eTA for Canada

If you plan to travel to Canada, this information may be of interest to you. The eTA is an electronic travel authorization designed for people from eligible countries who want to visit Canada for a certain period of time.

So, you may wonder… What is eTA?

An ETA is an entry and travel requirement for visa-exempt foreign citizens who want to fly to Canada for short stays (up to 6 months at a time). The authorization is electronically linked to the passport and is valid for five years or until the passport expires. That is to say, if you need to obtain a new passport, you will most likely need to do the same with your eTA.

It should be noted that the eTA authorization does not apply or is necessary for all foreigners. The requirements of this process affect travelers who come from non-visa countries, such as some European nations, Australia and New Zealand.

 

An approved eTA is used to confirm that a foreign citizen meets the criteria for traveling to Canada even if they do not have a visa, although it serves almost the same purposes as one. However, you can only use it if your trips are for visits or if they are related to business, tourist activities or transit through a Canadian airport. Another important thing is that you do not need an eTA if you travel by car, bus, train or ship, including a cruise, as this authorization is necessary only for those people that travel by plane. Nonetheless, it is prudent to carry your appropriate travel documents.

The accreditation eTA for Canada arises since, for many years, the North-American country had a visa policy that exempted a select group of countries from the need to apply for a visa before traveling to their territory. Nevertheless, the Canadian government began to make a very serious analysis of its visitors and decided to place more restrictions. As a result, in 2013, it was announced that they would begin to implement an electronic travel authorization system (eTA for Canada) for all visa-free countries, and by December 2016, it had been fully developed.

 

Currently, there are 45 countries that must apply for the eTA in order to visit the country. Basically, the people who have to process the eTA are those with the nationality of a country that, at some point in the past, was exempt from applying for a Canadian visa. In summary, you need the Electronic Travel Authorization and a valid travel document, in this case, the passport, to be able to enter Canada if it happens that you do not have a visa and you are originally from a visa-free country but with permission to visit the nation.