The short answer: staying in a relative’s home instead of a hotel does not change the eTA you need or how you apply, and the form still wants your own permanent home address, not your family’s address in Canada. What changes is the conversation at the border: be ready to give your relative’s name and address, explain how you will cover your costs, and bring an invitation letter if your family wrote one. If you still need the eTA itself, you can apply for a Canada eTA through a paid private service, separate from the Government of Canada.
Applying on canada.ca costs only the government fee.
Before the form, the instructions page asks what you plan to do in Canada, and a trip to see family shares one answer with ordinary tourism. For the application itself you are simply a tourist who happens to have a free bed.
If you are still sorting out which document a family visit needs and who applies for children, start there. This article is about what living in a private home changes: the address, the officer’s questions, the letter, the money, the luggage and the house rules.
Which address goes on your eTA form if you’re staying with family?
Your own. The residential address section asks for the place where you permanently live and tells you not to enter an address where you stay temporarily. An aunt’s flat in Toronto is temporary for you, even if you will sleep there for the whole trip, so it does not belong in that section.
Say you live in Lyon and will spend five weeks with your sister in Calgary. The form gets the Lyon address. The Calgary address is something you keep for the officer, because it is where you will actually be sleeping.
The form has no field for where you will stay in Canada. Its travel section opens with whether you already know when you will travel, and “no” is an accepted answer if the dates are open.
The same rule applies when your son or daughter in Canada sits down with the form for you. They enter your passport details and your home address, not their own. For a closer look, there is a guide to when a son or daughter in Canada fills in the form for a parent.
What will the border officer want to know about where you’re staying?
An eTA lets you board a flight, but it does not promise entry. At the border an officer looks at your passport and any other documents, and has to be satisfied that you are allowed in and that you will leave when your stay ends. Home ties count here: a job, a house, savings, a family waiting for you.
With a private address, the useful preparation is plain. Know your relative’s full name and how they are related to you, the complete address with postal code, a working phone number, whether they are collecting you at the airport, and how many weeks you plan to spend with them. Your answers and anything your host has written for you, such as an invitation letter, should tell the same story.
Canada’s own page on arriving with an eTA warns that false or incomplete information leads to refusal of entry, so give the real picture even when it feels awkward. A visit that is “up to three months, then back to work in Lisbon” is a clear and believable answer. For the steps between the aircraft door and the exit, see what happens from the gate to the arrivals hall.
Do you need an invitation letter from your relative?
Not for the eTA. What you need to apply is a passport from an eligible country, an email address and a way to pay, and no letter is requested. The government page about invitation letters is written mostly for people who need a visa.
There is still a reason to ask your host for one. The guidance for eTA holders says that if someone invited you in writing, you should bring the letter, because an officer may ask to see it. It is a “may”, not a rule.
A typical letter covers who you are, how you are related, why you are coming, where you will live, how you will pay for things and when you plan to leave. The host adds their own address, what they do for a living, their status in Canada (citizen or permanent resident) and a copy of the document that proves it. The host writes it personally. Writing the letter does not make your host legally responsible for you once you are in Canada, but it should be truthful, and a letter never guarantees entry.
How much money do you need when you’re not paying for a hotel?
You still need enough money for the trip. The requirement has no fixed amount. It depends on the length of the stay and on whether you will be in a hotel or with friends or relatives, which is why a free room matters less than people expect. The officer also takes your means of support into account when deciding how long to let you stay.
Free accommodation does not cancel everything else. You still pay for food, local transport, outings and the ticket home. Be ready to show a payment card or a recent statement if asked, and if your relatives are covering some costs, say so openly. An invitation letter usually says how the visit will be paid for, so it is a natural place to mention this.
| Item | Hotel stay | Staying with relatives |
|---|---|---|
| Address on the eTA form | Your permanent home address | The same, your home address and not your relative’s |
| “Where are you staying?” at the border | Hotel name and booking | Relative’s name, full address and phone number |
| Invitation letter | Not relevant | Not needed for the eTA, but carry it if you have one |
| Money for the trip | Covers the room and daily costs | Still needed, though the total can be lower with no hotel bill |
| Gifts and food from home | Rarely an issue | Declare them; gifts worth CAN$60 or less each are free of duty |
| Helping around the house | Not relevant | Unpaid family help during a visit is not treated as work; a role someone would normally be paid for is |
| How long you can stay | Set by the officer, usually up to 6 months | The same |
What about gifts and home food for the family?
Visiting relatives usually means a suitcase full of presents. The customs agency asks travellers to declare gifts. A gift worth CAN$60 or less brings no duty or tax, with exceptions for tobacco, vaping products, alcohol and advertising material. Above that value you pay on the difference, so a CAN$200 gift is charged on the extra CAN$140. Leave gifts unwrapped so they can be looked at.
Food is the part visitors forget. Declare all food, plant and animal products when you arrive, including a pet if you are bringing one. An item you did not declare can be taken away, and the penalty can reach CAN$1,300. Which specific foods are allowed is a separate question with its own rules, so when you are unsure, declare and let the officer decide.
Can you babysit, cook or help out without it counting as work?
Every temporary resident, a visitor included, has to leave by the end of the authorised stay and must not work without permission. So the question is where “helping” ends and “work” starts.
IRCC defines work as an activity that earns wages or commission, or that competes directly with what Canadian citizens and permanent residents do in the labour market. An unpaid internship done for the experience is its own example of work. The guidance IRCC publishes for its officers also lists what is not work, and one example fits this trip exactly: unpaid help from a friend or relative during a visit, such as a mother helping her daughter with childcare. That guidance is written for officers, not as a promise to travellers, and the officer in front of you applies it to your facts.
A sensible rule of thumb follows from that. Unpaid, occasional help that comes with the visit is family life: cooking dinner for the household, or looking after a grandchild while you are staying. A role someone would normally be hired and paid for is different. Being the full-time nanny or carer in place of a paid one, or staffing a relative’s shop or cafe, especially for money, is closer to work. If your plans lean that way, ask IRCC before you travel. At the border, describe the trip as the visit it is, accurately and without exaggeration.
How long can you stay, and what if the visit runs longer?
The eTA can stay valid for as long as five years, yet it says nothing about how long one trip may last. The officer does. Most visitors may stay up to six months. The officer may grant less or more, and the end date goes on a stamp or on a visitor record. With no stamp at all, you get six months counted from your arrival day, or until the passport runs out if that comes first. You may ask for a stamp, including after using a kiosk.
If your plans change and you want longer, you can apply for a visitor record. It is for visitors who entered on an eTA as well as those who entered on a visa. You must apply before your permitted stay ends, and IRCC advises sending the application at least 30 days before that date; the fee starts from CAN$100. The article on how a visitor record extends a stay that started with an eTA covers it in full.
Parents and grandparents planning a long stay: is the super visa different?
Yes. A super visa lets parents and grandparents of a Canadian citizen, permanent resident or registered Indian stay up to five years at a time, with multiple entries valid for up to 10 years. For trips of six months or less, ordinary visitor rules are enough and no super visa is needed.
The detail many people miss is that parents from eTA-eligible countries can apply too. If approved, they receive a letter to show the officer at the border, and if they fly, they may also need an eTA linked to their passport. In short, the host child or grandchild must be an adult with a minimum income and must write an invitation letter; the guest needs a year of medical insurance and a medical exam, and applies from outside Canada. The income and insurance details are a topic of their own.
The short version
- The eTA and the way you apply are the same as for a hotel stay.
- Put your own permanent home address on the form, never your relative’s.
- Keep your relative’s name, address and phone number ready for the officer.
- An invitation letter is not required for the eTA, but bring it if your host wrote one.
- Free housing does not remove the need to show you can pay for the trip.
- Declare gifts and all food; do not take on a role someone would normally be paid for.
FAQ
Can a friend send me an invitation letter to Canada? Yes, a friend in Canada can write one, just as a relative can. For an eTA it is not required, but if you have it, bring it, because an officer may ask to see it. It never guarantees entry.
How long can my parents stay with me in Canada? As visitors they can usually stay up to six months, and the officer sets the exact period. With a super visa the limit rises to five years at a time, and parents from eTA-eligible countries can apply for it too.
What is the maximum stay allowed with an eTA? Nothing in the eTA fixes how long a visit lasts. The authorisation itself can stay valid for up to five years or until the passport expires, whichever comes first. A single trip is normally up to six months, as the officer decides. To stay longer, apply for a visitor record before the permitted period ends.
How many times can you come in and out of Canada as a visitor? With a valid eTA you can travel as often as you like on short stays, usually up to six months at a time. Each entry is decided by the officer, who needs to be sure you will leave when the stay ends.
Which address do I put on my eTA if I’m staying with family? Your permanent home address, the place where you really live. Do not enter the address of the relatives you will stay with in Canada, since that is only temporary.