CBSA confirmed that online classes are NOT an essential reason to travel

[fatimajill]

Thanks for posting the link here - so now, it's clear that students with online classes should start studying online from home for the fall term.


I hope they eventually change the 50% limit for PGWP eligibility. They may need to increase the limit till which we can study from abroad - if supposing the January term is also online and our travel is still non-essential at that point too.

Border services officers will assess the circumstances surrounding the student’s travel and consider, for example, whether any of the following apply:

• they are established, residing and studying in Canada. If they are established in Canada, their return is non-discretionary
• they are expected to begin studying upon arrival after completing their quarantine
• their presence in Canada is necessary for their continued participation in the program (such as in laboratories or workshops)
• pursuing online studies is not an option for their school or program or not possible from their home country (for example, due to internet restrictions or bandwidth limitation)
• the semester has been cancelled or the person will begin studying later in the year

I'm sorry but where does it indicate online classes as non-essential?
In fact, it says that the border services officer will see if ANY of the following applies.
If you're traveling two weeks before your study date, you should be good. Especially if you are coming from a country from Asia that has a huge time difference with Canada, like in my case the time difference as well as internet connectivity issues, both work in my favor.
The 'essential travel' condition is for students who are traveling months before the program, whose program got moved to a later semester and are still finding it okay to travel on their study permit that was approved before 18th March 2020.
I think this is IRCC making it more than clear who is and isn't allowed to enter.
If CBSA was denying entry to students with online classes, we would have heard of or seen cases complaining here about the denial. Infact we are hearing about people being allowed to enter.

 

[GradStudent18]

Border services officers will assess the circumstances surrounding the student’s travel and consider, for example, whether any of the following apply:

• they are established, residing and studying in Canada. If they are established in Canada, their return is non-discretionary
• they are expected to begin studying upon arrival after completing their quarantine
• their presence in Canada is necessary for their continued participation in the program (such as in laboratories or workshops)
• pursuing online studies is not an option for their school or program or not possible from their home country (for example, due to internet restrictions or bandwidth limitation)
• the semester has been cancelled or the person will begin studying later in the year

I'm sorry but where does it indicate online classes as non-essential?
In fact, it says that the border services officer will see if ANY of the following applies.
If you're traveling two weeks before your study date, you should be good. Especially if you are coming from a country from Asia that has a huge time difference with Canada, like in my case the time difference as well as internet connectivity issues, both work in my favor.
The 'essential travel' condition is for students who are traveling months before the program, whose program got moved to a later semester and are still finding it okay to travel on their study permit that was approved before 18th March 2020.
I think this is IRCC making it more than clear who is and isn't allowed to enter.
If CBSA was denying entry to students with online classes, we would have heard of or seen cases complaining here about the denial. Infact we are hearing about people being allowed to enter.

I agree there is confusion is because IRCC hasn't put up clear guidelines explaining explicitly what is essential & what is not.

The second bullet point above is so vague - I mean, we all are expected to begin studying online for fall - that doesn't imply our travel to Canada now is "essential"; I think the 2nd bullet point is in continuation with bullet number 1, which talks about those who have already started studying there earlier.

As for internet connectivity, I guess Asian countries do have a good connection.

And, if we tell the border officer that not having internet at home is a reason to enter the country, then, will they not ask how we're able to afford the living & tuition there if we can't even get proper internet back home?


The updated rules above basically allow only those with in-class courses to enter the country - or those who have already started studying there before Covid. I called CBSA many times and was told that online classes are not essential. They asked whether I've already started studying or whether I'm a first time flier.


If first time flier, then online classes are deemed "not-essential" as we may very well start studying from home. That will not affect PGWP too.


Problem is IRCC has not stated anything explicitly, but it's clear from all these indications and policy changes that they want us to do the fall term from home.


Plus those who said they were allowed in were mostly those who already had a study permit, and not LOI. I guess there was just one person who was a 1st time flier and said he was allowed in.


See, I'm only trying to make sense of the whole thing as IRCC has not been clear at all, regarding what is essential and what is not.

 

[GradStudent18]

https://www.canadavisa.com/canada-immigration-discussion-board/threads/some-good-news-for-all-international-students-latest-update-from-ircc.695037/page-2#post-8731773


Please see through this thread as well...

 

[GradStudent18]

And there are so many - so many students who have been denied boarding by Air India, saying CBSA has denied them, even though they have an approval before March 18.


And these are people who tried travelling in June/July and have already started studying at home in May. So they are not travelling months before the start date; in fact, their program has already started.


The airlines is in contact with CBSA at the time of boarding, and CBSA is not allowing people to board if they have online classes.


It's not just Air India but others too like Korean Air that are in contact with CBSA and check with them at the time of boarding.

 

[Blema]

International students have been entering and nothing has happened. I know more than three. They just looked at the visa and asked about their places of self isolation. If the airline isn’t boarding, it is the airlines problem. It has no affiliation with CBSA.

 

[fatimajill]

I agree there is confusion is because IRCC hasn't put up clear guidelines explaining explicitly what is essential & what is not.

The second bullet point above is so vague - I mean, we all are expected to begin studying online for fall - that doesn't imply our travel to Canada now is "essential"; I think the 2nd bullet point is in continuation with bullet number 1, which talks about those who have already started studying there earlier.

As for internet connectivity, I guess Asian countries do have a good connection.

And, if we tell the border officer that not having internet at home is a reason to enter the country, then, will they not ask how we're able to afford the living & tuition there if we can't even get proper internet back home?


The updated rules above basically allow only those with in-class courses to enter the country - or those who have already started studying there before Covid. I called CBSA many times and was told that online classes are not essential. They asked whether I've already started studying or whether I'm a first time flier.


If first time flier, then online classes are deemed "not-essential" as we may very well start studying from home. That will not affect PGWP too.


Problem is IRCC has not stated anything explicitly, but it's clear from all these indications and policy changes that they want us to do the fall term from home.


Plus those who said they were allowed in were mostly those who already had a study permit, and not LOI. I guess there was just one person who was a 1st time flier and said he was allowed in.


See, I'm only trying to make sense of the whole thing as IRCC has not been clear at all, regarding what is essential and what is not.

who is talking about not being able to afford internet?
I don't know about where you live but I live in a metropolitan city of a developing country where we have cheap internet but load shedding, connectivity issues and slow internet is a huge problem. It's common to lose connectivity every once in a while.
Plus, the mention of Asia was to refer to the time difference.

 

[Islander216]

International students have been entering and nothing has happened. I know more than three. They just looked at the visa and asked about their places of self isolation. If the airline isn’t boarding, it is the airlines problem. It has no affiliation with CBSA.

Don't believe everything you hear.

The airline will often verify with CBSA before they clear the passenger for travel, if they aren't allowed according to IRCC guidelines to travel they wouldn't be able to board the flight.

 

[Blema]

Don't believe everything you hear.

The airline will often verify with CBSA before they clear the passenger for travel, if they aren't allowed according to IRCC guidelines to travel they wouldn't be able to board the flight.

I guess it hasn’t been happening here though. People have been leaving for studies. It’s not about believing what I hear, it’s what I know. They were all allowed to enter without any questions.

 

[GradStudent18]

International students have been entering and nothing has happened. I know more than three. They just looked at the visa and asked about their places of self isolation. If the airline isn’t boarding, it is the airlines problem. It has no affiliation with CBSA.

That's a positive news.


I just saw one person posting about being allowed inside the country, and also heard many boarding denials / and cases of online being non-essential from my phone calls with CBSA, that's why the concern.


If you don't mind, could you please tell which country the 3 people travelled from and which city they entered in Canada? Will be grateful for any and all information in these crazy, uncertain times.


I heard transiting through Seoul is being allowed, but again, the airline officials are checking with CBSA before boarding it seems. That's what I heard, of course, I don't know anything for sure.

 

[Blema]

That's a positive news.


I just saw one person posting about being allowed inside the country, and also heard many boarding denials / and cases of online being non-essential from my phone calls with CBSA, that's why the concern.


If you don't mind, could you please tell which country the 3 people travelled from and which city they entered in Canada? Will be grateful for any and all information in these crazy, uncertain times.


I heard transiting through Seoul is being allowed, but again, the airline officials are checking with CBSA before boarding it seems. That's what I heard, of course, I don't know anything for sure.

They are all from Nigeria and got their permit at Toronto. The only denial I have been hearing is not from CBSA but from the airlines. They are not turning those who have their visas back before the stipulated time. It’s just the airline. I know more than 5 that arrived Canada yesterday via Ethiopia airline. And others that arrived last week.

 

[GradStudent18]

They are all from Nigeria and got their permit at Toronto. The only denial I have been hearing is not from CBSA but from the airlines. They are not turning those who have their visas back before the stipulated time. It’s just the airline. I know more than 5 that arrived Canada yesterday via Ethiopia airline. And others that arrived last week.

Thank you for the information.


That's good for them. I'm just wondering were they not asked to explain why their travel is essential? No questions asked apart from quarantine? Maybe they already had a physical permit and were not first-time fliers?


I think IRCC needs to be more clear in explicitly stating what is essential and what is not. Right now, it's really confusing.


And in case, god forbid, somebody is denied entry, nobody wants to face the risk of getting stranded at a foreign airport, and having to wait till a suitable flight is available to return home.


To me, it seems like it's just as random as the toss of a coin, and up to our luck to get a nice CBSA officer.

 

[Islander216]

I'm just saying this from experience, i remember before i landed, someone said they flew out of Heathrow to Toronto without any issues or any questions.

When i did, they did a lot of checks before i got to travel.

It's not always consistent, and it's better to be sure you can travel before you do.

You don't want to be refused boarding a flight, or worse yet be stranded in a foreign airport, or refused at your port of entry and need to be repatriated.

Most CBSA officers are not going to turn you away if you're already in Canada and have a valid status, but it's not a guarantee and if rules state that you are not technically allowed to enter Canada, then you are banking on them being nice because the rules are not in your favour.

 

[GradStudent18]

I'm just saying this from experience, i remember before i landed, someone said they flew out of Heathrow to Toronto without any issues or any questions.

When i did, they did a lot of checks before i got to travel.

It's not always consistent, and it's better to be sure you can travel before you do.

You don't want to be refused boarding a flight, or worse yet be stranded in a foreign airport, or refused at your port of entry and need to be repatriated.

Most CBSA officers are not going to turn you away if you're already in Canada and have a valid status, but it's not a guarantee and if rules state that you are not technically allowed to enter Canada, then you are banking on them being nice because the rules are not in your favour.

Thanks for posting here!


If I may ask, was your travel during Covid? Where from and which was the port of entry? Since you mention being allowed after a few checks...


And was the Heathrow to Toronto travel also during Covid?

 

[GradStudent18]

I'm just saying this from experience, i remember before i landed, someone said they flew out of Heathrow to Toronto without any issues or any questions.

When i did, they did a lot of checks before i got to travel.

It's not always consistent, and it's better to be sure you can travel before you do.

You don't want to be refused boarding a flight, or worse yet be stranded in a foreign airport, or refused at your port of entry and need to be repatriated.

Most CBSA officers are not going to turn you away if you're already in Canada and have a valid status, but it's not a guarantee and if rules state that you are not technically allowed to enter Canada, then you are banking on them being nice because the rules are not in your favour.

That's the whole issue - very surprisingly, IRCC, that's usually so clear, has not put up directly whether online classes are considered essential or not.


There will be no room for confusion if they can explicitly state rules that say whether we are allowed or not.


Issues like internet connectivity seem too vague and lame, and not "essential" during a pandemic, when the Canadian government is trying to actually limit the number of foreigners who enter, by saying that studying online from home will not even affect PGWP eligibility.


That's supposed to encourage us to start studying at home for the fall, without trying to enter the country for online courses which we can attend from home.

 

[Islander216]

Yes it was during covid but i had an exemption as per the travel restriction. I prefer not to provide my country of origin, port of entry was TO.

Also during covid, and the airline rep told me it changes on an hourly basis, even having an exemption is not a guarantee that you will get to travel, they needed to verify that with their reps in Canada.

I had to wait over an hour at the airline counter, and they did multiple checks.

I don't know how it is now, but unless you get a clear guidance that you can travel to Canada officially on their website, i would not risk it.

And no well organised airline that does its due diligence properly would allow you to board a flight without checking with CBSA first.