The Canadian government has announced the inclusion of the Philippines in its Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) program, which allows Philippine-passport holders with Canadian visa in the past 10 years or a valid non-immigrant US visa, to enter Canada visa-free.
But eligible passport holders are not automatically qualified and have to apply for the program.
Here are the instructions to do so, according to the Canadian Embassy in Manila.
• To apply, you need a valid passport from the Philippines, a valid email address and a credit card to pay the CAD 7 fee. You can find the online application form at http://Canada.ca/eTA
• After you apply, you will receive an email. In most cases, you will receive an email within minutes. However, some requests may need several days to process. If this is the case for your application, you can expect an email within 72 hours of applying
• Once you receive your eTA, check that the passport number included in your approval email matches exactly the number in your passport. If it's not the same, you need to apply again with the correct passport number.
• If you have entered a wrong passport number, you may not be able to board your flight to Canada, the embassy
• When your eTA is approved, it will be linked to the passport you used to apply
• You need to present your passport when you check-in to your flight to Canada.