Canada no longer requires US LPRs to have eTA and clarifies acceptable forms of I-551

[Mike E 11,739]

Well this is huge news:

 

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit-canada/eta/important-reminders-apply-eta.html
 

Lawful permanent residents of the United States don’t need an eTA

As of April 26, 2022, lawful permanent residents of the United States are exempt from the eTA requirement.

 

In addition, Canada has clarified what documents besides an unexpired green card US LPR can use  to enter Canada:

 

https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit-canada/entry-requirements-country.html#lawful-pr-us

 

As of April 26, 2022, lawful permanent residents of the United States must show these documents for all methods of travel to Canada:

• a valid passport from their country of nationality (or an equivalent acceptable travel document) and
• a valid green card (or equivalent valid proof of status in the United States)

Complete list of acceptable status documents for lawful permanent residents of the U.S.

You need an official proof of status as a lawful permanent resident of the U.S., such as one of the following:

• valid permanent resident card (Form I-551)
• foreign passport with an unexpired temporary I-551 stamp (also known as an Alien Documentation, Identification and Telecommunication [ADIT] stamp)
• foreign passport with a temporary I-551 printed notation (“Upon endorsement serves as temporary I-551 evidencing permanent residence for 1 year”) on a machine-readable immigrant visa upon endorsement with a U.S. Customs and Border Protection admission stamp
• expired permanent resident card (Form I-551) with Form I-797 (Notice of Action) for pending Form I-751 (Petition to Remove Conditions on Residence) or Form I-829 (Petition by Investor to Remove Conditions on Permanent Resident Status)
• expired permanent resident card (Form I-551) with Form I-797 (Notice of Action) for pending Form I-90 (Application to Replace Permanent Resident Card [Green Card])
• valid re-entry permit (Form I-327)
• Form I-94 with an unexpired temporary I-551 stamp (ADIT stamp) and a passport-style photo

 

It is unfortunate that an expired 10 year green card is not (explicitly) acceptable as this would be a boon to LPRs who find themselves with expired 10 year green cards outside the USA, but we should watch for more developments. 
 

What makes this truly huge is that a green card is now more powerful than a passport from country that is in Canada’s visa waiver program.  IOW green card holders have joined the club of US Citizens: visa exempt. 
 

Looking forward to reports of LPRs who fly Canada with expired green cards and/or without eTA.  

[nastra30 2,284]

Good news for LPR. Less hustle and a few bucks saved.

[Crazy Cat 41,845]

I assume this also exempts LPRs who just transit through Canada by air.  This caused us considerable problems a few years ago.  

[Adventine 3,196]

This is great news, thanks for sharing. I was researching a trip to Toronto just a few days ago!

[Mike E 11,739]

46 minutes ago, Crazy Cat said:

I assume this also exempts LPRs who just transit through Canada by air.  This caused us considerable problems a few years ago.  

Yes it would.  
 

It’s a major league play by Canada to drop eTA for this category and I’m hopeful Canada extends this to other categories. I’m not a fan of fake visa waivers and am dreading ETIAS 

[Verrou 1,962]

Someone just posted on Reddit today. Got rejected to fly from Michigan to Toronto twice in a week ( by delta ) with her expired Conditional GC + extension letter. British passport. That person finally drove instead of fly. This is happened in 4/24. 

Edited May 1, 2022 by Misscloud

[aznhouston 130]

I drove to Vancouver with the expired GC and letter, it was ok. I've heard from a friend who flew down Mexico encountered a similar situation. They let her fly but the immigration on the Mexico side didn't let them to get in. They put them right back onto the next flight to California. Wonder what is going on.

 

I flew to Europe two weeks ago, and everything seemed fine.

Edited May 2, 2022 by aznhouston

[Mike E 11,739]

7 hours ago, aznhouston said:

. I've heard from a friend who flew down Mexico encountered a similar situation. They let her fly but the immigration on the Mexico side didn't let them to get in. They put them right back onto the next flight to California. Wonder what is going on.

The opposite of our experience in February.  The airline was difficult but let her board.  In Mexico (Cancun) the immigration officer didn’t say a thing and admitted her into Mexico.  

[Kai G. Llewellyn 837]

Sweet, I guess I don't need to bother renewing my Canadian PR card if my Canadian citizenship application gets delayed.

 

On 5/1/2022 at 9:47 AM, Mike E said:

Yes it would.  
 

It’s a major league play by Canada to drop eTA for this category and I’m hopeful Canada extends this to other categories. I’m not a fan of fake visa waivers and am dreading ETIAS 

I'm in agreement with you, but I do think they're going to become the norm. The UK is looking at setting up such a system, Australia already has it. ETIAS is a bit of a laugh because the EU threw an absolute fit when the US came out with ESTA. These systems are seen as beneficial as it results in having fewer deportation flights for those people who would've been denied entry, who instead are now denied travel authorization.

 

The VWP in the US annoys the hell out of me, because on a reciprocal basis, the UK (my country of citizenship) treats US Citizens as fully visa exempt for tourism no matter what, there is no situation that a US Citizen would need a visa to be boarded onto a flight if they were just coming for a short visit...the same goes for the EU. Though in the other direction, if the UK/EU citizen fouls up in the US, they become visa required for life. I respect that the US is well within its own rights to set up its own visa policy as it sees fit, but still...grr. And on top of that we have the peculiar special privileges that Canadian citizens get with going to the US that no other country gets...they used to extend that to Canadian PRs too, but sadly post 9/11 we can't have nice things...apologies for my rambling. xD

Edited May 2, 2022 by Kai G. Llewellyn

[Mike E 11,739]

10 hours ago, aznhouston said:

I drove to Vancouver with the expired GC and letter, it was ok. I've heard from a friend who flew down Mexico encountered a similar situation. They let her fly but the immigration on the Mexico side didn't let them to get in. They put them right back onto the next flight to California. Wonder what is going on.

 

[aznhouston 130]

8 hours ago, Kai G. Llewellyn said:

Sweet, I guess I don't need to bother renewing my Canadian PR card if my Canadian citizenship application gets delayed.

 

I'm in agreement with you, but I do think they're going to become the norm. The UK is looking at setting up such a system, Australia already has it. ETIAS is a bit of a laugh because the EU threw an absolute fit when the US came out with ESTA. These systems are seen as beneficial as it results in having fewer deportation flights for those people who would've been denied entry, who instead are now denied travel authorization.

 

The VWP in the US annoys the hell out of me, because on a reciprocal basis, the UK (my country of citizenship) treats US Citizens as fully visa exempt for tourism no matter what, there is no situation that a US Citizen would need a visa to be boarded onto a flight if they were just coming for a short visit...the same goes for the EU. Though in the other direction, if the UK/EU citizen fouls up in the US, they become visa required for life. I respect that the US is well within its own rights to set up its own visa policy as it sees fit, but still...grr. And on top of that we have the peculiar special privileges that Canadian citizens get with going to the US that no other country gets...they used to extend that to Canadian PRs too, but sadly post 9/11 we can't have nice things...apologies for my rambling. xD

The US is everyone's enemy I guess. LOL.