Criminals have found ways to bypass Canada’s multimillion-dollar electronic visa system intended to maintain national security and public safety, according to a federal report released by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) in early February.
One of the program’s main goals was “pushing out the border,” according to the report, meaning to pre-screen and identify foreign nationals who are inadmissible to Canada and prevent them from travelling to the country. However, immigration officers reported that the eTA only had a “small or moderate” benefit to security-related outcomes. Less than 25 percent of officers surveyed felt that the electronic visa acted as a deterrent to those with “intentions to misuse/abuse eTA.”
IRCC received 11,527,034 eTA applications from air travellers over the first three full years of mandatory enforcement of the program, from 2017 to 2019.
The report noted that the number of refusals increased each year, and certain countries accumulated more refusals. Of the over 11.5 million applicants, 104,839 (0.9 percent) were rejected after background checks. Another 38,788 (0.34 percent) who successfully obtained an electronic visa were subsequently “refused entry at the border,” mainly based on “serious criminality” or “misrepresentation.”
Low-Risk Foreign Nationals
Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), every foreign national coming to Canada needs a temporary resident visa (TRV) unless they are exempt, and TRV-exempt individuals may require an eTA.The eTA program was announced in 2011 as a commitment under a Canada-U.S. border action plan agreement, to create a common approach to screening TRV-exempt foreign nationals in order to identify threats before they reach the North American perimeter.
The program became mandatory in March 2016, with the requirement that low-risk visa-exempt foreign nationals travelling to or transiting through Canada by air must go online to apply for an eTA before travelling to Canada.
The eTA asks travellers to provide their biographic and passport information, such as name, birthdate, email address, and place of residence, for background security checks. Applicants are also required to answer questions about their immigration and travel history, criminal background, and medical history.
Of the over 11.5 million eTA applications received by IRCC from 2017 to 2019, 98.6 percent were approved, 0.9 percent were refused, and 0.5 percent were withdrawn. More than 88 percent processed to a final decision, whether approved or refused, were adults, and 84.4 percent completed their applications in English, indicated the report.
Some refusals could be due to errors, noted the report. “The eTA program relies in part on client accuracy when completing applications. When clients make errors unintentionally, they may receive an eTA approval only to be denied boarding at an airport when information doesn’t align with their travel documents,” it said.
Of the 10,530,857 unique travellers applying for an electronic visa, 14.8 percent were from the United Kingdom, 13.7 percent from France, 8.9 percent from Mexico, and 6.3 percent from Australia.
Most applications are approved by conducting automated databases. Some are flagged for manual review, at which point immigration officers can request further documents or security screening.
The report found that while the program is “preventing some inadmissible individuals from coming to Canada, the program’s contribution to security objectives could be improved.”
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, numerous technical issues resulted in the program being delayed and dramatically over budget. While it was originally intended to cost $35 million, actual costs ended up being over $77 million.
The initial charge of $5.50 per electronic visa, eventually raised to $7.00, was intended to fully cover the cost of the program without burden on taxpayers. The report did not indicate if costs at any point exceeded the amount charged.
