Canada Travel Question - Help !
 

This might be a stupid question - but any help is appreciated.

Looking to take a flight from the US to Europe that will take myself and a friend through Toronto early next year, with a plane change in Toronto.

My friend had a bit of trouble 7 years ago and has a felony record. It's been 7 years and she's been law abiding since then - no problems, she was never placed on probation, only served 10 months. Is there going to be any trouble for her to enter Canada for a flight change as we'll only be in the country for about 6 hours and not even leaving the airport ?

I've tried to do some research on this but there's alot of conflicting and confusing info out there on the internet....

If she's inadmissible to Canada due to the conviction, then she won't be able to make the connection. It's just like doing an international-international transfer in the US. You need to be admitted just like everyone else, even though you'll only be here for a couple of hours.

That's what I'm trying to find out - if she would be admitted or not. Not sure as to what the Canadian law is as everything i'm finding is VERY confusing.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/archive/t-1378669.html

Theres also this, but that may be part of the "conflicting" information. But then again, so would be posting here :)

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...8082316AAPS3Jp

Personally, i would navigate to the links posted at the bottom of that yahoo link, and call the Consulate as well as the airline.

Call Canada...

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/contact/menu-eng.html

Are you concerned about admission to the European country as well?

If you're looking for more of the same, you've come to the right place.

Calling is to ask is a good idea.

Toronto is a member of the TWOV program, so they would be able to handle the situation of an inadmissible passenger in transit relatively easily if you are traveling on a TWOV carrier. You might also want to send a PM to yyzvoyager who could answer the question.

If you're transiting through Terminal 1, that's simply not true.

If you're flying International to US, as you come off the plane, you'll follow the signs for US connections. You won't even see CBSA. You'll head directly to a desk where US CBP officers admit you to the United States, as YYZ has US preclearance.

Terminal 3 doesn't have such channels. I believe that all travelers arriving internationally at T3, whether intending on staying in Canada, or connecting to the US or internationally, must be landed by CBSA. (Note - this information about T3 might be out of date. It's been years since I flew through T3.)

Now, if I were inadmissible to Canada, I still might not choose this itinerary, even if connecting through T1. What if the YYZ-USA flight gets cancelled? I'd rather not spend the night in a holding cell at Pearson. But if everything goes smoothly, you'll probably be ok. Even if you were inadmissible to Canada, what would they do? You would be deported to the US (assuming that's your home country), probably on your already scheduled flight. There just might be a few uncomfortable hours with CBSA in between.

The OP is going FROM the US to Europe. Not the other way around. Thus, the OP will definitely clear Canadian immigration and customs before going to their connecting flight.

Just out of curiosity, what would happen if a US citizen who lives in Pt. Roberts, WA had something in their past that would make them inadmissible to Canada and they were unable to transit by road back and forth between their home and mainland WA? I wonder if this has ever come up before and if so, how it turned out.

Sounds like a good case for a Temporary Resident Permit.

Or, either buy a boat or move out of Pt. Roberts.

A coworker's father has this exact problem. He bought a boat and sails between Point Roberts and Blaine weekly. He didn't want to go through the process of getting a Canadian TRP since he doesn't intend to reside in Canada.