Canadian Border Services Collecting Basic Information of Air Travelers

Canada now collects basic biographical information on travelers entering and leaving the country by land and air.

As of June 25, commercial air carriers must provide the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) with electronic passenger manifests for each passenger and crew member traveling outside Canada on their aircraft. It is an extension of the existing entry/exit program, which creates records of movements of travelers outside of Canada and is used to check a complete travel history.

Airlines are expected to be fully integrated into the program by June 2021.

Exit information collected during air travel under the entry/exit program will not be shared regularly with the United States, according to the CBSA. Nor should it cause border delays.

International partners with Canada, such as the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and the European Union are also implementing exit systems.

The CBSA is able to send traveler information to Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) through the Entry / Exit Program to verify how many days an applicant has stayed at the Immigration office country.

The length of time foreigners stay in Canada can affect applications for immigration documents such as work and study permits, visitor visas, permanent residence, and citizenship.

Information on entry/exit is an additional source of information that border officials can consult in the exercise of their functions, including the application of travel restrictions against Coronaviruses.

Canada and the United States have shared biographical information on all travelers at the land border since July 11, 2019, a CBSA spokesperson told CIC News. They use the record of the entry of a traveler in one country to establish the exit of the other. If a traveler is found to have made a false statement in lying to the CBSA about the time he spent in Canada or abroad, he could be considered criminally inadmissible case by case.

Reference is taken from CIC News