News report | | 20-06-2023 | ±3 minutes reading time

On 6 June 2023, the Canadian Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship announced that 13 new countries had been added to the Canadian Visa Waiver Program. This means that travellers with these nationalities can now easily apply for an eTA online instead of a visa for a tourist or business trip to Canada.

Number of participating countries eTA program extended

On 6 June 2023, Sean Frazer, the Canadian Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced that 13 countries had been added to the Canadian Visa Waiver Program. These countries include Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Costa Rica, the Philippines, Morocco, Panama, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the Seychelles, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay. Travellers with nationalities from one of these countries can now use the simple online application procedure of the eTA Canada. Previously, travellers from these countries, regardless of their travel purpose, had to apply for a physical visa for their trip to Canada. Including the recently added countries, there are now 66 countries that can travel to Canada visa-free.

Requirements for travellers from the added countries

To be eligible for the eTA Canada, travellers with one of the aforementioned nationalities have to meet a number of specific requirements. For example, they have to have had a Canadian visa in the past 10 years or currently have a valid non-immigrant visa for the USA. In addition, travellers from these countries have to meet all the requirements for travelling with an eTA. These include requirements regarding the travel purpose (permitted travel purposes are tourism, business, a short study, or transit), but also the maximum duration of stay of 6 consecutive months per trip.

Reasons for the extension

One of the reasons for adding these nationalities to the eTA program is that Canada wants to increase the number of tourists travelling to the country and give an added boost to the Canadian tourism sector and economy. In addition, adding these countries to the Visa Waiver Program will relieve the workload of the Canadian immigration service. As fewer travellers have to apply for a physical visa, processing applications for physical visas will be much faster and more efficient than before.

Travellers who cannot apply for an eTA

Travellers who, because of their nationality or other reasons, cannot use the eTA Canada require another travel authorisation to be able to travel to Canada. For example, travellers who wish to travel to Canada for tourism purposes but are not eligible for the eTA can apply for a visitor visa (Temporary Resident Visa). In this case, travellers have to keep in mind a more complicated application procedure and a longer processing time. This is because applying for this visa type requires an interview and submitting additional documents.

European travellers have been able to apply for an eTA for some time now

For a long time, British and Irish travellers have been able to use the online application procedure of the eTA Canada. The eTA is not a visa but a digital travel authorisation allowing travellers to make an unlimited number of trips of up to 6 months each within the 5-year validity.

The simple online application form can be completed in only several minutes. Subsequently, you pay the cost of the eTA, after which, in most cases, your application is almost immediately processed by the Canadian immigration service. On average, a standard application is processed within 3 days, while an eTA application with an urgent delivery is usually processed within 45 minutes.

Requirements for applying for an eTA

Before you submit an eTA application, it is important to check if you meet all the requirements of the eTA. For example, you can only use the eTA for a business trip, holiday, visiting family or friends, short studies, or transit in Canada. In addition, only travellers of a select number of nationalities are eligible for an eTA Canada. If you are unsure if you can apply for an eTA with your nationality, you can check on this page to see if you are eligible.

Please note: this news article about the eTA for Canada is more than one year old. It might contain outdated information and advice, and no rights can therefore be derived from this article. Are you going on a trip soon and do you wish to do know what rules currently apply? Read all about the up-to-date information about the eTA for Canada.

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e-Visa.ie is a commercial and professional visa agency, and supports travellers in obtaining, among others, the eTA Canada. e-Visa.ie is an official partner of the International Air Transport Association, IATA, with membership number 57231226, acts as an intermediary, is no law firm, nor does it employ lawyers, does not provide legal advice, and is in no way part of any government. You can also apply for a eTA directly with the immigration service (7 CAD per eTA, via onlineservices-servicesenligne.cic.gc.ca). However, not with our level of support. If you submit your application via e-Visa.ie, our support centre is available to you 24/7. We also check your application before submitting it to the immigration authorities on your behalf. If we suspect any errors or omissions while doing so, we will personally contact you to ensure that your application can still be processed quickly and correctly. To use our services, you pay us 7 CAD in consular fees, which we pay to the immigration service on your behalf, as well as € 25,19 in service fees as compensation for our services, including VAT. Our services have saved many travellers from major problems during their trip. Should an application be rejected despite our support and verification, we will refund the full purchase price (unless an application for a previous Canada eTA was rejected for the same traveller). Read more about our services here.