canada1212 said:
I'm in a similar situation where I'll be traveling to the US as a European citizen with an expired PR card and won't have time to get a replacement card before leaving. I've talked to CIC and the CBSA. They recommend getting the PRTD (travel document), but I don't know how long it takes to get it (I've emailed the consulate). The problem seems to be getting to Canada via plane if the airline doesn't let you on, not entering Canada.
Assuming I can't get the PRTD...
1) if the airline were to decide to not let me on the plane, would they let me if I were to purchase a refundable return ticket?
2) I have dual European citizenship. Could I fly back to Canada with my 'non-PR passport' or is that connected to my 'PR passport'?
. . .
Would my only option then be to cross into Canada using a car?
Unfortunately there is still minimal information about how the eTA process works, or will work, in practice. In particular, I have not seen any information regarding what sort of
admissibility checks will be done, what recourse or alternatives there are if the electronic pre-boarding authorization is denied, and it is little surprise that CBSA and CIC are unsympathetic and only offer the techncially correct suggestion (obtain a PR Travel Document if traveling without a currently valid PR card).
While typically Canada will not publicly disclose the admissibility criteria employed in the electronic screening, after this has been in place for a time we should start seeing anecdotal reports indicating problems or no problems in various scenarios, especially this particular scenario: a PR whose PR card is expired or who does not otherwise have a currently valid PR card, no admissibility issues (not in breach of PR Residency Obligation for example), who is traveling internationally using his or her visa-exempt passport.
What we do not know in particular, but what will hopefully be learned from others soon after this is in place, is whether or not the application for the eTA using a visa-exempt passport will be screened to identify travelers with PR status, and if so to deny the authorization requiring the traveler to re-apply based on PR status which would, ostensibly, require having a currently valid PR card.
We could guess. We could guess that this process is intended to screen visa-exempt travelers for
inadmissibility, ranging from the obvious, those on watch-lists, to those who have been denied admission to Canada in the past, those flagged in FOSS for inadmissibility, or for whom there is a criminal record flag, and so on . . . but not to identify Canadian PRs and screen them for valid PR cards. And indeed, having nothing at stake in this myself, this might even be my guess.
But for you, of course, there is something at stake.
If this guess is wrong, as you are aware, there is, as a last resort, the option to fly to Buffalo, N.Y., or Seattle, Wash., or Detroit, Mich., and drive to the border. But of course that would be highly inconvenient and probably expensive. But at least it is a way
home.
Bottom-line: I do not know. You may be the guinea-pig who finds out and can report so others will know.
As for guessing, the factors and inclinations in making a guess:
It is a hard guess for me to offer so much as an inclination leaning one way or the other.
On one hand, a system like this has to have limited parameters and will, of course, need to rely on carefully structured database query software. The more complex and diverse the queries and data queried, the greater the risk of false hits which could render the system virtually unusable. After all, it needs to be near perfect in providing admissible travelers the electronic authorization, otherwise it becomes another labour-intensive human screening process with huge costs, inherent delays, potentially resulting in major interference with ordinary travel. This observation leans toward a system screening for basic types of inadmissiblity. After all, all travelers will still go through the POE screening process upon arrival in Canada.
But, software engineers have been writing complex, multi-layered conditional code relying on sophisticated logarithms for a long time, and merely identifying the client number for a visa-exempt traveler and that the client has PR status, would be relatively easy to incorporate into the software. The question then is whether the system merely checks against any flags or admissibility issues for the client as a PR, or whether it requires a currently valid PR card. In this regard, PR status is not dependent on possession of a currently valid PR card. But, for PRs, only a currently valid PR card or a PR Travel Document are considered acceptable travel documents authorizing travel to Canada.
I cannot guess which way it will work. If I had to guess, I would guess it will give authorization to PRs who do not otherwise have outstanding admissibility issues or flags. But it is easy to see, given this government's attitudes about cracking down on PR Residency Obligation enforcement, it could be structured so that the lack of a currently valid PR card might trigger a problem.
Please let us know if you find out more.
Addendum: In the future, once a traveler has obtained the eTA it is good for . . . I forget but think it will be five years. So, once a PR travels abroad, obtains the eTA in returning to Canada, this screening should not pose a problem. Remembering this, though, makes me think this screening really will be focused on
inadmissibility and thus may not be intended to screen returning PRs for having a currently valid PR card . . . but it is still a guess.
