Visitor visa or eTA: what your passport and your route decide

Two facts decide what you need to enter Canada: the passport you are travelling on, and how you are arriving. Almost everyone checks the first and ignores the second. That is how a traveller ends up at a land crossing holding an authorisation that was only good for a flight, and how another pays for a document they never needed.

There are two documents in play. A temporary resident visa, which everybody calls a visitor visa, and an electronic travel authorisation, the eTA. You will normally need one or the other, not both, and which one is not a preference you express. It follows from your nationality and your mode of travel.

What a visitor visa actually is

IRCC's own description is worth reading literally. A visitor visa is "an official document that we stick in your passport. It shows that you meet the requirements needed to travel to Canada."

Read the last four words. It shows you meet the requirements needed to travel to Canada. It does not say you are admitted to Canada. The visa is what allows you to board a flight or present yourself at a port of entry and be examined. The decision to let you in is made later, by a different officer, at the border.

What an eTA is

An Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) is an entry requirement for visa-exempt foreign nationals travelling to Canada by air.

IRCC, Find out about electronic travel authorization (eTA)

Three words in that sentence do all the work: visa-exempt, and by air. An eTA is not a lesser visa. It is the screening step for people who were never going to need a visa, applied because they board aircraft.

IRCC states that an eTA "is electronically linked to a traveller's passport" and that it is "valid for up to five years or until the passport expires, whichever comes first." There is nothing in your passport to look at. Travel on the passport you applied with, because that is the document the authorisation is attached to.

Start with the passport, then check the route

IRCC maintains the list of eTA-required countries and a tool that tells you which document applies to you. Use it for the passport you will actually be travelling on, and do not rely on what a cousin did two years ago. The lists change.

• Citizens of visa-required countries need, in IRCC's words, "a valid visitor visa and a valid passport to visit or transit through Canada". The mode of travel does not change this.
• Citizens of eTA-required countries need an eTA and a valid passport to board a flight to Canada.
• Permanent residents of Canada "don't need an eTA or a visitor visa" and must carry "a valid permanent resident card or permanent resident travel document".
• Dual Canadian citizens "must travel with a valid Canadian passport" when flying, although a Canadian who is also an American citizen may use either a Canadian or a US passport.

The land and sea trap, in both directions

This is the most common mix-up, and it runs two ways depending on which list your passport is on.

If you are visa-exempt, the eTA requirement drops away when you are not flying. IRCC states that "If you're a citizen of an eTA-required country or territory listed above and arriving by car, bus, train or boat (including a cruise ship), you don't need an eTA to enter Canada." A visa-exempt traveller driving up from Buffalo or arriving on a cruise ship needs a passport and nothing else. Applying for an eTA in that situation buys you nothing.

Visa-required nationals who can use an eTA instead

IRCC runs a programme that lets citizens of a defined group of visa-required countries fly to Canada on an eTA rather than a visa. As of the page we checked, the eligible countries and territories were Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Panama, Philippines, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Seychelles, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay. That list has been added to over time, so confirm it rather than assuming.

Being on the list is not enough on its own. IRCC sets three conditions, and all of them have to be met.

• "You've held a Canadian visitor visa (temporary resident visa) in the past 10 years or currently hold a valid United States (US) non-immigrant visa."
• "You're coming to Canada for a temporary stay (normally for up to 6 months)."
• "You're flying to or transiting through a Canadian airport using a valid passport from one of the eligible visa-required countries."

One detail here is genuinely useful and almost nobody knows it. IRCC says the US non-immigrant visa must be valid on the day you apply for the eTA, but it does not have to still be valid when you travel to Canada. If your US visa is about to expire and you are otherwise eligible, the timing of the eTA application matters.

If you are a permanent resident of the United States

This group is treated as its own category and the rules changed a few years ago, which is why old advice is still circulating. IRCC states that since 26 April 2022, lawful permanent residents of the United States are "exempt from the eTA requirement" when flying to Canada. What they must present instead is two documents together: "a valid passport from their country or territory of nationality" and "a valid green card (or equivalent valid proof of status)".

The word that catches people is "and". A green card on its own does not get you onto a flight to Canada. If your national passport has expired while you have been settled in the United States, fix that before you book.

Arriving overland is different again. For travellers entering by land or water from the United States, IRCC says what is needed is "your valid permanent resident (green) card, or equivalent valid proof of status in the US". Carry your passport anyway. It costs you nothing and it answers questions a border services officer may reasonably ask.

Transit through a Canadian airport counts as travel to Canada

People connecting through Toronto or Vancouver on the way somewhere else routinely assume the rules do not reach them because they will never leave the terminal. They do. IRCC describes the eTA as an authorisation "to travel to, or transit through, Canada", and its country requirements page says visa-required nationals need a valid visitor visa and passport "to visit or transit through Canada".

There are limited exemptions, including passengers "transiting through a Canadian airport under the Transit Without a Visa or China Transit programs". Those programmes depend on your route, your carrier and your onward documents, so check the transit rules specifically rather than reasoning from the visitor rules.

Neither document lets you into Canada

This is the part that matters most and gets the least attention. IRCC says it about the visa: "A valid visa and travel document don't guarantee that you can enter Canada." It says the same about the eTA: "A valid eTA and travel document don't guarantee that you can enter Canada."

A border services officer makes the admission decision and must be satisfied you will leave at the end of your authorised stay. Most visitors are admitted for up to six months, but IRCC notes the officer "may limit or extend your time in Canada, depending on the purpose of your visit". Your passport will be stamped, or you will be given a visitor record showing the date you have to leave.

My passport is visa-exempt and I am driving to Canada from the United States. Do I need an eTA?

No. IRCC states that citizens of eTA-required countries arriving by car, bus, train or boat, including a cruise ship, do not need an eTA to enter Canada. Travel with your valid passport. The one exception IRCC identifies is arriving by sea from Saint Pierre-et-Miquelon, cruise ships excluded, which does require an eTA.

I renewed my passport after my eTA was approved. Is the eTA still good?

IRCC links an eTA to the passport used to apply, and says it is valid for up to five years or until that passport expires, whichever comes first. Travel on the passport the eTA is attached to, and if that is no longer possible, treat the authorisation as needing to be sorted out before you book.

I hold a US green card and I am flying to Toronto. Do I need an eTA?

No. IRCC says lawful permanent residents of the United States have been exempt from the eTA requirement since 26 April 2022. You must present a valid passport from your country of nationality together with a valid green card or equivalent valid proof of status.

I have a valid US visitor visa and a visa-required passport. Can I just get an eTA?

Only if your nationality is on IRCC's list of eligible visa-required countries, you are flying, and you meet the other conditions. Holding a US visa does not by itself create eTA eligibility. If your nationality is not on that list, you need a visitor visa.

Does an eTA or a visitor visa tell me how long I can stay?

No. Both are entry requirements. The length of your stay is set at the border. Most visitors are allowed up to six months, and IRCC says the officer may limit or extend that depending on the purpose of your visit. Check the stamp in your passport or the visitor record you are given.

I am only connecting through a Canadian airport. Do the rules apply to me?

Usually yes. IRCC treats transit through Canada as travel to Canada for both the eTA and the visitor visa. Narrow exemptions exist under the Transit Without a Visa and China Transit programmes. Check the transit rules for your itinerary.

If your nationality, your residence and your travel route do not line up neatly with any of the categories above, have it checked before you book anything. Book a consultation

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