COPR Travel Exemption for immediate family members

[dmant]

Hi everyone,

I am a Canadian citizen and my wife is a Vietnamese national who recently received her COPR. I understand right now that there is a travel exemption for immediate family members who are "reuniting with a Canadian citizen", so my wife should be able to enter Canada - https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/answers/foreign-family-cit-pr

However, on the travel.gc.ca website, I also changed the criteria around such that she is "an approved permanent resident not yet in Canada". Based on this, the website tells me that she would NOT be able to enter Canada. - https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/travel-restrictions/answers/foreign-non-us-approved-perm-res-after

Technically, my wife fits both criteria, "reuniting with a Canadian citizen" and "an approved permanent resident not yet in Canada". These two selections give conflicting results on whether she can or cannot enter Canada at this time.

Can anyone please clarify if in fact, my wife would be able to travel to Canada without any issues or can anyone share some of their experiences with me? Thank you very much.

 

[Fang_89]

I was wondering the same thing recently but looking at different posts here, there are quite a few people who have landed in Canada over the past few weeks after receiving their COPR, so I don't think this will be a problem. I think it's a matter of priority, your spouse is an approved PR not yet in Canada, but first and foremost they are reuniting with a Canadian citizen, so it will be fine.

 

[armoured]

Technically, my wife fits both criteria, "reuniting with a Canadian citizen" and "an approved permanent resident not yet in Canada". These two selections give conflicting results on whether she can or cannot enter Canada at this time.

The reuniting definitely 'takes priority.' There are many reports here of spousal PR applicants travelling successfully. You do need to make sure the airlines know how this works. The vast majority have not had problems with this (and I think most others have worked it out).

On the technical side of how this works: immediate family reunification is deemed essential travel. The travel-to-become-PR (for those with non-family COPR) on its own is not considered essential travel (they may be eligible under other exemptions - I do not know). It's the essential travel aspect that means one can travel.