Travel with few days of PRTD being valid

[ski]

Hello everyone,
My wife is a PR and she has a one year multiple-entry PRTD expiring on Dec 13, 2023. She is currently in Germany. Her PR card has come to her Toronto address and is with me. I thought it would be better that she pick it up when she visits Canada. She will be flying to Canada on Dec 8, 2023 - 5 days until PRTD expires. I have sent her a scan of her new PR card in case the airlines ask her about her PRTD being close to expiry. The problem is that she will be flying back to Germany for work in January 2024. Could she face any issues boarding her Germany-Canada flight because her PRTD is almost about to expire and she does not have her new PR card, and that she is going back to Europe? My initial thought was that is she has a valid PRTD, that should be all that the airline will ask. But Europe has been getting stricter with visa/residency checking for all travelers to and from Europe.
Any suggestions/experiences?

 

[armoured]

Could she face any issues boarding her Germany-Canada flight because her PRTD is almost about to expire and she does not have her new PR card, and that she is going back to Europe? My initial thought was that is she has a valid PRTD, that should be all that the airline will ask. But Europe has been getting stricter with visa/residency checking for all travelers to and from Europe.
Any suggestions/experiences?

All anyone can tell you is that CBSA at port of entry (airport) will not care at all. We cannot tell you how the airline will behave. They SHOULD accept the PRTD right up until the day of - it is valid for entry, period.

Why not just courier her the PR card?

 

[ski]

All anyone can tell you is that CBSA at port of entry (airport) will not care at all. We cannot tell you how the airline will behave. They SHOULD accept the PRTD right up until the day of - it is valid for entry, period.

Why not just courier her the PR card?

I was thinking of couriering the PR card to her, but it took five months to get it after applying online. Just don't want it to get lost in the courier and then have to apply all over again.

 

[armoured]

I was thinking of couriering the PR card to her, but it took five months to get it after applying online. Just don't want it to get lost in the courier and then have to apply all over again.

Looks like you're going to have to make some choices. Risk some issue at airport by travelling jsut before deadline, change flight to earlier, spend hours on phone to airline to get probably-useless answer from someone who tells you it's up to the agent at the gate to decide but probably okay, or risk sending the card. Or you could fly to Germany to give it to her in person.

Personal view, the two with risk are low risk, even very low risk.

Also personal view - if you're flying Air Canada or its main partner in Germany, Lufthansa, my experience is they know the Canadian regs very well indeed, esp at Frankfurt and Munich airports. It doesn't mean they don't have issues come up (a friend got hung up recently because their ETA had the letter O instead of zero somewhere), but they're not just making stuff up.

 

[ski]

Looks like you're going to have to make some choices. Risk some issue at airport by travelling jsut before deadline, change flight to earlier, spend hours on phone to airline to get probably-useless answer from someone who tells you it's up to the agent at the gate to decide but probably okay, or risk sending the card. Or you could fly to Germany to give it to her in person.

Personal view, the two with risk are low risk, even very low risk.

Also personal view - if you're flying Air Canada or its main partner in Germany, Lufthansa, my experience is they know the Canadian regs very well indeed, esp at Frankfurt and Munich airports. It doesn't mean they don't have issues come up (a friend got hung up recently because their ETA had the letter O instead of zero somewhere), but they're not just making stuff up.

Thanks again. The problem is she is flying with Iceland Air and they have been notorious with their questioning in the past. Most probably I will make a trip to Germany.

 

[armoured]

Thanks again. The problem is she is flying with Iceland Air and they have been notorious with their questioning in the past. Most probably I will make a trip to Germany.

If you are not skilled in reading between lines, I don't think that's remotely necessary. But it's up to you.

Personally I'd let her try to fly, and if it doesn't work, send the PR card by courier.

 

[canuck78]

Thanks again. The problem is she is flying with Iceland Air and they have been notorious with their questioning in the past. Most probably I will make a trip to Germany.

Just send it by courier and add an air tag if you are worried to have an idea where it is. Wouldn’t recommend sending it to all countries but shouldn’t be an issue to Germany.

 

[steaky]

Most probably I will make a trip to Germany.

That's the safest option.

 

[canuck78]

That's the safest option.

Also extremely expensive and impractical unless you already have plans to go to Germany.

 

[steaky]

Also extremely expensive and impractical unless you already have plans to go to Germany.

Why impractical? Canadian passport holders can visit Germany without a visa.

Just to add, courier could be lost. Regardless you have airtag or not. Also even more extremely expensive if it's lost.

 

[canuck78]

Why impractical? Canadian passport holders can visit Germany without a visa.

Just to add, courier could be lost. Regardless you have airtag or not. Also even more extremely expensive if it's lost.

How is it extremely expensive to replace a lost PR card? Most people work or have other responsibilities so you would need to pay to fly to Germany and take time off of work so yes it is not practical to spend thousands of dollars and use up a large portion of your paid vacation to deliver a passport. The majority of couriered items get delivered (esp to certain countries) and you can request a signature on delivery which would add another level of protection. If you add something like an air tag you can take comfort in knowing where the package is located. The majority of packages that don’t make it to their destination in a country where mail system is reliable and items rarely go “missing” when coming into the country, end up misplaced during transit in one of the courier’s facilities so if the package doesn’t get delivered you would know where it was located and could inform the courier. The chances of the PR card going missing are very small so unless a trip to Germany was already planned it would be very hard to justify the time and expense based on the concern that the PR card might get lost.

 

[steaky]

How is it extremely expensive to replace a lost PR card? Most people work or have other responsibilities so you would need to pay to fly to Germany and take time off of work so yes it is not practical to spend thousands of dollars and use up a large portion of your paid vacation to deliver a passport. The majority of couriered items get delivered (esp to certain countries) and you can request a signature on delivery which would add another level of protection. If you add something like an air tag you can take comfort in knowing where the package is located. The majority of packages that don’t make it to their destination in a country where mail system is reliable and items rarely go “missing” when coming into the country, end up misplaced during transit in one of the courier’s facilities so if the package doesn’t get delivered you would know where it was located and could inform the courier. The chances of the PR card going missing are very small so unless a trip to Germany was already planned it would be very hard to justify the time and expense based on the concern that the PR card might get lost.

Some people don't have to work or have less responsibilities at home so they pay to fly to Germany and can visit to neighboring countries such as Croatia for some traveling. People can hand delivery the PR card to their love ones. There's always a minority of packages that don't make it to their destination regardless the system is reliable. Even if the chances of the PR card gone missing are very small, there's still the risk of getting it lost (along with your air tag) and someone will have to extend trip in Germany or wasted their return ticket to Canada and buy a new one to the US and get back to Canada via a land border and then apply for a new PR card.

Btw, we're not talking about delivering a passport. It's a PR card. For a passport, someone can apply their Canadian passport outside Canada, while PR card can only apply within Canada.

 

[ski]

Guys,
Really appreciate your thoughts but no need to fight. I have lived in Germany and have friends there, so it is not really just a courier service. Plus Germany at this time is quite nice - Christmas markets, Gluhwein and spontaneous concerts.

 

[Besram]

If the PRTD is not expired, then it is still valid for travel. Would recommend your wife go to the airport a bit earlier than usual if she wants to play it safe in case there are any delays, but I don't see any issues with it.