Philippine national with US Green Card - Visa or no visa NCL Alaska cruise

[mreding]

Hey there. I am brand new here, and this will be my first cruise, but my (then) husband and I will be traveling on the NCL Pearl to Alaska next August. He was born in the Philippines and carries a Filipino passport. He has lived in the US since he was a child and has a US Green Card (therefore, he is a lawful US resident).

 

I cannot seem to nail down definitive information as to whether he will need a visa to board the NCL Pearl, or if he will be able to board and also disembark in Victoria, B.C., Canada during our trip with just his Filipino passport and his US Green Card. I have spent hours and hours searching the Canadian Department of Citizenship and Immigration website, many US-based websites, and have tried to call numerous departments (in the US and Canada).

 

What I've found is this... if he were traveling via air, he would not need a visa since the Philippines is one of the allowed countries to enter since he has a US Green Card. I also found evidence that if what he needed was a transit visa, he would also not need that visa and could enter using the passport and Green Card. What I cannot find is wording that specifically mentions arrival by ship/cruise!

 

Many of the cruise lines say that passengers, other than those holding a US passport, will need not only a visa, but a temporary resident visa (not the transit visa, even though we'd be in Canada for less than 48 hours).

 

Since I know that the answer ultimately lies with the people checking his documents before boarding the ship, and that the cruise line itself won't seem to give any information themselves... we're in a bit of an odd situation. We don't want to try to go through the lengthy and expensive process of obtaining a temporary resident visa if we don't have to!

 

Suggestions?

 

Also, though he will be my legally married husband, he will not be a naturalized US citizen when we take the cruise.

 

Thanks for your help!

Edited August 1, 2015 by mreding

[martincath]

This answer sums it up for you; US green card = no visa required.

 

In Canada it doesn't matter if you arrive by car, bus, train, ship, plane, balloon, bike, pogo stick, or crawling on hands and knees the requirements for entry are the same regardless of mode of transport which may be why you can't find anything covering arrival by ship! The only exception is that Transit Without Visa program for folks flying through Canada, which does need specific approved airlines and airports to be used so obviously isn't applicable.

 

This tool is really useful as it amalgamates all of the various program requirements. Just in case there was something weird about Filipino green card holders I ran it twice - once for Transit, once for Visitor - and both result were the same, No Visa Required (NB: used an arbitrary DoB, so you should run it yourself with correct info to be safe).

 

NB: there are conditions about health, not having previously been a permanent resident of Canada, no criminal record (NB: that many US misdemeanors, e.g. DUI, count as crimes in Canada...), not having lived in certain specific places and of course the usual be able to satisfy the border guards that he does intend to leave the country small print!

 

So as long as you have asked the cruiseline whether he can board the ship and they said yes, the only issue I'd suggest being aware of is that he will probably be called to meet with CBSA in Victoria before he's allowed to disembark so don't make any plans that require being off the ship promptly.

[mreding]

Martincath, thank you!!!! That first link that talks about the eTA is the first site I've seen that specifically mentions sea travel.

 

Everything I could find before that mentioned air travel, and as you said, there were requirements based on the airline and airport, and I found travel by land... But having something that clearly said sea makes me feel more at ease that we will not get to the ship and be denied boarding (and thereby, forfeit the cost of the cruise).