ETA to Canada - no response after 72 hrs

[Longtoo]

Hi all,

My wife and I are traveling to Canada for holiday. We applied for ETA to enter Canada last wed. Mines was approved instantly. My wife was not. We received an automatic message that they are reviewing her application and that they will contact us within 72 hrs. The 72 hrs time point has passed, we still have not got any info about her ETA application. She is on an ordinary Australian Passport, clean record, I just can't think of any reason why they would need to review her application other than a random check. We have traveled to the USA a few times and have always had our ESTA instantly approved.

This is part of our RTW award ticket. Our trip will commence in 5 days time.

Any previous experience or suggestion to deal with this would be gratefully appreciated.

TIA!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Hi all,

My wife and I are traveling to Canada for holiday. We applied for ETA to enter Canada last wed. Mines was approved instantly. My wife was not. We received an automatic message that they are reviewing her application and that they will contact us within 72 hrs. The 72 hrs time point has passed, we still have not got any info about her ETA application. She is on an ordinary Australian Passport, clean record, I just can't think of any reason why they would need to review her application other than a random check. We have traveled to the USA a few times and have always had our ESTA instantly approved.

This is part of our RTW award ticket. Our trip will commence in 5 days time.

Any previous experience or suggestion to deal with this would be gratefully appreciated.

TIA!

If no reply in 72 hours you need to fill in the form provided via the link on this page: What do I do if my application for an eTA is not approved right away?

Text from the website:

While most eTAs are issued in minutes, some can take several days to process. In such cases, more information is needed before the application is approved. IRCC will contact you via email and advise you of the next steps.

Check the junk/spam mail folder of the email address you provided on your eTA application form. Some spam filters may block automated emails from IRCC.

The email from IRCC may include a request for:

• additional information or documents, or
• an in-person interview at the nearest Canadian visa office.

If you have not received an email confirmation with an application number within 72 hours of applying, you will need to fill out this Web form. To do so, you will need to:

• provide some basic personal details, and
• Under “Type of application” select “Electronic Travel Authorization”, then “Case Specific Enquiries”.
• Provide as many details as possible about the problem you encountered. It can take us several days to answer your inquiry.

If you apply for an eTA at an airport, and your eTA is not approved in time for you to check-in for your flight, you will need to reschedule your flight.

 

[Longtoo]

Mrs Longtoo's eTA has been approved to day, 1 week after we have completed our trip!

It is up to the Canadian Gov to decide who can come to their country, as a visitor, we are obligated to comply. But the process is appalling. There is no other channel to contact them apart from an online system that is bugged with IT issues. We were given 7 days to submit forms, copy of all pages of my wife passport. Due to an IT problem, uploading was not possible, contacted the Visa section in Sydney (to their credit, they were trying to help, but they are not processing eTA), who kindly offer to take our materials and pass it on manually. We were then informed that they need to check my wife's criminal report (she has a clean record including no drinking driving fine!). Then it was a black hole, no info from the department until today.

Costly mistake for me. I would apply for eTA well ahead next time. Their process appears to be random and unreliable.

Apart from our eTA problem, Canada in the summer is stunningly beautiful. highly recommended.

PS: Luckily, i took control of the situation before we commence our trip (it was a RTW award in J for us). We rerouted to fly to the USA first, then land crossing to Vancouver, flying out of Toronto back to SYD via Hong Kong (and just luckily missed out on the chaos at HK airport).