Two questions sit behind most searches on this subject. Do I have to do this, and is it worth the bother? The answers are no and probably, in that order.

ArriveCAN is no longer the mandatory health-reporting app it was during the pandemic. What survives is a single optional feature that moves the customs form off the aeroplane and onto your kitchen table. That is a genuine improvement, provided you understand which part of the arrival it affects.

What it is, and what it isn’t.

What it is: a feature inside the ArriveCAN app, also available through a web version, that lets you answer the customs and immigration questions in advance and transmit them to the Canada Border Services Agency before you fly.

What it is not, and this list matters more:

• Not mandatory. You can arrive in Canada without it.
• Not preclearance. You still pass through the Canadian border process on arrival.
• Not a visa, an eTA or a travel authorisation. It has no bearing on whether you may enter.
• Not final when submitted. The declaration is only completed once you certify it at a kiosk or eGate.
• Not a replacement for the officer. You still hand a receipt to a border services officer afterwards.

The last two points are where most misunderstanding lives. Submitting in advance moves work earlier; it does not remove steps.

Where it works.

Ten Canadian airports currently participate. If you are landing anywhere else in the country, submitting in advance will not help you.

For Toronto arrivals this covers everything, since both Pearson terminals participate and so does the island airport. If you are landing at YTZ, our page on Billy Bishop transfers covers the ground side.

What you need.

The requirements are modest, and there is no eligibility test beyond having the right document.

• A passport or a Canadian permanent resident card. One or the other is required to build a traveller profile. The app can capture passport details with your device camera, or you can type them in.
• A device. An Apple device running iOS 13 or above, an Android device running OS 6 or above, or any recent browser on a tablet, laptop or desktop through the web version.
• An internet connection at the point of submission. You can work in airplane mode, but you need to be online to send it.
• The current version of the app, if you are not using auto-update. The web version updates itself.

Submitting, step by step.

1. Sign in to the app or the web version and follow the prompts.
2. Confirm your travel identity document details, from your passport or resident card.
3. Answer the customs and immigration questions truthfully. These are the same questions you would otherwise answer at a kiosk, covering goods, currency, food, plants, animals and farm visits.
4. Submit within 72 hours of arriving in Canada.

You should then see a confirmation screen, and receive a confirmation email with a reference number. If you do not, assume it did not go through.

One preparation note. The questions about food, plants and animal products are the ones travellers most often answer carelessly, and the consequences sit with the declaration rather than with the app. It is worth knowing what you're required to declare before you start answering.

What happens when you land.

The process is short, and the sequence is fixed:

1. Scan your travel document at an airport kiosk or, where available, an eGate. Up to five travellers can use one kiosk at a time. Solo travellers aged 14 and above may use eGates.
2. Review and edit your declaration if anything has changed since you submitted it.
3. Submit the final declaration. This is the moment it becomes a declaration in law.
4. Take the receipt to a border services officer for further processing.

If your circumstances changed after you filed, editing at the kiosk is the correct course. There is no penalty for amending, and it is considerably better than certifying something inaccurate.

The 72-hour trap.

This is the failure mode almost nobody writes about, and the one most likely to affect you.

The 72 hours is not simply a window for submitting. If you do not certify the declaration at a kiosk or eGate within 72 hours of submitting it, it expires and you have to submit a new one. The CBSA names the obvious triggers: a delayed flight, or a postponed trip.

If it does expire, nothing bad happens beyond wasted effort. You submit a new one, or simply complete the declaration at the kiosk as you would have done anyway.

The NEXUS exception.

An awkward one, because the travellers most inclined to adopt a time-saving border feature are exactly the ones it excludes.

The CBSA states plainly that travellers cannot currently use the Advance Declaration with NEXUS kiosks. So a NEXUS member arriving at a participating airport chooses between two routes rather than combining them: the NEXUS lane as usual, or a standard kiosk or eGate with an advance declaration.

For most NEXUS members the existing lane remains the faster option, which makes this feature largely redundant for them. The word "currently" in the CBSA's wording suggests this may not be permanent, so it is worth rechecking if you hold NEXUS and travel often.

What it actually saves.

The CBSA's current published figure is that editing, confirming or updating your declaration at a kiosk or eGate is up to 50% faster with Advance Declaration. Its earlier rollout data, published when the feature launched, put the reduction at roughly one third. Both figures come from the same agency at different points, and the honest reading is somewhere in that range.

The more important qualification is what the figure measures. It is time at the kiosk. That is one step in a sequence, and typically not the longest one.

So it is a worthwhile few minutes rather than a transformation. On a busy evening at Pearson the express lane may be worth more than the kiosk saving itself. Our guide to how long clearing customs actually takes sets out the parts of the process this feature does not touch.

It’s free, and there’s nothing to apply for.

A word of caution that should not be necessary but is.

Advance Declaration is a free feature of a free government app. There is no application, no approval, no reference to buy and no express lane access granted on a case-by-case basis. You fill in a form and submit it.

The same caution applies to sites offering paid assistance with eTAs and other Canadian travel formalities. Official routes are free or carry a published government fee paid directly to the government.

When it isn’t worth bothering.

A short list, in the interest of not overselling a form:

• You hold NEXUS and will use the NEXUS lane anyway.
• You are landing at a non-participating airport.
• Your travel plans are unsettled and likely to shift inside the 72-hour window.
• You have no smartphone and no convenient computer access before departure. The kiosk will ask the same questions and takes a couple of minutes.
• You are arriving on a quiet flight at a quiet hour, when there is no queue to skip.

For everyone else, particularly on a busy long-haul arrival into Pearson, the few minutes of setup are a reasonable trade.

Five mistakes travellers make.

• Filing as early as possible. The 72 hours runs to certification, not to departure.
• Assuming it replaces the border process. It does not, and you will still meet an officer.
• Treating submission as completion. The declaration is only final once certified at a kiosk or eGate.
• Expecting NEXUS and Advance Declaration to combine. They currently do not.
• Paying a third party for it. There is nothing to pay for and nobody to pay.

Arrival timing, and your ride.

There is one practical conclusion to draw, and it runs against the marketing. Because the saving sits at the kiosk rather than across the arrival, an advance declaration does not make your exit time predictable. Two people on the same flight, both having filed in advance, can still leave the terminal half an hour apart depending on the baggage hall and whether either is referred for a closer look.

So file the declaration, and then plan the ground leg against a realistic exit rather than an optimistic one. A pre-arranged transfer handles this by attaching your flight number to the reservation and tracking the actual arrival, and Obsidian Ride includes complimentary wait time on airport pickups with 24/7 dispatch.

Details are on the Pearson Airport chauffeur service page, with destinations across Toronto and the wider GTA. Once you are through, our guide to where each vehicle type meets you covers both terminals.

ArriveCAN Advance Declaration: frequently asked questions.