TL;DR
An eTA is electronically linked to the specific passport used when you applied. If that passport is gone, expired, or not the one in your hand, the eTA attached to it cannot be used to board a flight to Canada. You’ll need a new eTA tied to your current passport. If you still have the old passport physically, you might wonder if it can be used alongside your new one.
You’re going through a drawer, checking old email folders, maybe photographing the back pages of two different passports side by side. The question underneath all of it is the same: does the eTA you applied for years ago still work, and can you even find it? The answer depends on which of a small number of situations you’re actually in, and the checklist below is designed to let you rule each one out quickly.
The core rule to hold in your head: an eTA is electronically linked to the passport used to apply. Not to your name, not to your nationality. To that specific passport. If the passport and the eTA don’t travel together, the eTA is effectively unreachable at the airport. Understanding what an eTA actually is and how it works makes the rest of this clearer.
Confirm Which Passport the eTA Is Actually Linked To
Before you decide anything, you need to know which passport the eTA was issued against. Work through these in order.
Check your email for the approval message. The eTA approval email includes your eTA number and, critically, the passport number it was issued for. Search your inbox for “eTA” or “electronic travel authorization” or “IRCC”. If you find it, note the passport number in the email.
Compare that number to every passport you currently hold. If the number in the approval email matches the passport in your hand right now, your situation is straightforward: the eTA may still be active, and you can check the status of your application to confirm whether it’s still valid and hasn’t expired.
If the numbers don’t match, you’ve confirmed the mismatch. The eTA belongs to a different passport than the one you’re travelling on. That matters enormously, because airline staff scan the passport you present to confirm a valid eTA is attached to it. A scan of your current passport will return nothing if the eTA is linked to an old one.
If you can’t find any approval email at all, you’re in a slightly different position. It’s possible the application was made with a different email address, or the confirmation was deleted. Before assuming the eTA is gone, try searching any secondary email accounts you used years ago. The eTA number is the key to any status lookup, and without the email or the number, you’re working blind.
One thing worth knowing here: an eTA is valid for up to five years, or until the linked passport expires, whichever comes first. So even if you find the approval email, the eTA it references may have expired simply because the passport it was tied to expired. Check both dates.
If the Passport Is Lost or Stolen Rather Than Simply Old
This is the scenario that creates the most anxiety, and it’s worth separating from the “I just got a new passport” case because the implications are different.
If the passport was reported lost or stolen, it will have been cancelled. A cancelled passport is no longer a valid travel document, and the eTA linked to it is effectively inaccessible even if it hasn’t technically expired. You cannot present a cancelled passport at check-in, and you cannot travel on it.
What this means practically: there is no mechanism to transfer an existing eTA from a cancelled passport to a new one. The eTA doesn’t move. You need to apply for a Canada eTA linked to your replacement passport.
If you’re worried the old passport is in someone else’s hands, the eTA being linked to it is not a security risk to you in the usual sense: the eTA doesn’t grant entry on its own, and the person would also need to physically board a flight on your behalf. Report the lost or stolen passport through the appropriate government channels in your country, and then treat the eTA as gone.
One thing people get wrong here: they assume that because they remember applying and being approved, there’s a way to “transfer” or “update” the eTA to a new passport number. There isn’t. The eTA and the passport it’s linked to are a matched pair. A new passport means a new eTA, full stop.
If you’re uncertain about what information you submitted when you originally applied, the article on updating Canada eTA information after applying explains what can and can’t be changed on an existing application, which helps clarify why the passport link is permanent.
If You Still Have the Physical Passport but Can’t Recall the eTA Details
This situation is different from losing the passport entirely, and it may have a workable outcome.
If the old passport is expired but physically in your possession, the eTA linked to it may still be technically valid if five years haven’t passed since it was issued and the passport hadn’t expired before the eTA was granted. An expired passport doesn’t automatically cancel an eTA before its own expiry date.
The practical problem: you still cannot fly on an expired passport. But some travellers in this situation carry both passports, the expired one and the current one, and present both at check-in. Whether an airline accepts this depends on the carrier and the route. This is not a guaranteed workaround, and it’s worth confirming with your airline before you rely on it.
If the old passport is expired and the eTA has also expired, you’re in the same position as someone starting fresh. The status check tool can confirm this if you have the eTA number from the approval email.
If you have the old passport but genuinely cannot remember whether you ever applied for an eTA, the honest answer is: assume you need a new one. An eTA isn’t stamped in your passport and leaves no physical trace. The only record is the approval email and the electronic link in the system. If you can’t find the email and can’t look up a status, there’s no reliable way to confirm an eTA exists.
The Canada eTA approval email explained article covers what that confirmation looks like and what details it contains, which can help you recognise it if you’re searching through old messages.
When the Answer Is a New Application Rather Than Recovery
Once you’ve worked through the checklist above, most readers will land here: the eTA they had is either gone, expired, linked to a cancelled passport, or linked to a passport they can no longer travel on. The answer is a new application.
A few things to get right before you submit:
Use your current passport, and check every detail twice. The passport number you enter on the application must match the passport in your hand exactly. A single digit wrong creates the same problem you’re trying to solve, and the only fix is to reapply. There’s no correction process for a wrong passport number.
Don’t leave this until the day before travel. Most eTA applications are approved within minutes, but some take several days, particularly if supporting documents are requested. The official guidance is clear that getting an eTA at the last minute may not be possible depending on the situation. Apply as soon as you know you need one, and ideally before you book your flight.
Your new eTA will be valid for up to five years or until your current passport expires, whichever is sooner. If your passport is due to expire in eighteen months, the eTA will expire with it, not five years from now.
You’ll need a valid passport, a credit or debit card, and an email address to apply. The approval will come to that email address, so use one you’ll actually have access to in the future.
If you’ve confirmed you need a new eTA, do it now rather than after you’ve booked flights. Go through the application carefully, match every field to your current passport exactly, and save the confirmation email somewhere you’ll find it next time.