Ensuring eSignature Lawfulness for Travel Industry in Canada

How to eSign a document: e-signature lawfulness for Travel Industry in Canada

Hi everyone. My name is Jade Calver. I own and operate Calver and Associates Canadian Immigration Services. Today, we’re going to talk about the ETA and what is required in order to obtain one for Canada. So, an eTA is an electronic travel authorization. This allows people from visa exempt countries to travel to Canada. Everyone, with the exception of citizens from the United States, requires one in order to travel to Canada. An eTA is not actually an authorization to enter Canada. Once you arrive at the airport, or at the border, or by cruise ship if you’re on a boat, you’ll actually have an interview with a CBSA officer, so that’s one of our immigration officers and they’ll make sure that you’re actually admissible to Canada. So, there are four types of travellers who require an eTA to Canada. The first is the ones I just talked about, so those are visa-exempt foreign nationals. So, if you’re flying to Canada, you require an eTA. If you’re coming over – if you’re crossing into Canada by land, normally you won’t need those if you’re a visa exempt traveller to Canada. So, you need to have an eTA to fly to Canada. So, this most applies to people from Brazil, Romania, or Bulgaria. So, you can get an eTA even though normally you would require a visitor visa. And so the important difference here, is that you do need the visa to enter by land. So, if you’re crossing the border, you’re going to have to get a visa to enter by land. In terms of travellers who cannot apply for an eTA, so that’s mostly Canadian citizens. So, Canadian citizens, if you’re a Canadian citizen, you need a Canadian passport to enter Canada. So this might seem evident – but a lot of people – especially people for their children who are dual nationals, so for example, they were born in Australia and they had their citizenship granted after they were born, if they hold Canadian citizenship, they have to actually apply for a Canadian passport in order to enter Canada. Canadian permanent residents also need a Canadian permanent resident document or card. So, if you’re a Canadian permanent resident and you don’t have your card and you’re outside of Canada, you can’t apply for an eTA to come to Canada. You’re going to have to get a permanent resident travel document or enter with your permanent resident confirmation of status via land from the U.S. There are some travellers who are exempt from the eTA requirement. So, those are United States citizens. So, you just need your U.S. passport in order to fly or travel to Canada by land. Lot’s of people ask me: “how do I apply for an eTA?” Well the truth is that it’s not really a visa application, it’s just an application done via the Canadian government’s website. It’s $7 to apply. It will ask you simple questions about your identity documents and as well as if you have any criminality issues in the past. A lot of issues that I deal with in my practice are those related to criminality that was declared with an eTA application. So, someone will say that they perhaps had a DUI and while they’re applying for an eTA. Well, that will potentially render you inadmissible to Canada. So, you just have to be careful and make sure that you’re not inadmissible to Canada and you have to be careful with what you’re declaring on that eTA application. The other issues that come up with eTAs that I get asked about in my practice are – again it comes down to human error. Some people will enter the passport number incorrectly and so that passport number – the incorrect passport number is associated with your name and your flight to Canada. So people will have issues boarding the flight if they have the wrong passport number. So, it’s really important that you check that you make sure that you have the right passport number once you’re applying for an eTA. eTAs are valid for 5 years from the date of issue. Again, remember it needs to be associated with your passport number. So, if you get a new passport, you’re going to need to apply for a new eTA. If you get your eTA issued tomorrow, for example, it’s valid for 5 years. And there’s no need to apply for a new eTA until that one expires. So, that’s everything regarding eTAs for Canada. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us. We can be reached at calverimmigrationservices.com.