First International Flight to Canada...what to expect?
 

Hello,

In a couple of weeks I will be flying into YVR (Vancouver) from Anchorage, on a connecting flight to Calgary. I have flown domestically a couple of times years ago, but never internationally. I will be staying in Calgary with a friend and his family for three weeks and then flying back to the states (Illinois) to visit my mother/family for a couple of months over the summer before returning to Alaska. I have no return ticket to Alaska as I am not certian of the length of time I will be back in Illinois. The e-ticket I purchased, however, was a multi-city ticket that does include my trip to Illinois. And it shows this on my email itineraries from Orbitz, Air Canada, and from United Airlines. I will have all three printed out and with me incase they are needed.

Here are several of my concerns. I have no job at the moment, I am a housewife and my husband is AD military. I will be working for my mother when I get back to IL. Will this be an issue for me if I am asked about my job occupation at immigration? I know my friend and his family will most likely be footing the bill at most places we go, but I will have bank/debit card if I want to get cash and credit cards in case of emergency. I am worried it will throw up a red flag that I do not have a job and I am trying to enter the country, though I will be starting one when i arrive back in the states. Also if asked for proof of funds, will having credit cards be sufficient? Would it be wise to have a print out his name, address and telephone number incase I am asked where/with who I am staying? Also, should I include a print out of my mother's name/address/phone number since I will be staying with her after I depart Canada?

I will be traveling with a laptop and a Kindle. Is there anything specific I need to do with these items for customs? Or do I just tell them I have nothing to claim going into Canada? I have no proof of purchase of my laptop since it was a gift last year. Would it be less of a hassle to just ship my laptop to my mother prior to leaving the states for Canada, so I don't have to worry about it? I am not bringing any tobacco, foods, liquor, anything like that. Only clothing, makeup, phone, laptop, kindle. If it means standing in one less line, I will just ship it to my mother, if it's not a big deal and not time consuming I will take it with me.

I'll be arriving in Vancouver around 7:00 pm on a Tuesday evening. Is this considered a peak time? Has anyone had any experience overall with customs/immigration on a regular basis coming into Vancouver? I have three and a half hours between landing in Vancouver and taking off to Calgary. Will this be a decent amount of time to go through immigration/customs/security?

Overall I would just like to know what to expect and what I need to get through this experience as fast and easy as possible, since I will be alone. I will take any advice/stories anything you have to offer. Thank you in advance.

Having flown into YVR myself last year I can safely say that i had no problems entering Canada from YVR (from Denver and London) with laptop and Kindle in hand baggage. You have to stop and have immigration check your passport, but then you are straight in to the baggage hall to collect your bags and go out through customs which is on the left side at the far end of the hall from where you came in. We arrived from Denver early afternoon and from London at 6pm and the immigration queues were about the same both times - don't know if the fact we were UK passport holders made any difference......

To go from International arrivals to domestic departures, you need to go up one floor (lifts and escalators available) and move to the the domestic terminal which is the other end of the building. You will have to go through security again to get airside for your Calgary flight. If you want food or drink - get it landside before going through as the gates we went to (for Vancouver Island flight) had one rubbish cafeteria/ newsagent airside. Three and a half hours should be plenty - we had less than that and made it easily....

I had problems drawing cash from some ATMs in Canada using my UK credit and debit cards, but no problem whatsoever in using them for shopping. I found that using machines at a bank branch worked whilst the ones in airport/ stores/ malls didn't seem to like me.

ETA - I am assuming that you are a US citizen if you are travelling from Alaska ... I'd very much doubt that immigration in IL will be bothered about your return ticket (or lack of it) - you have a right of abode in the US don't you?? As you have an onward ticket from Vancouver- Calgary- Illinois I doubt the Canadians will be bothered either.....

You wont have an issue - most likely you ll be asked for purpose of visit - say, visiting friends in Calgary.

If asked for job - dont lie.

Your time in Vancouver is more than enough.

You will fill in a form prior to arriving in Canada which they will give you on the plane. If you want to see what one looks like, here it is:

http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/publicati...s/e311-eng.pdf

You as a visitor fill in part A and part B. If you answer "Yes" to any of the questions, you can expect further questions by the officer. Other than that they will probably just ask where you are going (ie purpose of visit), and you just tell them to visit friends or family. Note the duty free allowances re alcohol/tobacco.

As for laptops, personal items etc, nothing to worry about it. Thousands of people arrive every week with those items and it is not a problem at all.

It is highly unlikely they will ask you exactly the name, address you will be staying in Canada, but they could. It is always a very good idea when travelling internationally, not just to Canada, to make sure you have the address and phone number where you will be staying, at least for the first day or so.

I beg to differ.

They won't be able to carry beverages through security.

And the flight to Calgary will most likely be in an area of the domestic terminal with a wide variety of foods, including local options. http://www.yvr.ca/Libraries/Maps/600...11_2.sflb.ashx

OP, here is the YVR website with connections information: http://www.yvr.ca/en/navigating-yvr/...rough-YVR.aspx

But equally, there's no need to sound apologetic or worried either. Simply say, "Home duties" or "Housewife" and add if there are any further questions (which there won't be), "My husband is in the services."

Welcome to FT!

One thing I will add is when flying from Calgary to Illinois, you will pre-clear US customs in Canada and you arrive in the US as if you are on a domestic flight.

In other words, arrive earlier than normal at the airport flying back. I am sure the people you are visiting will know that.

Thank you all very much for your responses. I now feel a lot better about this upcoming experience. Overall, I wanted to be prepared and with everyone's feedback I feel I am going to be fine.

Thank you CarolynUK, for sharing your personal experiences, especially concerning debit/credit cards.

Also, a big thanks to Mapleg for linking the customs form. It is very straight forward. I was thinking I would have to mark down I was bringing in a laptop (business equipment) then I would have to go to customs and make sure they saw my laptop and my reciept of purchase, before bringing it into the country. That was why I was worried and thought it was going to be a confusing mess for me. It's a big relief to know that I can just go to immigration show my passport answer a few questions then make my way to baggage/ customs with the card and onto security/next flight.


Exbayern, thank you for your links as well.

I really appreciate everyone being so helpful and patient with my ignorance concerning this whole subject.

One more question. I've heard you can't bring plane food in through immigration. What if I have mints or gum in my carry on from the US? Will I have to pitch that before they let me into Canada? Not really a big deal, I would imagine there is a place to buy more gum/mints once I am admitted and get to the domestic flight area. I just didnt want to knock down my friend when he picks me up with my stank breath.

If anyone still has any other personal stories or opinions on the whole matter I would still love to hear them.

ETA: I lied, one more question... Do I "have" to put my carry on in the overhead bin or can I put it under the seat in front of me? It will be a tiny backpack basically just for holding the laptop/kindle and one change of clothing. Ill be flying Air Canada into and through Canda and then United from Canada back to the US. Not sure if different airlines have different rules. I would just feel more comfortable with it in plain sight.

Look at the form maple posted and you will see which foods need to be declared. Since you are not on a preclearance program gum and mints and many other foods are fine.

I wouldn't worry about Carolyn's advice though about banks. Generally Canada and US is easier than say UK and Canada. If you want to avoid ATM fees bank of America and Scotiabank are in a no fee network. There is no Scotiabank at YVR but they will take US cash and refund in Canadian and then you can withdraw money in Calgary.

Or use your credit card. Your ATM card won't work at debit card machines in shops as payment but for instance your Bank of America Visa cheque card would be treated as a credit card purchase.

Under the seat is fine so long as there is a seat in front of you. Row 1 and some exit row and bulkhead rows are an issue but row 7 bulkhead on UA Airbii you can still put under seat in front of you.

I was just saying what happened to me when I tried to get cash from ATMs in YVR and a couple of supermarkets..... They all refused to give me any cash at all, although the cards all worked fine when paying for goods at a checkout point.

Because I had the problem, I went to the counter in a bank branch, and the cashier told me to try the machine there before she would deal with me..... At the banks own in branch machine it worked fine.

Just because you have never had problems using cards in machines doesn't mean that others don't - I know that I would have appreciated knowing that there might be a problem before i got there and not have panicked as I did at the prospect of being without money in a foreign country.

Yes, you are right about actually carrying beverages through security... But the advice was meant to be eat and drink before domestic security as the food and drink facilities airside are limited.

Right, I understand that.

However, you may not realise that in Vancouver, and in YVR, and in many parts of Canada, people accept USD as payment (both notes and coines). They won't accept GBP as payment.

The bank machines at YVR are from major banking chains and/or multi-currency machines, and they do accept US bank cards from the various networks.

Again, it is a little different comparing US/Canada to US/UK when it comes to money issues. I don't think that OP will face the same ones that a UK visitor would face, and the advice to look at the BoA/Scotiabank relationship will also save them money on fees.

I'm well aware than USD are accepted in Canada - especially in major airports and cities, however the OP was talking specifically about cards which as I said - I had problems with! Both my husband and I arrived in YVR with about $100 USD each but wanted some Canadian currency for incidental spending while we waited for our connection, and as we visit the US regularly we rarely change our USD back into sterling - just keep it for the next visit.

We were unable to get any from an ordinary ATM in the terminal, but there is a bank along the route to the Domestic terminal which were able to give us Canadian dollars for our USD as the machine there wouldn't work either.

Our UK cards worked fine just about everywhere else in Canada as they did in the US, but we found it strange that none of them worked in the ordinary ATMs that you find in shopping malls/ supermarkets / airline terminals.

Were you using a US issued bank card from a US bank?

One thing I would add for OP to consider is that she mentioned that her husband is in the military. OP, if you are using USAA you may want to ensure that you won't have any issues using their cards. (I don't think that you would considering the international scope of the US military, and perhaps you use a different bank, but just wanted to bring that up)