GA Flights between USA & Canada during Covid

hish747

hish747

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Hish747
Does anyone know if it's possible to make GA flights between the US and Canada and what restrictions may be in place? More importantly has anyone here made such a flight recently? Are the regular ports of entry operational in Canada?
 
I know the land border is just giving people a brow beating. If you hold both nationalities then you’re theoretically fine. Biz or pleasure trip?
 
Bilateral agreement restricting cross-boarder travel to "essential travel" only. The agreement was extended for another month in late April.

https://thehill.com/policy/internat...der-restrictions-extended-for-another-30-days

US-Canada border restrictions extended for another 30 days
04/18/20 05:08 PM EDT

The U.S.-Canada border restrictions will be extended for another 30 days as both countries continue to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeauannounced Saturday at a press briefing...

...The restrictions took effect on March 21, banning any nonessential travel between the two countries. The U.S. has similar restrictions with the southern border, which allow trade to continue but have slowed down passenger traffic in ports of entry that are typically very busy...

...Trudeau said on Thursday that the border between Canada and the U.S. likely won't reopen to nonessential travel anytime soon as the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread...

...When asked about potentially relaxing border restrictions with Canada on Wednesday, President Trump said that "our relationship with Canada is very good" and "we’ll talk about that."

“It will be one of the early borders to be released. We’re doing well. We’ll see. But at some point, we’ll be doing that,” Trump said.
 
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YooperMooney said:
...If you hold both nationalities then you’re theoretically fine. Biz or pleasure trip?
Click to expand...

No you're not necessarily fine.

If you are trying to cross from your country of residence and make what the border authorities deem a "non-essential" trip (and Canada Border Service and the US Customs and Border Protection have absolute discretion) you risk being turned back.
 
GRG55 said:
No you're not necessarily fine.

If you are trying to cross from your country of residence and make what the border authorities deem a "non-essential" trip (and Canada Border Service and the US Customs and Border Protection have absolute discretion) you risk being turned back.
Click to expand...

If you hold citizenship or permanent residence in the country you are attempting to enter, in the case of both the US and Canada, they are prohibited by law from denying you entry.
 
I drove into Canada right after the border was shut down because I had to go to recurrent training in Montreal. They let me through but not after a lot of questions and asking to see proof of what I was explaining to them. I was fully prepared to have to turn back, I didn't even make a hotel reservation until I crossed into Canada.

So I suppose they will let you in if you have a really good reason to go. Saying you're going to Montreal for poutine and a massage probably isn't a good enough reason.
 
A friend had to leave his airplane on my ramp when the boarded closed in April. After negotiations with US and Canadian authorities he has permission for a very small window of time to fly down commercial and fly his plane home. He is very well connected in both countries. It took his a month to get this one time pass and a lot of personal hi-level persuading. It would probebly not be possible for " Joe Pilot".
 
N1120A said:
If you hold citizenship or permanent residence in the country you are attempting to enter, in the case of both the US and Canada, they are prohibited by law from denying you entry.
Click to expand...

My chuckle for the morning.

Good luck. Tell that to the border agent, if they deem it "non-essential".
The authorities are restricting the movement of citizens within their own country.
 
GRG55 said:
...The authorities are restricting the movement of citizens within their own country.
Click to expand...

Yes, but that's very different from your own country not allowing you to enter. A U.S. Citizen cannot be denied entry into their own country absent circumstances not relevant to this discussion.
 
I had to make that comment to stir the pot. It’s good for the advertisers.
Yes, neither the USA or Canada will deny entry to their own citizen or (in almost all cases) a legal permanent resident.
Here is some worthless info: from a legal perspective, US citizens are not inspected at a US Port of Entry. They are “examined”.
 
Update to this thread:

The Anchorage Daily News just ran a pretty comprehensive article on what is required to be let into Canada through to Alaska *by ROAD*:
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/202...48-can-still-drive-home-heres-what-to-expect/

... I imagine that things will be similar for going through by GA. The bit about "only having 24 hours to get through the Yukon" has me a little worried, weather being what it is...

A few weeks ago, I talked to a human at Canada Border Services, who verified that yes, "An Alaskan returning home can fly through the country"; this does qualify as essential travel. Be prepared to show something like an Alaska drivers' license. Things like "going to my cabin" and "visiting a relative" do *not* qualify. She also told me "the rules might be changing on June 21, so call back sometime after that." My trip will be in late July, so I'll be calling for that update, and will let y'all know what I find.

If you're arriving by commercial airline to Alaska from anywhere, there are now a few different "test at the airport" or "test before departure" options that can let you cut your 14-day mandatory quarantine shorter. Looks like they're *not* going to be doing this at the Alaska/Yukon border at Northway, so I'm hoping they'll let me fly straight to Anchorage to do my 14 days at home.

If you're thinking of making a trip like this, PM me if you want to know the phone number for Border Services, where I managed to contact a human after many failed attempts at phone trees. (I'd post it here, but I left it in the plane.). I'll also update this thread if I find out more.
 
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