Using kiosk with no passport stamp

[omsai_786]

Hi everyone, just a quick question if anybody can answer. Lately at the Pearson airport all the travelers are required to use the kiosk and they are not stamping the passport anymore. Also I have read on the CBSA website that after using the kiosk, one can request the CBSA officer to stamp the passport for proof of entry. I did not know that earlier and I did not do that, I wish I should have done that upon arrival. so I am worried that without the entry stamps how will my interview go. Citizenship officer will look for the passport stamps. How will I prove my entry date, I wish I should have kept my boarding passes.

There was one post in this forum saying that citizenship officer insisted that they still need to see the passport entry stamp even if a kiosk was used.

anyone has experience with that

 

[Seym]

They have your report already and know stamps are not always reliable and often skipped.
Relax, this is a common situation.

 

[majorsaab]

Sometimes they do not get CBSA report on time but they still schedule the test and interview and in the interview they match the stamps on the passport and make a decision immediately. But if there are no stamps on the passport (because the applicant has used the kiosks upon entry) they will have to wait for the CBSA report, which means delay in taking a decision. Otherwise, citizenship officer could have taken the decision immediately.

So, I think, one should always request for entry stamp. Here is a text taken from CBSA website:

Passport stamping for permanent residents and foreign nationals

• The CBSA no longer stamps all passports at airports with Primary Inspection Kiosks.
• If you need a stamp in your passport as a proof of entry into Canada you must request a stamp from a border services officer after completing a kiosk transaction.
• If your passport is not stamped, you are only authorized to stay in Canada for up to 6 months from the day you initially entered Canada, or until your passport expires, whichever comes first.
• If the border services officer authorizes a period of stay of some other duration, either more or less than 6 months, the officer may issue you a document and should stamp your passport indicating the date by which you must leave Canada.

 

[canadianboi7919]

How will I prove my entry date, I wish I should have kept my boarding passes.

The burden of proof is always on the applicant to provide proof of travel. I would keep a detailed register of your entries and exits into and out of Canada, using your boarding passes, travel history from airlines, or any other helpful information.

If you are ever unsure of your travel dates, you can always include a letter of explanation to IRCC in your application for citizenship, to tell them that you may have other trips for which you don't have stamps in your passport or tangible proof.

Try and answer all questions as fully as possible regarding travel dates, and whenever you can't fully answer any question on an IRCC form (including citizenship), explain why you can't answer the question using an explanation letter.

Some information is better than none at all. Explanation letters are quite helpful in this regard.

 

[robinhood_1984]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Your CBSA records will have your arrivals to Canada even if your passport doesn't have a stamp.

I applied for my CBSA records as I was doing my application as I'd made a few trips over the border in my car that I'd forgotten to record so wanted to include those accurately and all my arrivals in to Toronto by plane that I used the kiosk and have no stamp are all there. More worryingly for me is that in my job as a truck driver, I have about 270 border crossings in the five year period so 270 returns to Canada and when I meticulously compared my records to the CBSA list, I noticed that they didn't have approximately 15 of my returns to Canada at all, though the US records they provided did show me leaving Canada and entering the US for the trip in question so my physical presence calculation will actually show more trips than my CBSA record would suggest but not much I can do about that apart from being honest and document my trips exactly how they were and I'll probably take my five years worth of drivers log books to the interview just in case they question it.

During that five years, thinking back, I did notice that sometimes my PR card didn't seem to scan properly in their machine and most of the time they'd look at it and type something in to their system if that happened but occasionally they appeared to just not bother and hand it back to me. It would now appear that it was those times that I wasn't recorded as returning to Canada.

 

[ronmcguire3425]

Sometimes they do not get CBSA report on time but they still schedule the test and interview and in the interview they match the stamps on the passport and make a decision immediately. But if there are no stamps on the passport (because the applicant has used the kiosks upon entry) they will have to wait for the CBSA report, which means delay in taking a decision. Otherwise, citizenship officer could have taken the decision immediately.

This is just an assumption. I don't think they will ever schedule a test/interview unless all the background checks are done. When the applicants are there for the interview they will have all the reports in the system. Stamp or no stamp does not matter. They must be aware of this situation.

So no need to worry, this is very very common

 

[vasvas]

I can give my case as an example. I had passport stamps but 2 of my stamps led to more questions than answers. The interviewer said "I will go and check in my system if you really were present in Canada". I had the I94 data from the US and submitted that to the officer. She said she couldn't use it as it wasn't the "official" record and even added that (US) FOIA requests take an year to process.

After leaving my wife nervous with all those statements, the case went to DM 3 days later. Why am I relating a seemingly unrelated anecdote? The stamps are useful but there are systems in place to deal with no stamps and other non standard issues. Don't worry. If you used any ticket and boarding pass to update your physical presence take all those with you for the interview. If you had US travel, take the i94 records (assuming you are not a US citizen). Explain and then wait

 

[fsarosh]

Let me share my personal experiences. I traveled to my back home as a PR and they did not stamp my passport. My oath is on 26th September. This means they have all the records. Recently my mother in law traveled on a foreign passport and they even did not stamped her passport either. When she came out on the airport, i immediately rushed to the CBSA help desk on Pearson airport and a "Uniformed Officer" informed me that its no more a "must have". If the officer thinks its required they stamp it otherwise there is nothing to worry about.