Evaluation of the Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) Program

Research and Evaluation Branch
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

Certain sections containing sensitive information have been redacted in accordance with the principles of the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act.

Project reference number: E4-2019
August 2022

Executive Summary

Background

This report presents the findings of the evaluation of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) program. The evaluation was conducted in fulfillment of evaluation requirements as part of the Treasury Board’s Policy on Results (2016) and also fulfils commitments from 2013 and 2016 eTA Treasury Board submissions.

The evaluation examined contributions of the eTA program to expected outcomes of IRCC’s Visitors Program and covered the launch of eTA in August 2015, up to the most current information available at the time of data collection, but excludes COVID-19 pandemic impacts.

Summary of conclusions

The evaluation found the program is aligned with objectives and priorities of the Government of Canada, IRCC and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), particularly with respect to safety and security, facilitation, digital transformation and modernization, and cost avoidance. The program also helps maintain commitments to and relations with key bilateral partners.

Initial challenges implementing the eTA have mostly been overcome, and the introduction of the eTA requirement did not negatively impact international travel to Canada. While the eTA introduced an additional step for visa-exempt travellers, the eTA process is largely facilitative, and the program is leveraging automated decision-making. The evaluation also found that the eTA was designed as a light-touch screening tool and is appropriate for low risk foreign nationals.

The evaluation highlighted some potential areas for improvement, aimed at enhancing the security and facilitative objectives of the program, as well as filling any information gaps for processing officers.

Summary of recommendations

Capturing passport information digitally would help improve program integrity while simultaneously mitigating mistakes that could delay a passenger’s travel and make it easier and faster for clients to complete their application. Digital capture is therefore aligned with both security-focused and facilitative objectives of the eTA program.

Recommendation 1: IRCC should develop and implement a strategy to digitally capture information from client travel documents for eTA applications.

The evaluation found that broadening information sharing connections with additional data holdings would enhance program integrity. The evaluation also found evidence that additional risk indicators would assist in triaging cases for manual review, which could strengthen program integrity, but that any changes would need to take into account processing resource capacity and impacts on facilitation for clients.

Recommendation 2: To maximize program integrity while minimizing impacts on facilitation, IRCC should explore and develop a strategy to enhance screening of eTA applicants that:

1. Incorporates additional information sharing; and
2. Includes an approach to develop and implement new risk indicators.

More revalidations have been required than initially expected, and a backlog has developed. Revalidation work is resource-intensive and requires manual efforts, but is an under-funded activity. The evaluation found that additional legal authorities could enhance officers’ revalidation capacity.

Recommendation 3: IRCC should develop and implement a strategy to ensure that the resources and authorities are in place to more effectively revalidate eTAs.

Many officers, particularly in International Network (IN), felt they would benefit from additional, specific training for processing eTAs. While Centralized Network (CN) does the majority of eTA processing and has formal training in place, IN officers tend to deal with more complex cases, and mostly reported learning how to process eTA applications through informal means.

Recommendation 4: IRCC should develop and implement a strategy to address information and training gaps for officers who process eTAs.