR status and did a day trip on car to Buffalo, USA. I realized that I forgot my PR Card while coming back to Canada.
At border I mentioned the same that I am a PR holder but forgot the PR card. Officer took my passport verified on system, questioned how many days the trip was and anything to declare and allowed me in .