majik

With the eTA leniency period about to end, I'd love to know how the airlines will process check-ins after September 29th.

For eTA holders I assume that the application is tied to their passport number. So when the agent/kiosk does a swipe a go/no go flag is given perhaps?

Canadian and US passport holders are exempt but how are airlines going to deal with Permanent Residents? There is no definitive link between a Permanent Residents passport and their PR card. A Permanent Residents passport could change during their PR card validity period voiding any semblance of a link that would have been established when applying for the PR card.

Are airlines going to physically inspect PR cards on check-in? Will they swipe them? I know PR cards are machine readable but are completely different to passports. Surely airlines haven't invested in new PR card swiping tech? Will agents have to manually enter PR card details?

:D!

Umm, in exactly the same way that they deal with PRs now. Your PR card is your visa to Canada. When you check in for a flight to Canada, airlines are supposed to make sure that you have a visa, or that you don't need one.

Now that everyone except Canadians and Americans will need some sort of "visa", a PR with a British passport will undergo the same checks by airline agents that a PR with an Indian passport has been experiencing for years.

airoli

Every time a PR boards a flight to Canada, his/her PR card is scanned by the check-in agent and added to the record. Just like a passport is.

There is now an IT link between airline systems and the CBSA, producing a "go" or "no-go" flag.

If you are a PR but have in the past travelled without your PR card, you can no longer do so. Just like a dual citizen who has in the past returned to Canada using a foreign passport from a visa-free country (say Britain). You now need to show your Canadian passport.

And that's it.

majik

So the agent does physically swipe the PR card? Has that been the case for visa required PR card holders for years or just recently? Or were cards just physically inspected?

The idea that all PR card holders will now be heavily scruntinized almost defeats the purpose of the the whole new electronic entry/exit system. It seems like all they've done now is pass the burden on to the airlines.

I've been a PR holder for years, visa exempt, and have never been asked for my PR card by an airline, even with one-way itineraries to Canada. I've also entered Canada at airports with an expired PR card without even a glance from CBSA, they don't care, as we're legally entitled to enter regardless of PR card validity.

So if this all going to get worse for PR card holders generally, what's the point of the system?

eigenvector

Whether the card is swiped or not, the travel document number will be added to the passenger manifest and transmitted to the Canadian government. This is not "heavy scrutiny", it is the same as what a Canadian citizen must do: prove their eligibility to enter Canada without a visa or eTA, and have their travel documents scrutinized/recorded.

Now you need to show your PR card as proof of exemption from eTA, just as before you needed to show your passport as proof of visa exempt status. I don't understand what is worse here besides carrying an extra card in your wallet when you travel to Canada.

airoli

Clearly, the point was not about Canadian citizens and PRs but about those who are not.

The new system gives Canada (and, crucially, the U.S. authorities on whose behest this was introduced) an advance view of travellers about to board a flight for Canada, with a chance to deny boarding to people deemed undesirable. Beyond the "security" aspect of this process (for whatever it is worth), denying such people before they reach Canadian soil also conveniently means that Canadian authorities don't have to deal with asylum claims, deportations etc. at a Canadian airport.

The minor extra inconvenience to dual citizens and PRs from countries now subjected to eTA, who now have to travel with their Canadian documents, was an accepted side-effect.

majik

This is how it works for you? The card is physically swiped? Can you swipe the card at a kiosk too? How about online check-in, how does that work with PR card? In the past I just fill in my passport number only.

GUWonder

Canadian dual-citizens with proof of Canadian residency and/or US passports can still fly to Canada without a Canadian passport. That's the way it was last night too and will remain for at least this month and next month.

GUWonder

While I agree that the purpose of this change was to limit the transport of the kind of people mentioned above and that the USG was very eager to have Canada do this, it was also purposefully aimed to hit Canadian citizens and Canadian PRs. This hitting Canadian citizens and residents is not a side-effect; it's part of the intended purpose.

airoli

Interesting. Would you care to elaborate?

tentseller

Prevent misusing of citizenship and/or residency privileges by gamers.

Remember the Lebanon Canadian evacuation?

airoli

Yes, but I am not sure I see how this links to the eTA.

If you have valid PR status or a Canadian passport, you can travel to Canada. The "gaming" goes on to obtain / retain either of these two things. But once you have it, whether or not there is an eTA system makes no difference to your ability to travel.

eigenvector

By requiring eTAs from all foreigners, they are forcing PRs to declare themselves as such (and provide documentation that is transmitted to a government database) thus creating a record linked to their PR card # that they entered the country. This curtails some avenues of residency fraud by making it easier for the government to cross-reference the entry to Canada to a specific PR than if they had simply entered on their foreign passport.

airoli

Hmm. When I became a Canadian citizen, the interview officer had a detailed list of all my entries into Canada as a PR (using my visa-exempt foreign passports). So that suggests that the "link" you refer to already exists and could be used to determine if residency requirements for PR renewal had been met or not.

And it still does not explain why "hitting" Canadian citizens is part of the intented effect of an eTA. Once you're a citizen, no more requirements to be "gamed".

tentseller

You are obviously not one of the gamer of the system.

Have you heard of a Canadian non-resident citizen? they are out there and there are benefits of this status