You’re at the check-in desk, passport in hand, and the agent asks whether you have your eTA. If you’re not sure what that means for your specific situation — your nationality, your current visa, your Green Card — this guide walks through each scenario so you know exactly where you stand before that moment arrives. The short answer: if you’re a foreign national from a visa-exempt country flying to Canada, you almost certainly need an eTA. It’s an electronic travel authorization that’s linked to your passport and checked automatically when you board. Without it, the airline won’t let you on the plane. But several categories of travellers are exempt — and a few situations are more nuanced than they first appear. ...

Your eTA is not lost — it’s stored against the passport you applied with, not in your inbox. With that passport and your application number to hand, you can check your eTA status (a paid private service, separate from the Government of Canada) instead of digging through old emails. On IRCC’s own Check Status tool, choose “I received an eTA” and enter your eTA number (it starts with J, at the top of the approval email) or UCI, plus the passport number, country of issue, issue and expiry dates. Still waiting for a decision? Use the application number starting with V instead. ...

An eTA is a digital record, stored in a government database and tied to your passport number, that authorises you to board a flight to Canada — not a stamp, sticker, or visitor visa. There is nothing to print, nothing to stick in a passport, and nothing to carry through the airport. The connection between the authorisation and you runs entirely through one thing: the number on your passport. For a country-specific version, see Canada eTA for UK citizens. ...

If your eTA is still pending and no email with next steps has arrived within 72 hours of applying, check every mail folder for an IRCC email asking for documents or an interview. If no email with an application number has arrived, IRCC asks you to use its web form (Electronic Travel Authorization → Case Specific Enquiries); replies take several days. Don’t travel until a decision is made. While you wait, you can check your eTA status (a paid private service, separate from the Government of Canada) to see whether it has moved past pending. ...

Yes, every child needs their own Canada eTA, including infants. It has to be applied for separately, in advance, and linked to the child’s own passport. Skip it and you find out at the check-in desk: the agent scans your child’s passport and finds no eTA attached to it. Every person who requires an eTA to fly to Canada — regardless of age — must have one individually linked to their own passport. A minor cannot travel on a parent’s eTA, and they cannot be added to yours. That means one form per child, each filled in separately — and since nothing is saved and the session expires, do them one at a time with that child’s passport open in front of you rather than juggling two sets of details at once. The application process itself follows the same basic steps as an adult application, but there are additional documents to prepare and a few details specific to children that are worth understanding before you start. ...

Does an additional information request mean my eTA will be refused? No. It means an officer needs to see one or more documents or clarifications before they can make a decision. That decision could still be approval. The request is a processing step, not a verdict. IRCC sends these when something in your application raises a question that can’t be resolved from the form alone. Your file is still open, and you still have a path to approval. What matters now is how you respond. If you are trying to work out which answer raised the question, our field-by-field guide to the application form covers the background questions and what each one is actually asking. ...

Many students believe a study permit approval means they can board a flight to Canada. It doesn’t. A study permit authorizes you to study; it does not authorize you to enter Canada by air. Those are two separate permissions, issued under two separate processes, and the airline at your departure gate checks only one of them before letting you on the plane. The travel document you need to board — a visitor visa or an eTA, depending on your nationality — is entirely independent of your study permit. You can hold a valid study permit and still be denied boarding if the travel document is missing, expired, or linked to the wrong passport. Understanding how these three documents work together, and what happens when any one of them changes, is what this guide covers. ...

In a Nutshell Citizens of most visa-required countries still need a Canadian visitor visa to fly to Canada, but there is a limited eTA route available to some of them. Whether you can use it comes down to three conditions: your passport country must be on Canada’s eligible list, you must have held a Canadian visitor visa in the past 10 years or currently hold a valid US non-immigrant visa, and you must be travelling by air. Miss any one of these and the eTA route is closed to you. This eligibility question doesn’t apply to everyone: Canadian citizens need no eTA or visa at all, just a valid passport to board — our guide on flying to Canada as a citizen with an expired passport covers that separate situation. US green card holders are also handled differently; see whether US green card holders need a Canada eTA for that exemption. ...

Many travellers assume that holding a US non-immigrant visa means they can apply for a Canada eTA on a transit trip. It does not. A US visa is one condition among three, and if any one is missing, you do not qualify for this route. The direct answer: your US visa matters, but it cannot do the work alone. Your passport nationality must appear on the eligible list, and your entire journey through Canada must be by air. If you’re checking this because you heard a US visa “gets you an eTA” — that framing is not supported, and the rest of this piece explains what the rules actually say. This three-part test is different from the rule for US lawful permanent residents, who are exempt from the eTA outright — see do US green card holders need a Canada eTA if that’s your situation instead. ...

You can’t edit a submitted eTA application. A mistake in any detail — name, date of birth, passport number or a mistyped email address — means applying again; the only thing you can update afterwards is an email address that has changed since you applied. If you’ve spotted an error, apply for a Canada eTA with the corrected information (a paid private service, separate from the Government of Canada) as soon as you notice it. A new passport also means a new eTA, because the eTA is linked to the passport number you applied with. ...