Blub1900

Hello,

I have a question and would be very thankfull if someone can help us.
We are 4 people with Italien passports and we are currently in Canada and want to visit Chicago for a few days.
We want to use the US pre-clearance in Toronto, because our flight goes from there. My question now is. If someone of us gets denied entry into the US for whatever reason..... do we than all have to re-enter the host-country through Canada Immigration or can we simply walk out of the preclearance area and leave the airport again?
I hope someone can help us with this question.
thanks!

GUWonder

If your trip originates at YYZ, then you can simply walk back out via the CBP PreClearance line that brought you to the CBP desk. The exception may be if Canadian law enforcement officers are there and US CBP asks them to detain/arrest a person.

If the scheduled trip to the U.S. involves YYZ as a transit point on the trip itinerary rather than with YYZ being trip origin point, it can be a bit more complicated, but if you were admitted to Canada already, then you are almost certainly re-admissible to Canada unless the stay would result in an overstay violation of Canadian law or something suddenly pops up on the Canadian used systems that flags the person down.

bruceba

Have you done ESTA,

Blub1900

@GUWonder Thank you very much! But one more question: So there are two preclearance areas. One for transit passengers which goes directly from the international flights to the pre-clearance area and one for departure for people who area already in Canada?

@bruceba Yes everyone has ESTA.

GUWonder

I've used two different preclearance facilities at YYZ in rather recent months: one when flying AC from Europe/Asia/Latin America to the U.S. on AC metal coming into YYZ and continuing on AC metal from YYZ into the U.S; and one where I'm flying to the U.S. on US airlines on a trip originating at YYZ.

tentseller

There are two US pre-clearance area, one in T1 and another one in T3.

There are two ways that one ends up at the US pre-clearance area:
1. Flight from YYZ to US destination originating in YYZ.
2. International arrival transiting to US. These arrival passengers are diverted from arrival CBSA custom hall.

AC681

There's only one US customs facility per terminal. however there's a few different ways to get into it. Originating in Toronto, connecting from a domestic flight and connecting from an international flight. If you are connecting from an international flight, the hallway to US customs connects directly into the Canadian customs hall.

gglave

I think his question was this -

- 4 people travelling to the USA

- 1, 2, 3 are admitted and each proceeds to transborder area

- #4 is denied entry.

- Can 1, 2, 3 just walk back out to be with #4?

I think the answer is no. They'll need to exit the transborder area via Canada Border Services and 're-enter' Canada.

GUWonder

That isn't certain, if relying upon the OP in this thread. Unless you've been made privy to information not provided in this thread, it could just as well be the first person and/or their passport is the one denied admissibity and thus all four can backtrack without having to seek out CBSA for processing for re-entry into Canada.

Keep in mind the OP stated they were/are in Canada. That indicates the relevant travel originates in Canada.

I've seen parties where one person is flagged as inadmissible (or otherwise denied travel) to the US by US CBP at YYZ when having boarding passes to fly DL or AA out of YYZ and yet the whole travel party went back and didn't have to re-clear CBSA for re-entry into Canada. The devil is in the details.

edta450

A bit OT but a quick question.. Is it true that you don't have to pick up your luggages when you transit at YYZ to US? My former experiences from both ICN-YYZ-BOS and LIM-YYZ-BOS involved pickup and re-checkin but I just heard something different.

GUWonder

Things have changed in regards to that at YYZ. For the kind of itinerary you mention, if you have checked bags which are tagged to transit YYZ and go to the US, you don't need to pick up and recheck your bags at YYZ; but you do need to inform a kiosk about your flight details and then wait until a screen informs you that it is your turn to go to the US PreClearance podiums. At least for those with checked luggage, you won't be told to proceed to US CBP preclearance desks until your flight's bags have been processed at YYZ (even as you probably won't be seeing your checked bags during transit at YYZ unless the bags/you end up having been flagged).

For international transit at YYZ involving US CBP Preclearance, being admitted into Canada by way of being stamped in and clearing Canadian customs is no longer generally part of the process for the itineraries of the sort you mention.

tentseller

The answer is yes or no depending on which airline you are flying into YYZ and out of YYZ.

If the transit is wholly *A and in terminal 1 then yes, you do not enter Canada and head to US CBP preclearance. GUWonder's step would apply.

If you are arriving T3 or have outbound at T3 then the CBSA immigration, pickup bag, custom, recheck, US CBP and security are the steps.

GUWonder

That's right, thanks for making that clear.

[The ICN-YYZ flight comes into T3 and is not a Star Alliance flight. The LIM-YYZ flight comes into T1 and is AC. But, as noted above, the onward flight from YYZ can make all the difference too, even in the case of coming into T1.]

tentseller

The way I tell my Merkin friends and relatives is T1 in and T1 out for direct transit at YYZ.