The short answer: no. Applying for a Canada eTA does not require travel insurance, health insurance, or proof of either one. The application form never asks about it, and nothing on the Government of Canada’s eTA pages lists insurance as a requirement. What the form does ask for is a valid passport, an inbox you check regularly, and a card to cover the government fee. Insurance is a separate, personal decision that has nothing to do with whether your eTA gets approved. ...

The short answer: showing up as an attendee, speaker or booth exhibitor at a Canadian conference or trade fair is a business visit, so a visa-exempt traveller applies for the same eTA used for a holiday. What decides the document is who pays you while you’re there, not how commercial the event looks. Walking the show floor, sitting in sessions, or working your own company’s booth keeps you on the visitor side. Getting paid directly by a Canadian exhibitor or event organizer does not. ...

The short answer: attending meetings, negotiations, a conference, or general business activities in Canada is treated as a visit, not work, so a visa-exempt traveller uses the same eTA as a tourist. The line that matters is whether you will actually be employed or paid by a Canadian employer while you are there. Meetings, deal-making and observing operations stay on the visitor side of that line; doing the job itself does not. ...

The short answer: visiting family or friends in Canada does not need a different document from any other short trip. If you hold a passport from a visa-exempt country and you are flying in, you apply for the same eTA that a tourist or a business traveller uses. The application form does not ask you to choose a category such as “family visit” or pick a visa type the way some countries’ immigration forms do. It asks about your passport, your background, and general travel details, and it treats a trip to see relatives the same way it treats a holiday. ...

The short answer: the official Canada eTA application form is available in English and French only, but the Government of Canada publishes descriptions of each form field in 18 languages, English and French included, and a help guide in about 20. So you can apply in English or French with help in your own language beside you. The form also asks which language you prefer for contact, and that choice affects how IRCC writes to you, not the language of the form itself. ...

The short answer: the Canada eTA fee is small, and the Government of Canada accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express, prepaid versions of those three, Visa Debit, Debit Mastercard, UnionPay and JCB. The fee is non-refundable, and it is charged when you press “Transmit and pay”. If a card is declined, the usual causes are a bank block on an online purchase in a foreign currency, a wrong billing detail, or a card type that is not on the list. ...

The short answer: a baby who is a visa-exempt foreign national and is flying to Canada needs their own eTA, linked to their own passport, and the parent or guardian applies on the child’s behalf. There is no age exemption for infants. You also cannot include a child in a parent’s application: the Government of Canada says you can apply and pay for one person at a time, so a family of three completes and submits the form three times. ...

The short answer: type your name into the eTA form exactly as it is shown on the passport you will travel with, because the form itself says “Please enter exactly as shown on your passport or identity document”. Do not shorten it, translate it, add a middle name from another document or change the order. If you already submitted a name that differs from the passport, an eTA cannot be edited after submission, so the safe route is a new application with the correct name. ...

The short answer: a first-time eTA application has six steps: check that you need one, open the application form, fill it in, pay the government fee, wait for the email, and check that the details match your passport. Have your passport, an email address and a payment card ready before you start. Most applications are decided within minutes. A minority need extra documents and can take several days, so it is safest to apply well before you book anything you cannot cancel. ...

Most people assume a criminal record means they cannot enter Canada at all. In fact, you may still be able to visit: eTA just is not the route. A “yes” to the criminal-history question on the eTA form does not refuse you on the spot — the file leaves the automated lane that clears most applicants within minutes and goes to an officer to be read by hand. That review can still end in a refusal, and when it does, two routes deal with the inadmissibility itself rather than working around it: a temporary resident permit, which sets it aside for one trip, and criminal rehabilitation, which clears it for good. A visitor visa and deemed rehabilitation also come into it, and both are covered further down — but these two are where most people’s real decision sits, so this article starts there. ...