Advance Declaration in ArriveCAN App Expands to Ottawa and Toronto Billy Bishop Airports

Canada Border Services Agency says its Advance Declaration feature within the ArriveCAN app has expanded to more airports, as part of its nationwide rollout.

The CBSA announced yesterday all travellers arriving on international flights at the Ottawa International Airport (YOW) and Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ) can now use Advance Declaration to skip long line-ups.

The feature allows travellers to provide customs and immigration declarations up to 72 hours in advance. Ottawa International Airport and Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport join the following airports that have seen a stretched-out rollout of the feature:

• Toronto Pearson
• Montreal-Trudeau
• Winnipeg Richardson
• Vancouver
• Halifax Stanfield
• Québec City Jean-Lesage
• Calgary

The last airport set to gain Advance Declaration will be Edmonton International Airport, which CBSA says will get the feature “in the coming weeks.”

Previously, Advance Declaration was only available on the web, but this rollout brings it within the ArriveCAN mobile app which cost taxpayers $54 million to produce, thanks to outsourcing by a two-person team.

The mere mention of ArriveCAN has been reduced in the CBSA press releases. Back in October, it was mentioned five times and right within the main press release body text. Yesterday’s press release only mentions ArriveCAN three times but pushed to the very bottom under the ‘Quick facts’ section. It’s no longer mentioned under ‘Associated links’ anymore as well.

It appears ArriveCAN is yesterday’s news, as it was once required to fill out COVID-19 vaccination requirements for international travellers arriving in Canada.

But according to Global News analysis of ArriveCAN Advance Declaration usage, travellers are still using the app. From October 1, 2022, to January 31, 2023, 14.98% (1.08 million) of 7.2 million arrivals used ArriveCAN.

According to the CBSA, it plans to continue to modernize border operations. One planned feature is to use facial recognition to speed up the identification of users, when paired with a copy of a traveller’s passport in the ArriveCAN app.