Do I need an eTA or a visa for Canada?

You need an eTA

With a visa-exempt passport and a flight to Canada, the document you need is an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA). It is linked electronically to the passport you apply with, so it has to be the passport you actually travel on.

• It is normally valid for 5 years, or until the passport expires — whichever comes first.
• It lets you board the plane; the officer at the border decides how long you may stay, normally up to 6 months.
• If you get a new passport, you need a new eTA.

We prepare and submit it for CAD $95 total, including the CAD $7 government fee, and check the passport data against your application before it goes in — a typo in a passport number is the most common reason a traveller is turned away at the gate.

You do not need an eTA or a visa

The eTA is only for air travel. Entering Canada by car, bus, train or boat — including a cruise ship — with a visa-exempt passport, you need no travel authorization at all: you show the passport at the border.

Two things worth knowing: if your plans change and you end up flying in, you will need an eTA before boarding; and the officer at the border still decides admissibility and how long you may stay.

You can travel with an eTA instead of a visa

Your passport normally needs a visitor visa, but Canada lets citizens of your country apply for an eTA instead when all three of these are true — and from your answers, they are:

• You have held a Canadian visitor visa in the past 10 years, or you currently hold a valid US non-immigrant visa.
• You are coming for a temporary stay, normally up to 6 months.
• You are flying to, or transiting through, a Canadian airport.

Miss any one of them — arriving by land, for instance, or a US visa that expires before the trip — and it is a visitor visa instead. We check the three conditions against your documents before applying, and prepare the eTA for CAD $95 total, including the CAD $7 government fee.

You need a visitor visa

Citizens of your country can use an eTA instead of a visa only with a Canadian visitor visa held in the past 10 years or a valid US non-immigrant visa, flying, for a temporary stay. From your answers that is not the case, so the application is a visitor visa (temporary resident visa).

• It is a longer application: forms, proof of funds, ties to your country and, in most cases, biometrics at a visa application centre.
• Processing times vary a lot by country — we read the current IRCC figure for yours before we start.
• A refusal stays on your record and makes the next application harder, which is the main reason to have it reviewed before filing.

You need a visitor visa

With your passport, Canada requires a visitor visa (temporary resident visa) however you travel — by air, land or sea. The eTA is not an option; any site offering you one for your nationality is selling you the wrong thing.

• Expect forms, proof of funds, proof of ties to your country, and biometrics in most cases.
• Processing times are published per country and change often — we check yours before starting.
• We review eligibility first, and tell you if the case is weak before you pay anything.

You need neither an eTA nor a visa

US citizens are exempt from both. You travel on proper identification — normally a valid US passport — and the officer at the border decides admissibility and length of stay.

No eTA — but carry both documents

Lawful permanent residents of the United States have been exempt from the eTA since April 26, 2022. To fly to Canada you must carry both: a valid passport from your country of nationality and a valid green card (or equivalent proof of your US status).

Travelling without one of the two is the usual reason a US permanent resident is refused boarding.

You need a study permit

A course longer than six months needs a study permit, not just a travel document. You apply with a letter of acceptance from a designated learning institution, a provincial attestation letter in most cases, and proof you can pay tuition and living costs.

When the permit is approved, IRCC issues the travel document that goes with it — the eTA or the visa — so you do not apply for that separately.

You need a work permit

Working in Canada needs a work permit. Which kind depends on the job: most employer-specific permits require an approved LMIA, while some permits are open or exempt from the LMIA under an agreement or a special programme.

Whether a job offer you already have supports a permit is the first thing to check — that is a review, not a form, and we do it before any application is started.

That is a permanent residence application

Moving to Canada for good is a different track from a visit: Express Entry, a provincial nominee programme, a family sponsorship or one of the pilot programmes, depending on your profile.

For Express Entry, the place to start is your CRS score, and then the scores that actually got invitations in the recent rounds.

Your country is not in this list

This checker covers the visa-exempt countries, the 17 countries that can use an eTA under conditions, and the visa-required countries our clients travel from. Yours is not among them, and we would rather tell you that than guess: the wrong answer here is the one that leaves somebody at the airport.

Send us the nationality on your passport and how you are travelling, and we will check the current rule on canada.ca and tell you which document applies. It costs nothing.