Register with Registration of Canadians Abroad before leaving Canada or while abroad: who the service is for, the online registration details, group and multi-destination trips, and how to update your registration.
Applies in: CA
Registration of Canadians Abroad is a free service run by Global Affairs Canada that lets the Government of Canada notify you in an emergency at your destination, or in a personal emergency at home. Registration also brings you important information before or during a natural disaster or civil unrest, and updates when the Travel Advice and Advisories for your destination change. This guide covers the registration process only: signing up, adding destinations and travelling companions, and keeping the registration current. It gives no advice about any destination, and it does not replace reading the travel advice for the country you are visiting.
Registration gives officials a way to contact you with location-specific information. Through the service, officials can share advice in anticipation of an emergency, such as a natural disaster or civil unrest, instructions during emergencies, including in the event of assisted departure or evacuation operations, and updates to the Travel Advice and Advisories that could affect your travel plans or safety. Messages go by email, and in some circumstances by text message if internet services are unavailable. Registration is voluntary: nobody is required to sign up, and the registration count for a destination is not a count of Canadians actually there, because people can register without being present, names stay in the system until the profile is updated or the trip end date passes, and many registrants in an affected area need no assistance or do not wish to leave.
The FAQ page describes Registration of Canadians Abroad as a service intended for Canadian citizens. By special agreement, Canada also registers Australian and Israeli citizens travelling in some countries, and the FAQ page lists the destinations covered by that agreement; confirm your situation against that list before proceeding if you are not a Canadian citizen. If you are not a Canadian citizen but have an immediate family member who is, register the Canadian family member first, including minors under the age of 18, and then register yourself as a co-traveller. The service is designed for Canadians travelling internationally, not for Canadians travelling within Canada, so a trip inside Canada is not a registration.
Registration is completed online through the Registration of Canadians Abroad page, which links to online registration and to account access for returning users. The best time to register is before you leave Canada, but you can also register while abroad. The service is free, fast, confidential, and mobile-friendly, so a phone works for the whole process.
Before starting, gather the details the form asks for: travel information and personal details, including your date of birth, where you will be staying in the destination country or countries, and emergency contact information in Canada. Your personal information is confidential and is used in accordance with the provisions of Canada's Privacy Act. Enter the stay address as it will be during the trip, not a booking agent's address, and give an emergency contact in Canada who can actually be reached, since that contact is the route officials use for a personal emergency at home.
One registration can cover a trip with several countries. Enter the registration details for the first destination country, then select Add Additional Destination and enter the next country, repeating the step for each destination on the trip. Doing it in one registration matters: each destination you add is tied to the same account and contact details, so destination-specific notices reach you wherever the trip takes you, rather than only for the first country entered.
For a group, complete the online registration with the first 15 co-travellers or household members, save the registration, and create your account. Sign in again to add more co-travellers or household members beyond the first 15. The same pattern applies to a household travelling together: register everyone in the first pass where possible, then add the rest after saving, rather than starting a separate registration for each person and splitting the contact details across accounts.
Plans change, and the registration should change with them. If you registered online, sign in to update your account information whenever a destination, stay address, or date changes. If you registered by mail, fax, or in person, send an email to the address given on the FAQ page to update your information. When you return, update your profile and make sure the departure date from your destination country is correct, so the record reflects that the trip has ended and officials are not working from a stale location.
Your information does not stay in the system indefinitely. All of the personal information on you and your co-travellers will be destroyed 12 months after the date you originally indicated that you would be returning to Canada when you registered. If you register for a new trip during that 12-month period, the information will be destroyed 12 months after your new return date instead. That retention rule is also why updating matters: a registration left untouched keeps your name attached to a destination long after you have left, which is one reason published registration numbers run higher than the number of Canadians actually present.
Registration is a contact and notification service, not a travel document, not insurance, and not a substitute for the other steps of preparing to travel. It does not replace a passport, a visa, or travel health insurance, and it does not change the consular services available to you, which the Canadian Consular Services Charter describes separately. Before you leave, note the contact information for the Canadian embassy or consulate closest to your destination, and consult the Travel Advice and Advisories for that destination twice: before travelling and again just before you leave, so the latest updates are the ones you travel with. Registration works alongside those steps by making sure destination-specific updates can reach you after you have left.
Some details are deliberately not stated in this guide, because they could not be verified on a current official Global Affairs Canada page. Whether permanent residents can register is not stated as a settled rule, because the FAQ page describes the service as intended for Canadian citizens with the special-agreement exceptions above, while a separate Global Affairs Canada page on registration numbers describes citizens and permanent residents as able to register; the two wordings conflict, and this guide follows the FAQ page while flagging the difference here. No confirmation timing, account creation deadline, or processing time is stated, because no timing could be verified on an official page. No in-person, mail, or fax registration locations or addresses are stated, because the FAQ page confirms those routes exist without publishing the locations on the pages. No destination-specific advice is stated, because this guide covers the registration process only. If any of these details is needed, verify it on the current registration pages before relying on it.
The service is intended for Canadian citizens, and the FAQ page describes a special agreement under which Australian and Israeli citizens travelling in some countries can also register. If you are not a Canadian citizen but have an immediate family member who is, register the Canadian family member first, including minors under 18, and then yourself as a co-traveller.
Registration is free, voluntary, and confidential. The best time to register is before you leave Canada, but you can also register while you are abroad, whether you are travelling for a short trip or living outside Canada. It is designed for Canadians travelling internationally, not for travel within Canada.
Travel information and personal details, including your date of birth, where you will be staying in each destination country, and emergency contact information in Canada. Have the stay address and the Canadian emergency contact ready before you start, so the registration is completed in one sitting.
Register for multiple countries in the same trip. Enter the details for the first destination country, then select Add Additional Destination and enter the next one. Each destination you add is part of the same trip registration, so officials can reach you with information specific to where you are.
Complete the online registration with the first 15 co-travellers or household members, save the registration, and create your account. Then sign in again to add more co-travellers or household members. Registering the group under one account keeps the destination and contact details together.
If you registered online, sign in to update your account information. If you registered by mail, fax, or in person, send an email to the address the FAQ page gives for updates. Personal information on you and your co-travellers is destroyed 12 months after the return date you indicated when you registered, or 12 months after the new return date if you register a new trip in that period.