Use CBSA Advance Declaration in ArriveCAN before flying into Canada: the 10 participating airports, the 72-hour window, submitting your customs and immigration declaration, and confirming it at a kiosk or eGate on arrival.
Applies in: CA
Advance Declaration is the Canada Border Services Agency's optional feature in ArriveCAN for submitting your customs and immigration declaration before you fly into Canada, rather than completing the full declaration at the airport on arrival. Use Advance Declaration to save time at the border states that you can make your declaration using Advance Declaration in the ArriveCAN app before you fly into one of Canada's participating airports, at your own pace and from the location of your choice, up to 72 hours before a flight. It does not finish the process by itself: you still confirm (certify) the declaration at a kiosk or eGate when you land, and you still see a border services officer. This guide covers only the declaration mechanics: where it is available, how to submit it, and what happens on arrival. It states no customs rule beyond what the declaration pages state, and it does not cover entry permission, visas, or what goods you may bring into Canada.
Work through the steps in order. The airport check in step 1 decides whether the rest of the guide applies to your trip at all, and the 72-hour window in step 3 decides whether your submission is still live when you land.
Advance Declaration is only for air arrivals at a participating airport, as your first point of arrival in Canada. Advance Declaration and ArriveCAN help topics states that making an Advance Declaration using ArriveCAN is currently only available to travellers whose first point of arrival in Canada is one of the participating airports. Use Advance Declaration to save time at the border lists the participating airports as:
Do not assume the list from a kiosk list or from memory. Kiosks exist at airports beyond this list, and the list is the authority for Advance Declaration itself, so re-check it on the CBSA page before you travel. Two exclusions belong in this step. First, NEXUS: How to submit your Advance Declaration states that at this time, travellers cannot use the Advance Declaration with NEXUS kiosks, so NEXUS members follow the separate NEXUS process covered in the Related guides below. Second, travel documents: the Advance Declaration supports a passport or a Canadian permanent resident card only, as set out in step 2, and does not support other types of travel documents.
If your first arrival airport is not on the list, or you are arriving by land or water, skip Advance Declaration and make your declaration on arrival. Nothing in the pages states a penalty for not using it, and the declaration itself is still required on arrival either way.
Advance Declaration runs in ArriveCAN, as a mobile app or in a web browser. Advance Declaration: What you need before you start states that to download, install, or update the app you need an Apple device running iOS 13 or above, or an Android device running OS 6 or above, and that you can use the app in airplane mode but you need an internet connection to submit your information. The web version works on recent versions of all web browsers, on tablets, laptops, smartphones, and desktop computers, and likewise needs an internet connection to submit. Before you start, make sure you are using the latest version of the ArriveCAN app and that your profile is up to date, as stated in Advance Declaration.
Create an account with an email address and a secure password, then confirm the account with the 6-digit verification code sent by email. Advance Declaration: Access the ArriveCAN app and create your account states that the code is valid for 24 hours, that you may select "Resend code" to get a new one, and that if you do not confirm your account within 24 hours you request a new code to set up your account. If you do not receive the code after a few minutes, check your spam, junk, and promotions folder and make sure you entered the correct email address, on the same page. Your email address and password work in both the app and the website, although the same page warns that having the mobile app installed on your device may cause difficulties signing in to the web version, in which case you may need to delete the mobile app to use the web version.
Then enter your traveller information. To create your traveller profile you need one of two official documents: a passport or a Canadian permanent resident card, according to Advance Declaration: What you need before you start. The app can use your mobile device's camera to capture your passport information, or you can enter the information manually, and ArriveCAN does not keep an image of your travel document. You must use the same travel document upon arrival, according to Advance Declaration: Access the ArriveCAN app and create your account, because the kiosk or eGate retrieves your declaration by scanning that document. If you are submitting for a group, enter information for all travellers in the group before submitting the trip details; you can provide information for up to 8 travellers, including yourself, in a single submission, on the same page. The saved traveller profile feature is voluntary: it saves your travel document information on a secure server linked to your sign-in account so you do not have to enter it each time, but you still enter the specific details of each trip, and you need to re-create your profile if your information changes.
Do not submit too early. Use Advance Declaration to save time at the border states that you prepare your declaration up to 72 hours before a flight, and How to submit your Advance Declaration lists the four steps: sign in to the ArriveCAN app or the web version online and follow the prompts; confirm your travel identity document information (passport or Canadian permanent resident card); answer the customs and immigration questions truthfully; and submit the declaration 72 hours prior to arriving in Canada. The submission flow itself, as described in Advance Declaration, asks you first to consent to the Terms and Conditions of Use and the Privacy Statement, then prompts you to answer questions about your trip, such as where you are coming from and what you are bringing into Canada, and finally prompts you to confirm your statements before you submit your declaration to the CBSA. The video transcript for Advance Declaration: Save time at the airport describes the same questions in shorter form: confirm your travel document information, answer the customs, immigration, and agriculture questions, and submit your declaration within 72 hours of arrival into Canada.
Answer truthfully and completely, and have your trip details and your goods in mind before you start. Be ready to make a full and accurate declaration, including all purchases, food, plant and animal products, all money and currency over $10,000, and any firearms or weapons, as stated in Border reminder checklist. That checklist is the general declaration standard, not a screen-by-screen list of the Advance Declaration questions, and this guide does not invent the wording of any question the app asks. If you are unsure whether something must be declared, the checklist gives the working rule: ask a border services officer, and declare it rather than leaving it out.
When you are done, a confirmation screen should appear acknowledging a successful submission, and you will receive a confirmation email and a reference number, according to How to submit your Advance Declaration. You should then be able to view your Advance CBSA Declaration E-Receipt from your home screen in ArriveCAN, according to Advance Declaration. Keep the confirmation email and the reference number where you can find them on arrival, and do not treat the submission as your final declaration: the privacy material summarized in Advance Declaration and ArriveCAN help topics states that you are not considered to have made a final declaration until you certify and submit it at a primary inspection device. Your advance information is retained by the CBSA for 72 hours so it can be retrieved when you arrive; if you do not arrive within that timeframe, the stored declaration automatically expires and is deleted, on the same help page.
When your flight lands, use the Advance Declaration express lanes at the airport, then review, submit, and print your declaration at a kiosk before proceeding to a border services officer with your printed receipt, as described in Advance Declaration: Save time at the airport. Use Advance Declaration to save time at the border lists access to Advance Declaration express lanes as a benefit, and states that you edit, confirm (certify), or update your declaration at a kiosk or eGate, and that it is up to 50% faster. That speed figure is the CBSA's own claim for the kiosk or eGate step, not a measured time for your arrival, and it does not shorten the officer step that follows.
At the kiosk or eGate, scan your travel document, the same passport or Canadian permanent resident card you confirmed in ArriveCAN, to retrieve your declaration. How to submit your Advance Declaration states the arrival sequence: scan your travel document at the airport kiosk or eGate where available; review and edit your declaration at the kiosk or eGate if required; submit your final declaration; and take the kiosk or eGate receipt to a border services officer for further processing. A maximum of 5 travellers can use one kiosk at a time, and solo travellers 14 years of age or above can use eGates, on the same page. The kiosk session itself, described in Declare your travel information at an airport kiosk or eGate: How to use the kiosks and eGate, runs through language selection, scanning your travel document, taking your photo, verifying fingerprints if required for select foreign nationals and permanent residents, answering the specific questions to complete and certify your declaration, and taking your receipt to a border services officer. eGates are currently available only at Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ), Terminal 1, according to Declare your travel information at an airport kiosk or eGate, so at every other participating airport expect a kiosk, not an eGate.
If you need a stamp in your passport as proof of entry, request it from a border services officer after completing the kiosk or eGate transaction, according to Declare your travel information at an airport kiosk or eGate: Who is eligible. If a kiosk or eGate has a technical issue, a customer service representative at the airport will direct you to a border services officer to make your declaration, according to Declare your travel information at an airport kiosk or eGate: How to use the kiosks and eGate.
Changes are corrected at the airport, not by re-submitting in advance. How to submit your Advance Declaration states that if your declaration changes before you arrive, you can edit your declaration when you get to the airport kiosk or eGate, and that you review and edit it there before submitting your final declaration. Do not let an outdated answer stand because you already submitted it from home; the version you certify at the kiosk or eGate is the declaration that counts.
Expiry is the one case where editing at the kiosk is not enough. If you do not confirm (certify) your declaration at a kiosk or eGate within 72 hours of submitting it, it will expire and you will need to submit a new declaration, for example if your flight is delayed or your trip is postponed, on the same page. In practice that means a long delay between submitting and landing can silently void the submission, even though you hold a confirmation email. If your flight is delayed by a day or your trip moves, submit a new declaration within 72 hours of the revised arrival rather than relying on the first one.
Advance Declaration changes when you answer the declaration questions, not whether you must declare, and not whether you may enter Canada. It is an optional feature in ArriveCAN, it is available only at the participating airports listed in step 1, and it cannot be used with NEXUS kiosks, as set out on the pages cited above. It does not support travel documents other than a passport or a Canadian permanent resident card. It does not replace the travel document itself, and you must carry and scan the same document on arrival. Your declaration is not final until you certify and submit it at the kiosk or eGate, and each traveller is responsible for their own declaration, as stated in the privacy material summarized in Advance Declaration and ArriveCAN help topics. Deleting your ArriveCAN account or a saved traveller profile does not delete a declaration you already submitted: previously submitted advance declarations and existing passage records are kept by the CBSA on a secure server for a minimum of 15 years, on the same help page, which is a separate retention rule from the 72-hour retrieval window for an unconfirmed advance submission.
No. Advance Declaration is an optional feature in ArriveCAN, according to [Advance Declaration](https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/multimedia/declaration/menu-eng.html), which describes it as an optional feature that allows you to submit your customs and immigration declaration up to 72 hours before you arrive. The privacy statement summarized in [Advance Declaration and ArriveCAN help topics](https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/arrivecan/help.html) states that providing the information electronically in advance is entirely optional and that there are no penalties if you choose not to provide it until you enter Canada. If you do not use it, you make your declaration at the airport kiosk or eGate, or to a border services officer, when you arrive.
No. [Advance Declaration and ArriveCAN help topics](https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/arrivecan/help.html) states that making an Advance Declaration is currently only available to travellers whose first point of arrival in Canada is one of the participating airports, and [Use Advance Declaration to save time at the border](https://www.canada.ca/en/border-services-agency/services/arrivecan.html) lists exactly 10 participating airports. An airport with kiosks is not automatically a participating airport: for example, John C. Munro Hamilton Airport appears on the kiosk list in [Declare your travel information at an airport kiosk or eGate](https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/services/border-tech-frontiere/pik-bip-eng.html) but does not appear on the Advance Declaration participating-airport list. Check the participating-airport list on the CBSA page before you travel, and if your first arrival airport is not on it, make your declaration on arrival instead.
Not with NEXUS kiosks. [How to submit your Advance Declaration](https://www.canada.ca/en/border-services-agency/services/arrivecan/declaration.html) states plainly that at this time, travellers cannot use the Advance Declaration with NEXUS kiosks. The travel document is also narrow: [Advance Declaration and ArriveCAN help topics](https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/arrivecan/help.html) states that you must confirm your passport information or Canadian permanent resident card information, and that the Advance Declaration does not support other types of travel documents. For children, the kiosk rules in [Declare your travel information at an airport kiosk or eGate: How to use the kiosks and eGate](https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/services/border-tech-frontiere/how-comment-eng.html) state that children under the age of 14 cannot legally certify their own declaration without an adult and cannot use eGates, and that unaccompanied minors must speak to a border services officer. Travellers aged 14 and over may use an eGate, and a maximum of 5 travellers can use one kiosk at a time, according to [How to submit your Advance Declaration](https://www.canada.ca/en/border-services-agency/services/arrivecan/declaration.html).
Edit it at the airport kiosk or eGate, unless it has expired. [How to submit your Advance Declaration](https://www.canada.ca/en/border-services-agency/services/arrivecan/declaration.html) states that if your declaration changes before you arrive, you can edit your declaration when you get to the airport kiosk or eGate, and that you review and edit your declaration at the kiosk or eGate before submitting your final declaration. The same page states the expiry rule: if you do not confirm (certify) your declaration at a kiosk or eGate within 72 hours of submitting it, it will expire and you will need to submit a new declaration, giving a delayed flight or a postponed trip as examples. [Advance Declaration](https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/multimedia/declaration/menu-eng.html) states the same correction point in shorter form: should something change with your information, you can always update things when you get to the airport kiosk or eGate. Do not assume an old submission is still live after a long delay; submit a new one.
No QR code or printing step is stated on the official pages, so do not rely on one. What those pages do state is a confirmation screen, a confirmation email with a reference number, and retrieval by travel document. [How to submit your Advance Declaration](https://www.canada.ca/en/border-services-agency/services/arrivecan/declaration.html) states that when you are done, a confirmation screen should appear acknowledging a successful submission, and you will receive a confirmation email and a reference number. [Advance Declaration](https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/multimedia/declaration/menu-eng.html) adds that you should then be able to view your Advance CBSA Declaration E-Receipt from your home screen in ArriveCAN. On arrival, the same page states that you scan your travel document at the airport kiosk or eGate to retrieve the declaration. Keep the confirmation email and reference number, and above all carry the same travel document you confirmed in ArriveCAN, since the kiosk or eGate retrieves your declaration from that document.
One submission can cover a group, within two different limits. [Advance Declaration: Access the ArriveCAN app and create your account](https://www.canada.ca/en/border-services-agency/services/arrivecan/account.html) states that you can provide information for up to 8 travellers, including yourself, in a single submission, and that you need to enter information for all travellers in your group before submitting the details of your trip. At the airport the limit is tighter: [How to submit your Advance Declaration](https://www.canada.ca/en/border-services-agency/services/arrivecan/declaration.html) states that a maximum of 5 travellers can use one kiosk at a time, and solo travellers 14 years of age or above can use eGates. Each traveller remains responsible for their own declaration, as stated in the privacy material summarized in [Advance Declaration and ArriveCAN help topics](https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/arrivecan/help.html). Entering information for someone else does not make their declaration yours; each person certifies their own declaration at the kiosk or eGate.
No fee, QR code, question-by-question screen list, land or cruise availability, or app language list is stated in this guide, because none was stated on the official pages. The CBSA pages state no fee for Advance Declaration, describe retrieval by scanning the same travel document rather than by a QR code, and describe the declaration questions only in general terms. No airport beyond the 10 listed in step 1 is claimed as participating, including Hamilton, which appears on the kiosk list but not on the Advance Declaration list, and no future expansion, usage volume, or facial-recognition feature is claimed. Check the participating-airport list and the submission steps on the CBSA pages linked above before you travel, since the list is the authority for whether Advance Declaration applies to your arrival.