Canada eTA in 2026: Who Needs One, Who Doesn't, and the Common Mistakes

Who needs an eTA for Canada?

The eTA is an electronic permission linked to your passport. It is not a visa and it is not an entry guarantee. Canada's official page states that a border services officer makes the final decision when you arrive, so an approved eTA gets you onto the plane and into the queue, nothing more.

It costs CAD 7. The government says most applications are approved within minutes, and if documents are needed you receive an email with instructions within 72 hours. Because the application cannot be saved, collect your passport, a payment card and a working email address before you open the form.

Three questions sort nearly everyone. What passport do you hold? Are you flying in, or arriving by land or sea? Are you stopping in Canada or just changing planes? The next sections take them in turn, then walk through what happens at Toronto Pearson, where the majority of international visitors enter Ontario.

eTA Canada rules: which passports need one?

The rule is based on the country that issued your passport, not on where you live.

Holders of passports from visa-exempt countries need an eTA for air travel and do not need a visitor visa. The rule applies to British, most European, Australian and Japanese travellers, among others. Canada publishes the exact country list on a separate entry-requirements page, and the application page notes that some citizens of Indonesia and Malaysia are now eligible if they meet particular conditions. Use that list for your own passport rather than any secondary summary.

Citizens of some visa-required countries can apply for an eTA instead of a visitor visa, but only for air travel. If they arrive by land or sea, including by cruise ship, they need the visitor visa.

The official page is explicit that you need one or the other, not both. If you already hold a valid Canadian visitor visa, you can use it until it expires and do not need an eTA on top.

Who does not need an eTA?

The exemptions are narrow, and each comes with a document you must carry.

• US citizens are exempt but must carry proper identification such as a valid US passport.
• US lawful permanent residents (green card holders) have been exempt since 26 April 2022. They need a valid passport or equivalent travel document and a valid green card or other official proof of status.
• Canadian citizens cannot apply for an eTA. Dual Canadian citizens must travel on a valid Canadian passport, and American-Canadian dual citizens can use either a Canadian or a US passport.
• Canadian permanent residents need their permanent resident card or travel document, not an eTA.
• Travellers who need a visitor visa apply for the visa, not an eTA.

The dual citizen rule produces more stranded travellers than any other. A person who holds a Canadian passport and a second passport from a visa-exempt country will be told at check-in that they must travel on the Canadian one, and if they have not renewed it, they have a problem the eTA cannot fix.

Flying versus land and sea: the rule that surprises Americans and Europeans

An eTA is an air-travel requirement. Visa-exempt foreign nationals need it to fly to Canada or to transit through a Canadian airport. Arriving by land or sea, citizens of eTA-required countries generally do not need the eTA, though they still need a valid passport. One exception is for travellers from Saint Pierre and Miquelon arriving by sea other than on a cruise ship, who do need one.

This catches people on cruise itineraries and road trips. A UK passport holder who flies into Buffalo and drives to Niagara Falls does not need an eTA for that crossing. The same traveller flying into Toronto does. Our Pearson to Niagara Falls page and Buffalo airport to Niagara Falls page show both ways of reaching the same falls.

Transit counts. An eTA is needed to fly through a Canadian airport even if you never leave the terminal. A connection at Pearson, Vancouver or Montreal on your way to the US needs the authorization for anyone whose passport requires it.

eTA Canada validity: how long it lasts and what happens when your passport changes

An eTA is valid for up to five years or until your passport expires, whichever comes first. It is linked electronically to the passport you used when you applied, and airline staff scan that passport at check-in to confirm it.

The consequence is simple. If you receive a new passport, you need a new eTA. Many travellers renew a passport and carry on assuming the old authorization still works. It does not, because the link is to the old passport number.

With a valid eTA you can make repeated short trips, normally up to six months at a time. The application page advises getting the eTA before you book a flight, since most approvals arrive within minutes but a few take several days.

One practical note: the government states that the online application system will be updated from 12:00 am to 5:30 am Eastern on 13 October 2026, and the form will not be available in that window. If you plan to apply that morning, wait until later in the day.

How do you apply, and how do you avoid fake sites?

Apply only on the Government of Canada website. The application page lists what you need: a valid passport from a visa-exempt country, a valid email address and an accepted payment method such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express, a prepaid card from those networks, Visa Debit, Debit Mastercard, UnionPay or JCB.

The fee is CAD 7 and is non-refundable. A site that charges materially more is a middleman. Nothing stops you filing the form yourself in a few minutes, and nothing about a paid agent makes the decision faster.

If you are applying for several family members, run each application separately and keep the confirmation emails. Check the spelling of names against each passport, because a typo on a passport number is one of the most common reasons an airline cannot match the authorization.

What happens when you land at Toronto Pearson?

Once you land, you follow the signs to Canadian border services. Pearson uses Primary Inspection Kiosks and eGates, where you present your travel document and certify your declaration before the process continues with a border officer.

The Canada Border Services Agency has offered an optional Advance CBSA Declaration inside ArriveCAN, which lets you submit your declaration up to 72 hours before landing. When the feature was introduced at Pearson, CBSA reported that it cut the time spent at a kiosk by roughly a third. The release describing it dates from 2022, so confirm on the CBSA site that the option is still offered before you rely on it.

After the officer, you collect your bags and enter the arrivals hall. For a pre-booked pickup, the chauffeur tracks your flight, and international landings get 60 minutes of free waiting, which is built for kiosks, a customs line and a slow baggage belt. Name-board meet and greet inside arrivals is available on request. For a fuller walk-through, see our guide to arriving in Toronto as an international traveller.

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Pearson to downtown Toronto: how your options compare

Pearson is about 30 km (19 mi) from downtown. The drive is roughly 30 minutes without traffic (OpenStreetMap road-routing data, free-flow), and a weekday rush hour will add to that on the 427 and Gardiner Expressway.

The train is quick and public, and it is the better choice for one person with a single bag going to a hotel a short walk from Union Station. The car wins for three or more passengers, winter arrivals, children with car seats and anyone staying outside the downtown core. See Pearson to downtown Toronto for the route and drop-off detail, and the Pearson airport page for terminal-level pickup.

A quick decision list by traveller

Run through this before you book. If you hold only a US passport, stop: no eTA. If you hold a US green card and a passport from a visa-exempt country, you also skip the eTA, as long as you carry both documents. If you hold a Canadian passport, you cannot apply and must travel on it. If you hold a UK, European, Australian or Japanese passport and are flying, apply. If your country is on the visa-required list, check whether Canada lets you use an eTA for air travel or whether you need the visitor visa.

Then check the second variable, which is the route. Flying and connecting both trigger the requirement; a car crossing usually does not. Last, check the dates: the eTA must already be approved when you board your first flight, even if Canada is a stop on the way elsewhere.

Mistakes that turn an eTA into a missed flight

The common errors are predictable. People apply for the wrong passport when they hold two. They forget that a new passport needs a new eTA. They assume the US-based green card exemption extends to someone whose card has expired. They book a connection through Canada and discover at check-in that transit also requires the authorization.

Another is arriving at the airport with an ETA, the UK system, confused with eTA, Canada's. The two are unrelated and use different websites. If your trip also includes London, our UK ETA guide covers that one.

For the latest rules, the country list and the exact steps, use the official pages listed at the end. Our Canada hub covers the other airports and cities where we run transfers.

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