Canada eTA Guide 2026: Requirements, Fee & How to Apply

Canada eTA at a Glance

An eTA is not a visa. It is a light pre-screening authorization, and you need either a visitor visa or an eTA — never both, as canada.ca states. If you are still deciding whether Canada is your destination, run your passport through our Visa Eligibility Checker and read the full Canada visa guide for the visa-required side of the system.

US Citizens: You Are Exempt

This point causes the most confusion, so it comes first and without qualification: US citizens are exempt from the eTA requirement and must carry proper identification such as a valid US passport. That is the current published rule on the Government of Canada eligibility page. It applies whether you fly, drive, take the train, or sail to Canada. No eTA application, no CAN$7 fee, no authorization to print — your US passport is the document.

Two related points Americans often mix up. First, the eTA has nothing to do with entering the United States — for that direction, visa-exempt visitors to the US use the American ESTA system, covered in our ESTA guide and the Visa Waiver Program guide. Second, US citizens travelling with Canadian dual citizenship fall under Canadian-citizen rules: American-Canadians may travel on either a valid Canadian or a valid US passport, while other dual Canadian citizens must present a valid Canadian passport. For the broader picture of American travel paperwork, see our US visa requirements for US citizens roundup.

Who Needs an eTA by Arrival Mode

The single rule that organizes everything: an eTA is an air-travel requirement. Citizens of eTA-required countries and territories — the visa-exempt group that includes British, EU, Australian, and Japanese passport holders among many others — need an eTA plus a valid passport to board a flight to Canada, and no visitor visa. Arrive any other way and the eTA generally drops out of the picture:

The practical consequence: a British or French passport holder flying Toronto-bound from London or Paris applies for the eTA, while the same person driving across the US–Canada border needs only a passport. Confirm your passport's expiry buffer with our Passport Validity Checker before applying, since the eTA binds to that exact document.

Who Does NOT Need an eTA

• US citizens. Exempt in all cases; carry a valid US passport. This exemption is permanent published policy, not a temporary leniency.
• US lawful permanent residents (Green Card holders). Exempt as of April 26, 2022, for all methods of travel — show a valid passport from your country of nationality plus your valid Green Card or equivalent proof of US status. Note the history carefully: under the original 2016-era eTA rollout, US permanent residents were required to hold an eTA for air travel. That rule flipped in 2022 to the current exemption, and older articles still circulating online describe the outdated requirement. Trust the current canada.ca eligibility page, verified October 13, 2026.
• Canadian citizens, including most dual citizens. No eTA and no visa to enter Canada. Dual Canadian citizens must travel with a valid Canadian passport, except American-Canadians who may use either passport.
• Canadian permanent residents. No eTA and no visitor visa; travel with a valid permanent resident card or permanent resident travel document. Former residents should confirm their status, since PR status does not expire on its own.
• Visa-required travellers. If your nationality requires a visitor visa — including holders of alien passports and stateless individuals — you travel on that visa, not an eTA, except for the conditional cases in the next section.

Travellers heading the other direction — Americans visiting Japan, for example — face entirely different paperwork; see our Visit Japan Web guide. And anyone returning to the US should review declaration rules in our US customs declaration guide.

Select Visa-Required Countries: The Conditional eTA

Canada extends a middle path to citizens of select visa-required countries travelling by air: they may be eligible to apply for an eTA instead of a visitor visa, provided they meet additional conditions. The published conditions include having held a Canadian visitor visa in the past 10 years or holding a valid US nonimmigrant visa, alongside holding an eligible passport. Mexico is the most prominent example in this category, and as of May 26, 2026, citizens of Indonesia and Malaysia meeting the stated requirements joined the eligible group. Travellers who already hold a valid visitor visa simply use it until it expires.

Two cautions. First, this conditional eTA covers air arrivals only — the same traveller arriving by car, bus, train, or boat, including a cruise ship, still needs a visitor visa. Second, eligibility wording changes over time (the Indonesia–Malaysia addition is from May 2026), so re-check the canada.ca eligibility page for your nationality shortly before booking rather than relying on summaries. Assemble your supporting paperwork with the Visa Document Checklist tool either way.

How to Apply on the Official Site

Canada states plainly that its own website is the official place to apply, and the process is deliberately short. The Government of Canada help material describes it as a form taking a few minutes, with most applicants approved within minutes of paying:

1. Go to the official site only. Start at canada.ca — the eTA application pages live under the Immigration and Citizenship section. The official application costs exactly CAN$7. Bookmark the canada.ca page and ignore sponsored lookalikes (see the warning section below).
2. Ready your passport, email, and payment card. You need a valid passport from a visa-exempt country or territory, a valid email address, and one of the accepted payment methods for the CAN$7 non-refundable fee: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, prepaid versions of those, Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard, UnionPay, or JCB.
3. Complete the online form carefully. Enter passport details exactly as printed — number, names, and expiry. Errors here produce an authorization tied to wrong data, which is effectively useless at check-in.
4. Pay CAN$7 and watch your email. Most decisions arrive within minutes. A small number of applications require follow-up documents; canada.ca explains next steps after applying, so do not rebook travel until approval lands.
5. Fly with the same passport. The eTA is electronically linked to the passport number in the application. Board with that exact passport, and carry a printout or screenshot of the approval for your own records even though airlines verify it electronically.

Apply as soon as flights are booked — not at the airport. Airlines are obliged to verify eTA status before boarding, and a traveller without a required approval will be denied boarding regardless of ticket class. For the general US visitor-visa process in the opposite direction, see our US visa guide.

Validity, Passport Link & Renewal

An approved eTA is valid for up to five years or until the passport expires, whichever comes first. The authorization is electronically linked to the traveller's passport number, which has one hard consequence: if you get a new passport, you need a new eTA. Renewing, replacing, or changing passports — even with years of eTA validity theoretically remaining — voids the old authorization because the passport number it was tied to no longer travels with you.

In practice this means three habits. First, check passport expiry before applying; an eTA bought months before a passport renewal dies with the old booklet. Second, re-apply immediately after any new passport is issued, even mid-itinerary. Third, remember the eTA authorizes repeated visits within its validity — it is not single-use — but each individual stay's length is set by the border officer on arrival, not by the eTA itself. Track document timelines with our Passport Validity Checker so renewals never strand an authorization.

Transiting Through Canada & the China Program

Visa-exempt foreign nationals flying to Canada or transiting through Canada by air need an eTA, so a connection in Toronto or Vancouver counts the same as a destination arrival. Travellers transiting by train, bus, boat, or cruise ship do not need one but must carry the right travel documents for inspection.

Canada also runs narrow transit-without-visa channels, stated here carefully because the details are restrictive. The Transit Without Visa (TWOV) Program and the China Transit Program allow eligible foreign nationals — for the China program, Chinese nationals travelling to or from the United States — to transit through designated Canadian airports without a visa or an eTA when travelling on participating airlines and meeting all program conditions, such as holding the required US visa and staying within the designated transit area. Eligibility depends on nationality, route, airport, and carrier together; a traveller missing any element falls back to the standard eTA-or-visa requirement. Because participating airports, airlines, and conditions change, verify your exact itinerary against the canada.ca transit pages before relying on these programs, and when in doubt secure the eTA. General US transit questions are covered separately in our Visa Waiver Program guide for the American side.

Refusals, Inadmissibility & Entry Reality

An approved eTA authorizes boarding — it does not guarantee entry. On arrival, a border services officer examines your passport and documents and admits you only if satisfied on several basic requirements: a valid travel document, good health, no criminal or immigration-related convictions, ties such as a job, home, assets, or family that will take you back, credible intent to leave at the end of the visit, and enough money for the stay. Criminal activity, human-rights violations, organized crime, and certain security, health, or financial grounds can make a traveller inadmissible regardless of authorization held.

If an eTA application itself is refused, read the refusal message literally: common causes include applying on an ineligible (visa-required) passport, data mismatches, or background flags. Visa-required travellers refused an eTA route should apply for the visitor visa instead; anyone with criminal history should research admissibility and rehabilitation procedures long before booking. Canada has no eTA appeal interview — the remedy is correcting the underlying issue and reapplying or switching to the visa stream. Test your overall readiness with our Visa Eligibility Checker and cost it with straightforward expectations rather than optimism.

Lookalike-Site Warning: Do Not Overpay

The eTA costs CAN$7 on canada.ca. A persistent pattern of commercial lookalike sites buys search ads, copies official wording and maple-leaf styling, and charges travellers many times the official fee — sometimes tenfold — merely to forward the identical form to the government. Warning signs: a non-canada.ca domain, checkout totals far above CAN$7, bundled processing or priority fees the government never charges, and fine print admitting the site is not affiliated with the Government of Canada.

Protect yourself with three rules. Type canada.ca yourself rather than clicking ads. Never pay more than CAN$7 for a single eTA application. And treat any third-party confirmation without a matching official approval email as suspect until verified. This pattern is not unique to Canada — the same clone-site economy surrounds the US ESTA and other authorizations — so make official-domain discipline a habit for every application. We name no specific commercial domains here because they appear and vanish constantly; the price test (CAN$7, canada.ca) is the durable filter.

eTA vs Visitor Visa vs US ESTA

The systems rhyme but do not substitute for each other: a Canada eTA is useless at US preclearance and an ESTA is useless at a Canadian gate. Read our ESTA guide, the Canada visa guide, and the US visa guide side by side when planning a two-country itinerary.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• US citizens buying an eTA. You are exempt. Any payment is money lost to a third party, since the government would never have charged you.
• Applying on the wrong passport. Dual nationals and renewers must travel on the exact passport tied to the approval; a new booklet means a new application.
• Using a lookalike site. More than CAN$7 or a non-canada.ca domain means walk away and start over on the official site.
• Assuming land rules apply to flights. Driving across needs no eTA; flying in does. Match the authorization to the arrival mode, not the nationality alone.
• Green Card holders following 2016-era advice. The LPR eTA requirement ended April 26, 2022. Stale guides still demand it — the current rule is exemption with passport plus Green Card.
• Leaving the application to departure day. Most approvals take minutes, but document-request cases do not. Apply when flights are booked.
• Treating approval as guaranteed entry. Funds, ties, return ticket, and admissibility still decide the outcome at the officer's counter.
• Relying on TWOV assumptions. Transit-without-visa programs are airport-, airline-, and route-specific. Verify the exact itinerary or hold an eTA.

Planning a wider trip? Our Visit Japan Web guide covers Asia-side arrival paperwork with the same official-source discipline.

Canada eTA Check Status: How to Confirm Your Authorisation

The eTA has no physical form, so the only way to confirm it exists is the official status check. Canada's own service lets you look up an application and see whether an eTA has been issued and when it expires. Start by having the passport you applied with to hand, because the record is held against that document and nothing else.

What the check tells you: whether a valid eTA is attached to that passport, and its expiry date. What it does not tell you: anything about your admissibility, which is decided at the border, and nothing about your permitted length of stay, which the officer at the port of entry sets.

If the lookup returns nothing, three explanations cover almost every case. You may have applied with a different passport and the authorisation sits on that one; the application may never have been completed and paid for; or the check may be failing a data match on a name or date of birth entered differently from the application. Re-apply rather than assume the old one still works.

Airlines verify the eTA electronically at check-in, so an authorisation that exists but is attached to a superseded passport will still block boarding. If you have renewed your passport since the eTA was issued, apply again before you book.

The status check itself is free. Any site charging you to look up an eTA you already paid for is selling something you can do at no cost on the government service.

Can You Extend a Canada eTA?

No. There is no extension process, no renewal, and no way to add time to an existing authorisation. When it expires you apply again from the start, pay the same CAN$7, and receive a new authorisation tied to whatever passport you hold at that point.

Two different things get confused here. Extending the eTA is not possible. Extending your stay in Canada is a separate process, applied for to IRCC before your status expires, and it has nothing to do with the eTA. The eTA governs whether you can board a flight; it does not govern how long you may remain once admitted.

Because the authorisation is tied to one passport, the effective expiry is whichever comes first: five years, or the passport's own expiry. A passport renewed early shortens the eTA's life, not the other way around.

What Happens When Your eTA Expires

An expired eTA stops being valid for boarding immediately, and there is no grace period at the airport. Apply for a new one before you travel — most decisions arrive within minutes, but official guidance is to allow at least 72 hours because a small proportion of applications are referred for review.

Being in Canada when the eTA expires is different from flying in on an expired one. If you were admitted for six months and your eTA lapses in the middle of the trip, your status in the country is unaffected: the eTA is an entry authorisation, not a status document. You do need a valid one to board a flight back in later.

An expiry is not a black mark. The next application is assessed on the same grounds as the first, and a lapsed authorisation is the ordinary outcome of time passing rather than a negative signal.

Canada eTA by Nationality

The rule is the same for every visa-exempt nationality, so the answer rarely changes: an eTA is needed to fly, costs CAN$7, and is not needed if you drive in from the United States. What differs is whether your passport is visa-exempt at all.

British and UK citizens

Visa-exempt for visits up to six months, and an eTA is required for air arrivals. Nothing about the UK's own ETA scheme affects this: Britain's ETA governs entry to the United Kingdom, Canada's eTA governs entry to Canada, and holding one does not satisfy the other.

German and other EU citizens

Visa-exempt with an eTA required for air travel. Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal and the rest of the EU sit in the same group, as do Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Australian and New Zealand citizens

Visa-exempt with an eTA required for air travel. There is no separate Australian or New Zealand scheme, and no reciprocal arrangement that waives it.

Filipino and Brazilian citizens

Neither the Philippines nor Brazil is visa-exempt for Canada on the ordinary route, so an eTA is not available to those passport holders in the way this page describes. The correct document is a visitor visa unless you fall inside the conditional arrangement described in the section above, which depends on US visa history rather than on nationality alone. Applying for an eTA you are not eligible for wastes the fee and delays the real application.

Searching for the UK's ETA instead?

Some searches phrased as "Canada eTA UK" are actually about travel in the other direction — a Canadian or other national flying to the United Kingdom. That is the UK's scheme, not Canada's, and the two applications are entirely separate. If your destination is Britain, read the UK ETA guidance; if your destination is Canada, this page applies.

Canada eTA Eligibility and Requirements

Eligibility is a property of your passport, not of your travel plans. You qualify if you hold a passport from a visa-exempt country and you are arriving by air. You do not qualify if your nationality requires a visa, in which case a visitor visa is the only route.

• A valid passport from a visa-exempt country, valid for the duration of the visit.
• An email address, because the decision is communicated electronically.
• A payment card for the CAN$7 fee.
• No biometrics, no interview and no document upload — the application is a short online form.

There is no points test, no sponsorship and no invitation required. The questions are biographical and relate to admissibility rather than to merit, which is why some applications come back in minutes and a small number are referred for review.

Canada eTA Fee: What It Costs and What You Should Not Pay

The fee is CAN$7 per application, charged by the Government of Canada when you apply on its own site. It is not a visa fee, it does not vary by nationality, and it is charged per traveller rather than per family.

The persistent problem is lookalike sites. Because the official fee is small, third parties can advertise the same service at ten or twenty times the price and still look plausible. If a site is charging a large amount for a Canada eTA, you are paying a commission for a form you can complete yourself in a few minutes.

One exception worth understanding: a visa-required national covered by the conditional arrangement pays the eTA fee rather than a visitor visa fee, which is a substantial difference. That is a benefit of the scheme, not a discount being offered by a reseller.

Frequently Asked Questions