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I've flown into Canada at YYZ quite a bit in the past, and normally go through Canadian customs there after exiting the plane. Easy-peasy. All the times I've flown into Canada from the US have been directly to my final destination, which is also a port of entry.

But this time, I'm planning a trip that will take me through YTZ (Billy Bishop) instead, with a connecting flight to Halifax (YHZ). Will I be able to clear customs at YTZ or will I do that at YHZ?

The flights I'm looking at have a relatively short layover time, so I'm a little concerned about being able to make the connection if I have to go through customs first.

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    Usually, for international flights, the first port of entry is where customs/immigrations are cleared. I also have seen exceptions, but the flight number was the same in both legs, and there was no boarding in the stop, it was only deplaning at the stop, that was not in the US nor Canada.
    – Nean Der Thal
    Commented Feb 19, 2016 at 3:26
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    Yes, you clear customs in YTZ. It's a small airport with basically just one airline (Porter). It takes about 3 minutes to get into the city, so you can get out easily and explore a bit if your layover is longer (you still have to go through security on the way back in).
    – Hilmar
    Commented Feb 19, 2016 at 12:19
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    +1 for quick border at ytz. The big difference of going via ytz is flying back to the US, since it's one of the few Canadian airports that doesn't have pre-clearance on US-bound flights.
    – Carl
    Commented Feb 20, 2016 at 4:09
  • Can someone create a YTZ tag to be added to this question?
    – Ari Brodsky
    Commented Feb 21, 2016 at 17:35
  • @Carl: There's actually a good number of airports with scheduled service to the US but no pre-clearance facilities: a quick scan of Wikipedia found Victoria, Quebec City, Saskatoon, Regina, and Kelowna. But admittedly the number of US-bound flights at these airports is much smaller. (Only the first two have more than one airline operating cross-border flights.)
    – Michael Seifert
    Commented Mar 1, 2016 at 17:44

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Canada Border Services Agency operates an Airport of Entry at Billy Bishop, which means you will clear immigration and customs there.

According to one Flyertalk thread, it takes as long to clear immigration at YTZ than it does just to walk from your plane to the customs hall at YYZ. Your mileage may vary, of course...

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  • Thank you! I searched for a while for something like that page that lists YTZ as an airport of entry and couldn't find it. Exactly what I needed. And yeah, that walk from the plane to customs at YYZ is a nice leg-stretcher.
    – David
    Commented Feb 19, 2016 at 12:00

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