Connecting Through Canada Just Got Faster: 3 Airports Now Let International Passengers Skip the Border Officer

If you've ever had a connecting flight through a Canadian airport on your way between two other countries, you know the drill: get off the plane, wait in a border line, see an officer, then sprint to your next gate. As of late June 2026, at three of Canada's busiest airports, that stop is gone.

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has launched a Free Flow International-to-International Transit process that lets eligible transiting passengers walk straight from their arriving flight to their departure gate — no in-person border officer, no kiosk, no passport scan. It's live now at Toronto Pearson (Terminal 1), Vancouver International, and Montréal–Trudeau, announced in a CBSA news release on June 26, 2026.

Here's the one thing to get straight first, because it decides whether any of this applies to you.

Does this apply to you?

Yes — if you're just passing through Canada. You're arriving on an international flight and leaving on another international flight, and Canada is neither your starting point nor your final destination. That's an "international-to-international" connection, and it's exactly what Free Flow is built for.

No — if Canada is your destination. If you're flying into Canada to land as a new permanent resident, to visit, to study, or to return home as a PR or citizen, nothing changes for you. You'll still meet a CBSA officer (or use a kiosk / the Advance Declaration app) and clear the border the normal way. Free Flow is only for people who never actually enter Canada — they stay airside and fly onward.

So this is travel news, not an immigration-status change. But if you or someone you know routinely connects through Toronto, Vancouver, or Montréal — say, flying between Asia and Latin America, or Europe and the Caribbean, via a Canadian hub — it can save a real chunk of a tight layover.

How it works

Under Free Flow, an eligible transiting passenger lands and goes directly to the international departures area to catch the next flight. No officer interview, no kiosk check-in, no passport scan at a machine.

To qualify, three things have to be true:

• Your onward flight is a same-day international connection, departing Canada within 24 hours of your arrival.
• Your baggage is checked through automatically to your final destination — you're not picking it up in Canada.
• You stay inside the designated international departure zone until you board. Step out of that zone and you've left the transit bubble.

Instead of stopping you at a counter, the CBSA now relies on airlines sharing your flight information — final destination and scheduled departure time — so the agency can confirm you actually left the country as intended. The security check moves from a physical line to a data handoff behind the scenes.

This isn't built from scratch. It grew out of an International-to-International (ITI) pilot the CBSA ran at these same three airports starting in 2018, where transiting passengers scanned their passport at a dedicated kiosk instead of seeing an officer. The new Free Flow process, circulated in draft form back in November 2025, removes even the kiosk scan — and, importantly, lets other Canadian airports apply to the CBSA to adopt it too. So the list of three is a starting point, not a ceiling.

"We are working with our airport partners to provide a simpler and more efficient process for travellers to get to their international destinations without delay," said Rob Chambers, Vice President of the Travellers Branch at the CBSA.

What changes — and what doesn't

What changes: the physical border step. You skip the officer, the kiosk, and the scan. That's the whole point — shaving the customs stop out of a connection so a tight layover doesn't turn into a missed flight.

What doesn't change: your document requirements. This is the part people get wrong, so read it twice. Free Flow does not waive the travel documents you'd normally need. You must still carry:

• Valid travel documents for your final destination (passport, and any visa that country requires).
• Whatever Canada requires to transit — for many travellers that means a valid electronic travel authorization (eTA) if you're visa-exempt, or a transit visa / temporary resident visa (TRV) if you're from a visa-required country. If you needed an eTA or a transit visa to connect through Canada last month, you still need it now. (Not sure whether you need an eTA? Our explainer on Canada's eTA route for Indonesia and Malaysia walks through how the eTA works and who it covers.)

Free Flow changes how you move through the airport. It does not change who is allowed to transit Canada in the first place.

Heading to the United States? Different lane

If your connection is onward to the U.S., you don't use Free Flow — you use the U.S. process that's always been there. You'll go to the airport's U.S. connection area, where you and your baggage are re-screened for security and processed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection under preclearance. That's a U.S. government step, separate from the CBSA, and it's unchanged. Free Flow is specifically for passengers whose onward flight is international and not to the U.S.

When you lose the exemption

The Free Flow lane is conditional, and a few common travel hiccups pull you back into regular CBSA processing:

• Your onward flight is cancelled or delayed so your layover stretches past 24 hours. At that point you must report to the CBSA and be processed like any traveller entering Canada — which means you'll need to satisfy the normal entry requirements.
• You leave the designated international departure area for any reason. Once you exit the zone, the transit exemption is off.
• Your baggage isn't checked through automatically, or your onward flight isn't the same day. Then you collect your bags and complete CBSA processing before heading to departures.

The practical takeaway: Free Flow is smooth when everything runs on schedule, but the moment your itinerary breaks, you're back in the standard border process — so make sure you'd actually be admissible to Canada if a delay forces you through it.

Why now

Canada has spent the past few years trying to move low-risk travellers through airports faster while keeping security intact. Free Flow fits that pattern: instead of physically inspecting every transiting passenger, the CBSA leans on airline data to verify people leave as scheduled, and reserves officer time for travellers who are actually entering the country. For Toronto, Vancouver, and Montréal — major connecting hubs between continents — cutting the customs stop out of an international-to-international connection is a direct play to make Canada a more attractive place to route a long-haul itinerary through.

What to do if you're transiting soon

If you have an international connection booked through Toronto Pearson Terminal 1, Vancouver, or Montréal–Trudeau:

1. Confirm your bags are tagged through to your final destination at your first check-in. This is the single condition most in your control, and it's required for Free Flow.
2. Sort your Canadian transit document before you fly — an eTA (apply at the official IRCC eTA page, CAD $7, minutes for most people) or a transit visa if you're visa-required. Don't assume Free Flow lets you skip it; it doesn't.
3. Stay airside. Don't leave the international departure zone during your layover, or you'll have to clear the border to get back in.
4. Build in a buffer anyway. The exemption evaporates if your layover runs past 24 hours, so a same-day connection is the assumption to plan around.

The bottom line

For the millions of people who connect through Canada each year without ever meaning to enter it, this is a genuine, if quiet, upgrade: a faster path from one gate to the next at three of the country's biggest airports, with more airports able to opt in over time. Just remember what it is and isn't. It speeds up the walk through the airport. It doesn't change the documents you need to make that walk — or the fact that if your destination is Canada itself, you're still meeting an officer at the border.

Sources

• CBSA — The CBSA is making it quicker and easier for international travellers to catch connecting flights at Canadian airports (June 26, 2026)
• CIC News — Three Canadian airports allow transiting international passengers to skip border control
• CP24 — Canada has updated its travel process for international passengers. Here's how it works