Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has advised that the Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) portal will be unavailable from 00:00 to 05:30 ET on January 13 2026 due to system upgrades. (canada.ca)
While the five-and-a-half-hour window falls overnight for most North American users, travellers in Europe, Africa and the Middle East often apply during daytime hours and may be caught off guard. Airlines are required to verify eTA status at check-in; failure to obtain authorisation can lead to denied boarding even if a ticket has been issued.
Travel-management companies recommend that visa-exempt passengers flying on January 13 submit eTA applications no later than January 12.
![eTA System Offline for Scheduled Maintenance—Early-Morning Travellers Should Plan Ahead]()
For applicants who want extra peace of mind, VisaHQ can manage the eTA process end-to-end through its dedicated Canada portal (https://www.visahq.com/canada/), providing step-by-step guidance, deadline alerts and live support so travellers aren’t derailed by the planned outage.
Urgent travellers without an eTA may have to reroute through the United States and enter Canada by land, where an eTA is not required.
The upgrade is part of IRCC’s digital-modernisation initiative, which aims to cut average eTA processing times from 10 minutes to under 5 minutes and add dynamic fraud-detection filters. Frequent security-patch cycles are expected in 2026 as Canada prepares for the roll-out of the European Union’s ETIAS pre-travel authorisation later in the year.
For corporate mobility teams, diary alerts and traveller communications can avert last-minute airport escalations and associated costs.
While the five-and-a-half-hour window falls overnight for most North American users, travellers in Europe, Africa and the Middle East often apply during daytime hours and may be caught off guard. Airlines are required to verify eTA status at check-in; failure to obtain authorisation can lead to denied boarding even if a ticket has been issued.
Travel-management companies recommend that visa-exempt passengers flying on January 13 submit eTA applications no later than January 12.
For applicants who want extra peace of mind, VisaHQ can manage the eTA process end-to-end through its dedicated Canada portal (https://www.visahq.com/canada/), providing step-by-step guidance, deadline alerts and live support so travellers aren’t derailed by the planned outage.
Urgent travellers without an eTA may have to reroute through the United States and enter Canada by land, where an eTA is not required.
The upgrade is part of IRCC’s digital-modernisation initiative, which aims to cut average eTA processing times from 10 minutes to under 5 minutes and add dynamic fraud-detection filters. Frequent security-patch cycles are expected in 2026 as Canada prepares for the roll-out of the European Union’s ETIAS pre-travel authorisation later in the year.
For corporate mobility teams, diary alerts and traveller communications can avert last-minute airport escalations and associated costs.
