Canada starts enforcing new entry rules for dual citizens, foreign visitors

11/16/2016

Starting today, the federal government will enforce new rules intended to bring Canada’s entry requirements in line with those of the U.S.

Foreign nationals who don’t normally need a visa to come to Canada will now have to comply with a new entry requirement, known as an electronic travel authorization (eTA). 

Exceptions include U.S. citizens and travellers with a valid Canadian visa. Canadian citizens, dual citizens and permanent residents don’t need to apply for an eTA. 

But dual Canadian citizens who are in the habit of flying with their foreign passport will no longer be able to do so, starting Thursday — though the government will make some exceptions for a brief time for those whose travel plans are “imminent.”

Some travellers with flights leaving for Canada within 10 days may be able to apply for “special authorization” to board, but only until Jan. 31, 2017. 

Skirt the new entry rules, knowingly or not, and you will “likely need to reschedule your flight,” immigration and border services officials said during a background briefing on Nov. 3.

The new initiative is part of a joint Canada-U.S. commitment for screening travellers before they arrive on Canadian soil.

The eTA is linked to a new system known as the Interactive Advance Passenger Information (IAPI) initiative that allows the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to obtain passenger information prior to a commercial flight’s departure to Canada.

“Currently the CBSA performs risk assessments on air travellers and crew while they are en route to Canada,” a CBSA official said during the teleconference briefing.

Airlines will continue to provide the CBSA with the same biographic information on travellers as they do now, just sooner.

Ottawa Citizen