Another Success Story of Person Reaching Canada via Serbia 

This is pure beautiful from the people now they are choosing alternate routes to Canada from India, as Canada govt ban all the direct flights from India & Pakistan to enter Canada.

Here is the another successful story. Pls plan out and choose accordingly.

• Hi everyone, I reached Canada through a 3rd country yesterday, used an option which was not discussed or considered here a lot so thought of sharing it.

• I am a PR holder and my journey was absolutely smooth, I travelled through Belgrade, Serbia to Toronto. 

• Did a lot of research and had even spoken to 3 travel agents who had recommended only Cairo/Ethiopia to me, which were all very costly, this option was from my own research and I didn’t know anybody else’s experience of travelling  this route too, took a risk but paid off. 

• Did a thorough search and verified all information on official govt websites which gave me the confidence to go ahead. 

• Serbia is a visa free country for Indian passport holders(you don’t need a visa not even an on arrival visa required and no quarantine too ) so only other requirement of landing here was hotel booking, 50 euros per day for each day of your stay in hand and a covid test in India which was within 48 hrs of your landing in Serbia. 

• I travelled Qatar airways from Cochin to Belgrade via Doha and then KLM from Belgrade to Toronto via Amsterdam. Serbia not having direct flights to Canada was the only reason why all the travel agents didn’t recommend this route but Canada’s  rule is clear u need a RT PCR done prior to 72 hrs from your last departure(they only talk about the timing of the test not the place it has to be taken, so any other country other than India will do as long as it’s within 72 hrs) I landed in Belgrade on 19th, took my test on 20th 11 am and got the result the same day 4 pm. 

• After I got my results, I booked my Canada quarantine hotel and did my arrive can app check in and took my flight from Belgrade on 22nd. 

• I took a buffer of staying 2.5 days here as I didn’t  know initially how long the test results would take and hotel wasn’t expensive too. 

• (This ended up in being an unplanned trip here and Belgrade is a beautiful city with nice food, people and a rich culture, their covid cases r also down and good majority of the country vaccinated that they have even removed the mask requirement rule outdoors, so all safe that way too) 

At Serbia they accept Serbian dinar and card payments everywhere though the requirement of landing had said 50 euros per day, so converted the euros to Serbian dinar at Belgrade, so many exchanges around. 

All booking done on my own and no agents involved. Here are the costs in INR:

1.Cochin-Doha-Belgrade-50k(Qatar airways)

2.Belgrade-Amsterdam-Toronto(KLM-50K)

3.Hotel booking including airport transfers(five point square city center Belgrade-15K)

4. Covid Test- 6800 rs (Torlaq Institute- has to be paid in cash only and can be paid only at a Serbia post office/any bank to book appointment and not at the testing place)

5.Travel Insurance(2k- ICICI Lombard-highly recommended, this will cover any missed flights and even your hospital expense if u get positive in Serbia)

• At all immigration's and airline counter right from Cochin, I told only  the truth that I am travelling to Canada through a 3rd country to keep things simple and I had even print outs of all travel requirements if questions were raised but was not needed. 
• I am a PR holder and immigration's were smooth, will surely recommend this option for pr holders/citizens, as for students, I wouldn’t be able to speak for them from my experience and research.
• Also, you need not be regretful or hide the fact you are travelling to Canada, you aren’t trying to do anything illegal, travelling through a 3rd country is allowed and you just need to ensure you follow the guidelines for that and also the rules for the 3rd country you are travelling through. 
• Lastly if you plan to use this route ensure the covid test taken in India will be within 48 hrs of your flight landing in Belgrade and also the covid test taken in Belgrade should fall within 72 hrs of your last departure flight to Canada(my case Amsterdam-Toronto) 

Source : through whats app

Hope this helps someone!