Canadian Visa for UK nationals
 

Hi,

Just a quick query about Canadian visa rules. For a UK citizen with a visa for Canada (available to apply online), are you required to have a return flight home from Canada? We plan to exit via the Canadian/USA (Michigan) border and continue to Mexico, Central America, S.America. I can't seem to find a definitive answer?

Thanks,

Suzie :)


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Definitive answer is that it depends. Some airlines stick strictly to the published visa rules and won't let you board without an onwards ticket, especially if you are flying in economy class. Qantas is one such stickler but we have struck others

Always a risk, but I find checking in early enough so you can sort things out helps. Having a comprehensive printed itinerary plus printed copies of last two month bank and credit card statements also adds weight to your situation. Ask for it to be referred upstairs as well if the checkin operator isn't budging.

Other workarounds which are probably safer include booking a ticket out with some obscure airline that allows full refunds on cancellation, or booking one through a booking agent where there is a 24 hour cop-out and downloading the itinerary from that before closing the screen.

You also need to check whether Canada has a similar requirement to the USA where if you are entering by air under the visa waiver scheme BUT leaving by land, you must seek prior approval

If you have a vehicle lined up to continue your travels then any documentation you have for that would be useful

Hello Suzie:

I can't give you a definitive answer, but my educated guess is "I doubt that you need an onward ticket".

I say this because if you are a British Citizen, you don't need a visa to visit Canada. What you do need is an 'Electronic Travel Authorization' (ETA), which is not quite the same as a visa. I'm not exactly sure what an Electronic Travel Authorization is, but I suspect it is a method by which the Government of Canada can find out a little bit more about a person prior to arrival.

Here are two links to Government of Canada websites that might help you:

Find Out if you need a Visa or ETA (select 'British Subject' - the country 'United Kingdom' is not available as a choice).

ETA Requirements for Canada

Note that you only require the ETA if you are entering Canada by air - if you enter by land, you don't need it.

Michael