22

I took a domestic flight from Toronto to Vancouver, and transited to an international flight leaving Canada. When I got to the region for international departures,there was someone (looked like normal airport staff) who looked at my boarding pass and let me through. No one checked my passport, nor did I pass through any automatic kiosks/e-Gates where my passport was scanned.

This confused me because every other country I'd been in had immigration counters checking the identities of people leaving. I was afraid I'd accidentally taken the wrong path in the airport and skipped passport control, and 'illegally' left the country, but things seemed to be fine when I entered Canada again. Surely they are still somehow keeping track of people leaving -- how do they otherwise know if people overstay visas/are escaping fines etc.? So the question is how? Do they get the names of passengers who boarded from the airline? Do they check as I check in in Toronto? None of these would seem very 'safe' options if I were the government since airline staff don't have the same training as immigration officers. Am I missing something after all?

The Hagen
  • 323
  • 1
  • 2
  • 6

1 Answers1

36

Unlike most other countries, Canada doesn't have exit immigration controls. Similarly the US and the UK don't either. This makes perfect sense as there's no point in checking a person on the way out of the country. Your exit was recorded by the airline and passport control will see it in their systems the next time you enter Canada. If you did overstay your visa, you'll be refused entry the next time you try to fly to Canada - it's as simple as that.

If someone is a criminal trying to escape the justice system this is likewise not a big deal - the police will see that a person on the wanted list has booked a ticket and would arrest them at the airport. And if you try to leave through the land border with the US, you'll be arrested by American passport control as Canada shares information about wanted criminals with their international partners.

JonathanReez
  • 82,178
  • 90
  • 394
  • 764