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| Subject: Entering Canada by PRs having visa-free passports |
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Hi all,
If anyone would know this:
Question for those of you who have Canada PR and are also citizens of a visa-free country, especially the U.S.
Once becoming a Canadian PR but not yet a resident of Canada, must you always enter Canada as a PR or can you enter as citizen of your home country using your county´s passport?
Wanting to do everything legal and properly, I ask based on advise from a car rental agency just on the U.S. side of the border. They said that if a renter is both PR and U.S. citizen, to enter as a U.S. citizen in order to be able to bring across the U.S. rental car. They said this is done all the time for people with both statuses.
Thanks.
[03-10-2007,22:56]
[**.47.168.204]
Richard |
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(in reply to: Entering Canada by PRs having visa-free passports)
Richard:
I got the same information from a rental agency as well as from border control, and we encountered no problems using our passports.
[04-10-2007,09:06]
[**.72.65.196]
wannabecanadian |
(in reply to: Entering Canada by PRs having visa-free passports)
Richard,
wannabe is correct. I also heard about the same.
One of my freind has both GC & canadian PR; resident of US. He always enters Canada as a US GC holder, forgeting his Canadian PR.
[04-10-2007,09:54]
[***.254.208.242]
Departed_Canadian |
(in reply to: Entering Canada by PRs having visa-free passports)
DC and wannabe, thanks much.
[04-10-2007,13:02]
[**.47.168.204]
Richard |
(in reply to: Entering Canada by PRs having visa-free passports)
It doesn´t matter.
The PR is pretty used to board a commercial carrier. The band in the back is readable by the Passport reader.
Once the Passport is read by the CBSA agent, it will pop up in the display the status of the Passport holder and as a PR you have the right to enter Canada.
That is why even with a Passport that requires a visa to enter Canada, you could go to the US,driving your own vehicle and come back to Canada in your own vehicle without your PR card.
US citizens even when they do not present a Passport at the port of entry, their status can be determined by their name, place and date of birth.
PR card, it is a probe of permanent resident for agencies that have no access to FOSS or ICDB (Immigration Canada data base). Such as commercial carriers.
[05-10-2007,13:39]
[***.34.111.122]
Bill |
(in reply to: Entering Canada by PRs having visa-free passports)
So Bill, you´re saying just show home country passport (i.e., U.S.) and they´ll know you´re a PR from the database? And that they´re ok with showing passport and not PR card?
And how does bringing in a U.S. rental car affect this situation? As you know, PRs (and Canadian citiziens) are not supposed to enter with U.S. rental cars. If they see a U.S. citizen and PR at the same time, are they then ok with bringing in such rental car?
[05-10-2007,14:37]
[**.47.168.204]
Richard |
(in reply to: Entering Canada by PRs having visa-free passports)
Every person that has been granted a work permit, visitor record or a permanent resident status has a CIC customer number that pops-up with their full name, date of birth and place of birth.
In that file is your immigration history.
The problem with rental cars is when you have to write down your place of residence. At that point your citizenship is not that important I would say. You may be a US citizen but you reside in Canada right? or be a Canadian citizen who lives in the US.
Same thing.
You will notice that when you re-enter Canada using your US Passport even if you do not show your PR card, the CBSA agent won´t put a stamp on it.
The reason is because there is no restriction in how long you may stay in Canada since you have a Permanent resident status.
[05-10-2007,15:15]
[***.34.111.122]
Bill |
(in reply to: Entering Canada by PRs having visa-free passports)
Thanks Bill, excellent info. and advise.
[05-10-2007,15:58]
[**.47.168.204]
Richard |
(in reply to: Entering Canada by PRs having visa-free passports)
Do they ever stamp passports at the border any more? I´ve been traveling to Canada for over 15 years and have never gotten a stamp in my passport. For that matter, I was in Europe not long ago and didn´t receive any stamps then either. I figured stamps were a relic from long ago.
BTW: although there may not be any restriction on how long a PR can stay in Canada, when we recently traveled to Canada using a rental car, we were asked if there were compelling reasons to bring us back to the US (such as job, house, etc). They do want to know that you will be returning the car, and that there aren´t further immigration things to deal with at that time (bringing items into the country, etc).
[05-10-2007,18:12]
[**.189.188.201]
wannabecanadian |
more than one passport... (in reply to: Entering Canada by PRs having visa-free passports)
How about this one.
What if your PR card says you are an Argentine citizen but you can´t get a hold of your Argentine passport before you fly, can you show your Italian passport which states that you were born in Argentina? So confusing I know...
[05-03-2008,12:08]
[***.123.128.10]
Isaac |
forgot one thing... (in reply to: Entering Canada by PRs having visa-free passports)
I forgot to mention, the Italian passport doesn´t need a visa to enter.
[05-03-2008,12:09]
[***.123.128.10]
Isaac |
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