The short answer: the Canada eTA has a small government fee, you pay it once when you submit the form, and it is non-refundable. Some services help you fill in and check the form and charge a separate service fee for that help; that fee is not part of the government price. If you want that help, you can apply for a Canada eTA through a paid private service, separate from the Government of Canada.
Filing the form on canada.ca costs only the government fee, nothing extra.
This page sets out what the government fee covers, what it does not, how to read a charge on your card, and what to do if the amount is not what you expected.
What the government fee covers
The fee pays for one eTA application. If the application is approved, the eTA is electronically linked to your passport and stays valid for up to five years or until the passport expires, whichever comes first. There is nothing to print and nothing to mail: the approval arrives by email, and the airline checks your passport number against the eTA database at check-in. The form and the current fee are on the government’s eTA page.
The fee is charged when you submit the application, not when you are approved, and it is not returned if the answer is a refusal or if you change your travel plans. That is why it is worth checking the form carefully before you pay. If you have not started yet, the Canada eTA Application Checklist Before You Start lists what to have in front of you.
Processing times vary. Many applications are decided within minutes, while others need additional review. If you are waiting and want to know what is normal, Canada eTA Processing Time: How Long Does It Really Take? walks through what the delays mean.
Two ways to apply, two different price tags
You can apply in two ways. You can complete the form yourself on canada.ca, or you can use a private service that helps with the form. Both routes are legal, and some travellers choose a service on purpose because they want a second pair of eyes on the answers, or help in their own language.
In both cases the decision is made by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). A service can help you complete and submit the form. It cannot approve your eTA, speed up the decision or issue a travel document.
| Directly on canada.ca | Through a private service | |
|---|---|---|
| What you pay | The government fee | The government fee plus the service’s own fee |
| What you get for the fee | Processing of your application | Help completing and checking the form |
| Who makes the decision | IRCC | IRCC |
The service fee varies from one company to another, so read the total before you pay and check what it includes. The government fee is the same for everyone.
How to read the charge on your statement
If you are looking at a card charge and want to know what it was for, work through it in this order:
- Find the amount. A single charge in Canadian dollars with no separate service line, or your bank’s conversion of it, matches the government fee alone. A higher amount usually means a service fee was added on top.
- Find the merchant name and the confirmation email. The web address in the email, or in your browser history, shows where you paid. canada.ca or gc.ca is the government site; any other domain is a private company.
- Find the application number. Whichever route you took, IRCC issues an application number once the application is in its system. Look for it in the confirmation email.
Card statements sometimes show the payment under a different name, or in a converted amount, so a small difference from the government fee does not by itself mean anything went wrong.
Checking that your application exists
Whether you applied directly or through a service, you can confirm the application on the government side. You will need your UCI (unique client identifier) or client ID, your application number, your first and last name, your date of birth and your place of birth.
Status updates in the application status tracker appear only after an acknowledgement of receipt has been issued. Before that point the tracker may show the date the application was received and little else, so a sparse result within hours of applying does not mean nothing happened. If you have already been approved and want to double-check the details before you fly, you can check eTA status online through the government tracker.
If you have no application number, received no confirmation and the company you paid is not answering, ask the company for the application number, and if that does not help, talk to your card issuer about the charge; you can also consider applying again on canada.ca. A duplicate application is a recoverable situation; travelling without a valid eTA is not.
If IRCC asks for more documents
Sometimes IRCC needs additional documents for an eTA application. Those are submitted through your IRCC secure account, using a GCKey username and password or a Sign-In Partner. If a request asks you to send documents somewhere else, confirm it against your account on canada.ca before you reply.
Refunds, service fees and new passports
The fee is set by the government, so what you see on canada.ca on the day you apply is the price. Two situations cause most of the questions:
- A service fee you did not expect. Refunds of a service fee depend on the terms you accepted when you paid that company, not on IRCC. The government has no record of the service fee.
- A passport change after approval. The eTA is tied to a specific passport. If you get a new passport, the existing eTA no longer works with it, and you will need to apply again and pay the fee again.
In rare cases eTAs can be temporarily suspended under special public health measures. IRCC tells you by email, the suspension is temporary, and the authorization reactivates when the measures end without any action from you. A suspension does not extend the eTA’s expiry date, so if yours is close to expiring when a suspension lifts, you may need to apply for a new one.
Before you pay: does your case need an eTA?
The cheapest eTA is the one you do not have to buy twice, so it is worth confirming that an eTA is the right document before you pay. Dual citizens and US green card holders, for instance, have their own rules, and some travellers need a visitor visa instead. the Canada eTA vs Visitor Visa: What’s the Difference guide covers the cases where an eTA is not the right document at all.
Also be wary of any site or message that promises guaranteed approval or suggests that paying more improves your chances. Nobody outside IRCC influences the decision, and the outcome is the same whichever route you use.
Summary: the government fee is paid once, non-refundable. Anything above that is a service fee charged by whoever helped you with the form. Find the application number in your confirmation email and check it against the government tracker before your travel date gets close.