Who is exempt and who is not
This is the entire question, so it goes first.
A US citizen flying to Toronto
No eTAExempt. US citizens do not need an eTA. Carry a valid US passport, which is what the airline and the border officer will ask for.
A US green card holder flying to Toronto
No eTAExempt since 26 April 2022. Carry a valid passport from your country of nationality together with your green card. Both documents, not one.
A visa exempt foreign national flying to Canada
eTA requiredRequired. Citizens of most visa exempt countries need an eTA to fly to or transit through Canada. This is the case the whole scheme exists for.
Driving or taking a boat across the border
No eTAThe eTA applies to air travel. Arriving by land or sea does not require one, whatever your nationality.
The numbers, for people who do need one
Published by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada.
Paid on the government site. It is one of the cheapest travel authorisations anywhere.
Or until the passport expires, whichever comes first.
Flights to Canada and flights transiting through Canada. Not land or sea arrivals.
Some applications take longer if documents are requested.
What Americans carry instead
Being exempt from the eTA is not the same as needing nothing.
- A valid US passport. This is the document that does the work. A driver's licence, including an enhanced one, is not accepted for air travel to Canada.
- A green card as well, if you are a permanent resident rather than a citizen. The exemption for green card holders requires both the foreign passport and the green card. Presenting only one has caused boarding refusals.
- Proof of the reason for your trip if asked. Exemption from the eTA does not exempt you from the border. The officer decides admissibility on arrival, as they do everywhere.
Where to apply, if you need to
One official address, and it is the government's own.
canada.caOfficial, CanadaCanada charges CAN$7 and warns about the paid intermediaries that rank alongside it. Because the official fee is so low, the markup on this particular permit is proportionally the largest on this site: a service charging 50 dollars is charging roughly seven times the government price.
What goes wrong
Almost all of it is Americans buying something they do not need.
- An American buying an eTA. US citizens are exempt. If a site sold you one, it sold you nothing, because there is no eTA record to create for a US passport.
- A green card holder carrying only the green card. The exemption requires a valid passport from your country of nationality as well. Airlines check this at the gate.
- Assuming the eTA covers land crossings. It does not. It is an air travel requirement, and driving across never needed one.
- Paying an agency the fee plus a service charge. The government price is CAN$7. Anything substantially above that is a reseller.
What changed
The green card exemption is the change most people missed.
The eTA becomes fully enforced for visa exempt air travellers to Canada.
US lawful permanent residents become exempt from the eTA, provided they carry a valid passport and a valid green card.