By BenS - 31 Oct 17 8:08 AM
Hello all,
I just wanted to give an account (and reassurance) of travelling to Canada on holiday, using an eTA.
It was incredibly quick and easy and took less time than returning to the UK!
I did the eTA in advance, which is now mandatory (similar to the ESTA for the US). It was approved in seconds.
When I landed in Canada, I was directed to a machine to fill out a joint immigration/customs declaration, which takes 30 seconds. This is now entirely automated with no human interaction. You scan your passport into the machine and tick "no" to the questions about carrying live animals, firearms, etc. The machine gave me a little bit of paper that looked no different from a shop receipt.
I was then directed to a human who was sitting at an old-style wooden table. No passport machines anywhere. I gave her my passport and the receipt - she glanced at the receipt and passport for 2 seconds, smiled and said "thank you, enjoy your vacation". Not even a passport stamp!
So the customs/immigration process is 100% automated and takes 30 seconds max, while the human visual check takes 2 seconds.
The Canadians really are some of the friendliest people, even their border security staff!
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By Hola - 4 Apr 18 9:03 AM
+x+x+x+xInterested in how you answered the question - have you ever been charged, committed or found guilty of a crime when applying for the ETA to get into Canada ... Did you say yes and provide details, or just ' risk it ' and say no on the basis of your conviction being spent ? I want to visit and have the same dilemma, hence reason for asking Thanks I 'risked it' .......... ;-) The Canadians have some information on being 'deemed rehabilitated' online here. You can ask them, although you might want to use a different name and email address, just in case, or you can assess yourself. Of course, if you just deny everything then they probably won't know about your record. Need your advice/opinion guys. When I was convicted I naively sent an email to the US and Canadian embassies asking if I'd ever be able to travel to their countries for a holiday. The Canadian embassy replied and said I needed to be deemed rehabilitated. The US embassy didn't reply. My problem now is that I would someday like to travel to these countries but I won't want to declare my conviction. My worry is that they may have saved my details down from the single email I sent over 5 years ago. It included my offence and my first name, and how old I was at the time (didn't give date of birth). The email address I used included my full name but it also had a number with it as well. Do you think it's likely the US and Canadian embassies would have saved those details down onto their system? Or is the email I sent too unreliable? Considering there's probably loads of people with my name. What do you guys think?
I've read of many people who would risk it, esp as it was 5 years ago and you weren't completely crystal on your name. For US follow the advice again of many and fly via Dublin as you clear customs ( or not ) in Dublin so if you're going to get refused at least you only have a short haul back.
Provided you weren't ever put on an Interpol warning when you travelled you should be fine I'd say
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