Discretionary vs Work - US Citizen - Which is correct?
 

I'm so confused by the wording they now have in the arrivecan app for the reason of travel. I have meetings to attend in canada and will be leaving after a few days. So I would assume I should select work (listed as work/employment or essential), but the options under that are related to essential work, gov work, or "foreign worker" which doesn't seem to fit. Other canadian gov pages seem to define a foreign worker as someone who is expecting to stay in canada. Discretionary travel used to have the word "business" in the description, but no longer does and just says "Foreign nationals who intend to enter canada for visits, weddings, leisure, tourism, recreation, fishing, or other optional reasons".

Anyone know the RIGHT option to choose? Drives me crazy that such a simple thing doesn't have clarity when someone who judges you "did it wrong" could hold you or not allow entry.

My guess is that it doesn’t matter a whole lot. Or that you could plead ignorance at the border if you selected the wrong one. I don’t think any of us know how much ArriveCan replaces what the agents do under normal circumstances (like ask your reason for entering Canada) and how much it pertains only to COVID-specific information. My guess is that it’s still weighted to the latter. Hence I would expect an agent to still ask “What is your reason for entering Canada” and not to glean that info from the app.

But I could be wrong…

Discretionary would be my choice for business meetings. Telling CBSA you are here for work is not the correct option when entering to attend business meetings.

"Work" can trigger the border guards. Work often means you want to take up work in Canada, for which you need a specific visa.

​​​​​​Given your description, I would pick "discretionary".

You have a business visit, which is discretionary. I mean you could do a zoom meeting, but just don't want to for reasons, so discretionary works just fine.

You'll totally be able to explain to the border agent and I'm sure they'll correct you for next time if necessary.

+1.

Years ago got send to secondary as soon as I mentioned "work" when my intent was to attend meeting and thus no permit/visit in passport.

CBSA officer in secondary was friendly enough after explaining what I will be doing in the next 3 days. Officer then mentioned "If you are here to attend meetings, no permit required. <cough><cough> What is your purpose here today?" :D