Booking a Flight

Important

Before planning your trip to Canada, make sure you meet the requirements to be allowed to travel to Canada. Have a close look at the “Travelling to Canada and clearing Canadian customs” page to get all the information you need for your trip to Canada.

We advise you to wait until you have obtained the necessary immigration documents for your stay in Canada before booking a flight.

Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport has direct connections to most major North American hubs including Chicago, Montreal, Toronto, Philadelphia, and New York. You will likely stop over in one of these cities on your way to Quebec City.

Before planning your trip to Canada, make sure you meet the requirements to be allowed to travel to Canada. Have a close look at the “International Students: All you need to know” page to get all the information you need for your trip to Canada. We strongly recommend flying into Québec City rather than Montréal—you’ll cut your travel time and save the cost of land transportation between the two cities.

We strongly recommend that Montréal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport or Québec City’s Jean Lesage International Airport be where you first land in Canada (especially if you are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with vaccines recognized in Canada) so that you can complete your entire quarantine in Québec, if required. As of October 30, 2021, travellers departing from a Canadian airport, as well as VIA Rail and Rocky Mountaineer train passengers, will need to be fully vaccinated. This requirement also applies to travellers with connecting flights. We invite you to consult the page COVID-19 Boarding flights and trains in Canada for full details.

Always compare prices, routes, and flight times before making a reservation. Here are a few helpful websites:

Getting your study permit

To obtain an official study permit, you must go to immigration services in the customs area of the first canadian airport you land into, whether it is your final destination or a stop over, and present your letter of introduction from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. If your first stop in Canada is at an airport other than your final destination, plan to have enough time between flights to get your study permit. The time it takes to clear customs and immigration to have your study permit issued can vary from 1 to 3 hours. It depends on the time of day and the airport.

décacher lorsque la page sera en ligne ///For more information, visit the Documents to present to Canadian Border Services Agency section.

Waiting time at immigration can be anywhere between 1 to 3 hours. You can reduce considerably this time by registering to Accueil Plus in Montréal or landing directly in Québec City. As it is a smaller airport, waiting time is shorter.

 

At the Montreal airport, the Canadien Bureau for International Education is providing international students who will be starting in the fall 2021 semester the Accueil Plus service. This service is beneficial to you because it allows you to register your travel plan and study permit number in advance which will significantly reduce your waiting time at Canadian immigration services.

Accueil Plus will be available from Sunday December 26th 2021 to Friday January 14th 2022.