Finkface

Read the document she was given on arrival. It clearly says on page 2 that you may still receive notifications but you are not required to report.

under2100

Here was my arrival experience tonight: I think the tl;dr moral of the story is: for YVR, AC8094 is currently a great choice because you're the only arrival around that time.

I arrived into YVR from SEA about 6.30pm, Sunday on a Q400 turboprop, which has max seating 74, but the plane was only half full. I think we were the only international arrival near that time - the previous flight, also a small plane from Seattle, landed an hour before us. So the arrivals hall was completely empty at the time. There were directing people to three choices, Nexus, non-Nexus vaccinated, and non-Nexus non-vaccinated. I joined the Nexus lane and there were 3 people in front of me - and then the crew from our flight arrived - but there was only one officer on duty for us, so he alternated calling crew / Nexus lines. There were other officers working the non-Nexus queues, and there seemed to be a dozen people waiting in the non-Nexus vaccinated line. It took me 10 minutes of waiting to see the officer, and I gave him passport, visa, covid test, arrivecan and vaccine printouts. It was over in two minutes. He just asked i I was bringing in anything and I said no.

Outside the immigration hall, they were splitting people into pre-registered and non-registered. I hadn't pre-registered but I got in that line by mistake. Actually the person directing traffic told me wrong infos - when I said I'd just taken the test a few days prior via the land crossing, he said I would be in the system and should join the pre-registered side. However, when I eventually reached the desk, I was told that's not true, you need to pre-register separately for each trip, and the system does not save your information towards other trips. So I was in fact not registered.

As it happened, the non registered side had no queue at all, whereas the preregistered had a few people in front of me. But it only took a few minutes to get to a desk - where the woman decided I wasn't pre-registered so filled in the form for me right there. They have a system set up, so you can see the screen being filled out from your side, and there is also a keyboard that you can type in, while at the same time, the worker can also type on their computer from their side of the desk. They fill in the form very quickly, although you can probably type in faster than it would take to dictate to them some fields like your address. The form is a little different to the form that I filled out for the drive-through test at Peace Arch a few days prior.

I commented that it was very quiet, and she said it was at that time, but earlier in the day it was very, very busy. I asked if they gave you a home kit in such a case, and she said 'You do not want to do a home test, trust me!' So I think, if their own workers are saying that, then if they do try to fob you off with a take home test, it's better to insist on doing it there.

The registration was quick, a few minutes, and then I left that area. The testing is set up beyond the final double doors, in the area where the public is normally waiting for arrivals to emerge. They had about 20 testing stations set up that I saw - and of course almost all were empty at that time, with workers standing around twiddling their thumbs.

The test was done by the worker, not a self-test, and did involve a cheek swab, followed by a mid-nasal swab. By contrast, the drive through test is self-administered while they watch, and is nasal only. So that is slightly different as well. I asked about the cheek swab, and she said the rationale was that people's nasal passages would be dry after being in the plane, so they get the cheek swab to decrease likelihood of an inconclusive test that has to be repeated. She also mentioned it had been crazy busy earlier in the day, and I was lucky that it was so empty at the time.

After the test, which only took a few minutes, the final gauntlet to run was a man asking to see the handout they give you at the immigration booth. I hadn't realized, but it seems that you get given different handouts, depending on whether you have to quarantine or not. My non-quarantine version is a single sheet of paper, printed on both sides. I think a 'longer' version, 4 pages maybe, is given to quarantine people. So depending on which sheet of paper you wave at them, you get told you're free to leave, or you have to go to a hotel.

After all that, after waiting a bit for a shuttle to the parking lot - and the shuttle driver almost drove past me as I waved frantically - and he too said he hadn't expected to see any international arrivals at that time - I was in an Evo car at 7.30pm, about an hour after landing, Not much more time taken than pre-Covid for me, so I think everything went pretty smoothly.

redadeco

Thanks for the feedback. Planning to cross at Peace Arch in a couple of days, would you mind sharing which lab you pre-registered with as it depends on where one is crossing from?

under2100

I wrote a bit of detail about my land border crossing at Douglas in the thread about driving into Canada here
The only company in BC is Lifelabs for land and air and sea, and when I drove through last week, the land form could only be filled in on the spot at the border crossing (or at home if you take the kit home) since it is the Hometest kit box (which you can do then and there), and requires the testkit ID number to be filled in. You won't know the testkit ID until they give you the box. Only if you fly in, can you pre-register. if you look at the Lifelabs Flyclear website, the land entry is done via the HomeKit registration (choose arrived by land/sea option), and the on-site airport testing link takes you to the preregistration. You can follow the links I included and do a dummy run if you want to see what the forms ask.

smes

lol getting these as well. I thought it was a bug.

Unmaxdemax

Hello,

has anyone tried to be exempted from quarantine under the new rules upon returning to Canada?

a colleague who had been fully vaccinated for 14+ days was denied the exemption because her trip (week end in NYC) was deemed « non essential » by the CBSA agent. She had followed all the procedure (testing, Ontario vaccination proof in ArriveCan…).

M.

The Lev

Interesting - I had thought the new rules applied to all returning Canadians irrespective of reason for travel.

atsak

Yes, I was exempted from quarantine on Thursday. It was however a business related trip which might have been considered essential, but frankly I wasn't asked much detail about it, the agent simply checked my arrivecan input, asked me standard questions for entry (anything to declare). Nexus did not work as mine expired in November and I'm waiting for an interview for renewal; renewal was done before it expired but it seems the extension they've offered doesn't work in practice at the entry machines. Global Entry for entry to the US worked as normal with the extension in place.

CorSter

Purpose of travel is irrelevant for the quarantine exemption. If a power tripping CBSA agent tried to impose one on me for that reason, I'd gladly ignore it and happily fight any fines that followed in court. Full stop.

WildcatYXU

That's weird. You can't even mix the two exemptions (essential travel and being fully vaccinated) in ArriveCAN. Please read about our experiences in the quarantine hotel thread.

sydneyracquelle

How would this work in reverse? A fully vaccinated CDN citizen living abroad who comes back to Canada for the sole purpose to visit family they haven’t seen in 18 months. Certainly non-essential but to my understanding most certainly permitted without quarantine after July 5 (of course assuming negative covid test abroad plus on arrival at YYZ).

EmailKid

Apparently so

Since I arrived late (thanks to 5 hour plus layover at YVR) I didn't go anywhere, so was "quarantined" until now, and while I have all the food, coffee and tea I need, I don't have cream for my coffee once my little stash I picked up while traveling yesterday runs out

So guess I can double check my sheet of paper (that I kept) and go about my business like the agent told me at the airport

But I did submit the attestation on ArriveCAN today ...... guess I'll skip it tomorrow. And enjoy the great Canadian summer weather

TheCanuckian

We tried for some family members who should have been exempt, though the CBSA agent disagreed. We called every number we could find and were unable to get hold of anyone capable of making a decision. We were given an email address to write to, but received no reply beyond a standard acknowledgment. That was 8 days ago. So it seems to us that once the decision has been made at the border, there is no process of appeal.

emcampbe

Are they Canadian citizens (or PRs)? Just checking, because my interpretation is that quarantine is only for Canadian citizens/PRs? Though maybe I’m missing residents.

id be interested on further details - planning on coming in the early fall to visit family, as a US resident/Canadian citizen fully vaccinated (and with 3 yo daughter, obviously not vaccinated right now), and want to know how the process might plat out. Invisibly, very much hopi the rules are much looser by then - should be much higher percentage fully vac’d in Canada by then. But trying to keep on top of things.

again, want to keep track of these things, so also curious on the answer.


this is me. I have the same understanding, as well.

redadeco

I assume they're not Canadian citizens/PR. Outside of these two categories I reckon it's risky to show up at the border with the expectation to get in even after the last changes.