Canada eTA, explained: the CAN$7 permission for flying in

Canada's electronic travel authorization, the eTA, is a short online check for visitors who do not need a visa and who arrive by plane. You fill in a form on the Government of Canada website, pay CAN$7 and, in most cases, get an approval by email within minutes. The eTA is linked to your passport and covers many trips over several years.

It affects visitors from visa-exempt countries such as the UK, Ireland, most of the EU, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea, and a small group of visa-required nationals who qualify for the eTA instead of a visa. It does not affect US citizens, US green card holders, or anyone crossing by land or sea. Those gaps catch people out, so this guide spends time on who does not need one.

If you are a citizen of a visa-exempt country and you fly to Canada, or change planes at a Canadian airport, you need an eTA before you board. The airline checks for it at check-in. If you arrive by car, bus, train or boat, including a cruise ship, you do not need one.

The official source is the Government of Canada's eTA page, run by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. It links to the eTA facts, the eligibility rules, the application and the status checker. Check them for the current rules.

You need an eTA if you hold a passport from a visa-exempt country and are traveling to Canada by air, whether for a holiday, business, a short course or a connection. Every traveler needs their own, including children, and a parent or guardian can apply for them.

The biggest exemption is for Americans. US citizens do not need an eTA and travel with a valid US passport or another accepted document. Since 26 April 2022, US lawful permanent residents are also exempt, as long as they carry a valid passport from their country of citizenship and a valid green card or equivalent proof of US status. Canadian citizens and permanent residents never need an eTA, and nor do people who already need, and hold, a Canadian visitor visa.

Dual Canadian citizens are a special case. If you are Canadian and hold another nationality, you cannot use an eTA on your other passport. You need a valid Canadian passport to fly to Canada, and airlines will refuse to board you without one. The Government of Canada has a separate page on this, and it is worth reading well before the trip if you were born in Canada or have a Canadian parent.

Canada also lets citizens of select visa-required countries apply for an eTA instead of a visitor visa, but only for air travel and only if they meet the conditions on the official eligibility page. If they arrive by car, bus, train or boat, they still need a visitor visa.

The list changes. The most recent addition is on the application page: as of 26 May 2026, citizens of Indonesia and Malaysia who meet certain requirements may be eligible for an eTA rather than a visa to fly to Canada. The conditions are set out on the eTA eligibility page. Check the official page before you apply, because a traveler who does not meet the conditions still needs a visa.

Apply online on the Government of Canada site. You need a valid passport from an eligible country, an email address and a payment card: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, debit cards, UnionPay or JCB are accepted. The form asks about your passport, contact details, job, travel plans and a few background questions.

Enter your passport number exactly. The eTA is linked electronically to that passport, and if the number does not match the passport you travel with, you will not be able to board. The application page describes itself as the Government of Canada's official website to apply for an eTA; other sites that offer to "process" an eTA are not the government.

Most applicants get an approval email within minutes. Some requests need several days, and Canada says you should then hear back within 72 hours; you may be asked for more documents. Apply before you book flights if you have any doubt about eligibility, for example a past refusal or a criminal record.

The eTA costs CAN$7 per person and the fee is not refundable. That makes it the cheapest of the major travel authorizations, well below the US ESTA at $40.27 or the UK ETA at £20.

It is valid for up to five years or until your passport expires, whichever comes first. You can use it for as many trips as you like in that time. If you get a new passport, you need a new eTA, because the old one stays linked to the old passport number. An approval can also be shorter than five years if your passport runs out sooner.

The eTA is not the permission to stay. That comes at the border, where an officer decides how long you can remain. Most visitors can stay for up to six months, but the officer can give less, depending on the purpose of the visit.

A connection counts as entering the system. Canada says visa-exempt foreign nationals need an eTA to fly to or transit through a Canadian airport, so a layover in Toronto or Vancouver on the way to somewhere else needs the same CAN$7 permission as a holiday does. Check this when you book a cheap itinerary with a Canadian stop, because the airline will check for the eTA at the first departure, not at the connection.

Canada lists a few narrow exceptions, including some passengers on flights that stop only to refuel on the way to or from the United States and travelers who transit under the Transit Without Visa or China Transit Program. Do not plan around an exception on your own. If your routing is unusual, read the official exceptions list or ask the airline before you pay for tickets.

Four questions settle most cases. First, is your passport on the visa-exempt list for air travel? If it is, you need an eTA. Second, are you flying, or crossing by land or sea? Only flying needs it. Third, are you a Canadian citizen, a Canadian permanent resident or a US citizen? Then you cannot or need not apply. Fourth, does the name and passport number on the form match the passport you will carry? A mismatch is the most common reason for a refused boarding.

Apply on the official site only, keep the approval email, and apply again if you renew the passport.

An eTA lets you board a flight to Canada. On arrival, a border services officer checks your passport. The officer decides whether you can enter and for how long. Canada is explicit that a valid eTA and passport do not guarantee entry: you must show you meet the entry requirements and will leave at the end of your stay.

Have your return or onward ticket, your accommodation details and a rough plan to hand. If you are visiting family, their address and phone number help. For anyone driving in from the US, the eTA question does not arise, but the same border officer checks still apply.

Most eTA problems show up at the airline desk, not at the border. The most common is a passport mismatch: the traveler renewed a passport after getting the eTA, or typed one character wrong, and the airline's system finds no eTA for the passport in hand. The fix is a new application on the official site, which is usually approved in minutes but not always, so check your details as soon as the approval email arrives.

The second is assuming the land and sea exemption covers the whole trip. A cruise passenger who sails into Vancouver needs no eTA for that arrival, but a traveler who flies into Canada to join a ship does. The same applies to anyone who drives in from the US, leaves, and later flies back into Canada or connects through a Canadian airport on the same trip: that flight needs an eTA. US green card holders also get caught when they travel with only a passport: the exemption requires the green card or equivalent proof of status as well.

The fee is CAN$7 and validity is up to five years. The recent changes are to who can apply. The exemption for US green card holders took effect on 26 April 2022, and as of 26 May 2026 citizens of Indonesia and Malaysia who meet certain requirements may be eligible for an eTA instead of a visa to fly to Canada.

If your trip continues south, you will need a separate US ESTA, and for Canada's mountain parks, see our guide to the Parks Canada pass for Banff. For medical cover, which a CAN$7 eTA does not include, see our travel insurance guides.