ETA Criminal Conviction processing time

[bamboocottonbuds]

Hi,

I have a flight booked to the USA in two weeks (from the UK). The flight has a transfer in Canada. I foolishly booked this not realising that I would need an ETA to even transit (please correct me if I am wrong) and that the ETA required disclosure of all convictions.

I have a historic minor conviction (well over 10 years old).

I applied for the ETA in May, was quickly asked to upload a police certificate. Which I got and uploaded in mid May. The certificate does not show anything as the conviction is spent.

I have not heard anything from the Canadian authorities. I have chased them twice and only received generic 'we are processing your application' responses. I have emailed the London office this morning but have no idea how long they will take to respond.

My questions is, does anyone know how long it is taking to process these applications? I understand should be deemed rehabilitated so it should be granted, so the issue is just ensuring someone looks at it asap.

I am now very anxious about my travel date. I am wondering if I should cut my losses and try and book an alternative flight (although my original flight is non-refundable). But have no idea if they are likely to respond soon. Booking an alternative will cost a lot and is on the cusp of my personal affordability.

If anyone has any knowledge about processing times or anyway I can encourage the application to be looked at ASAP, I would be very grateful.

Many thanks.

 

[scylla]

Hi,

I have a flight booked to the USA in two weeks (from the UK). The flight has a transfer in Canada. I foolishly booked this not realising that I would need an ETA to even transit (please correct me if I am wrong) and that the ETA required disclosure of all convictions.

I have a historic minor conviction (well over 10 years old).

I applied for the ETA in May, was quickly asked to upload a police certificate. Which I got and uploaded in mid May. The certificate does not show anything as the conviction is spent.

I have not heard anything from the Canadian authorities. I have chased them twice and only received generic 'we are processing your application' responses. I have emailed the London office this morning but have no idea how long they will take to respond.

My questions is, does anyone know how long it is taking to process these applications? I understand should be deemed rehabilitated so it should be granted, so the issue is just ensuring someone looks at it asap.

I am now very anxious about my travel date. I am wondering if I should cut my losses and try and book an alternative flight (although my original flight is non-refundable). But have no idea if they are likely to respond soon. Booking an alternative will cost a lot and is on the cusp of my personal affordability.

If anyone has any knowledge about processing times or anyway I can encourage the application to be looked at ASAP, I would be very grateful.

Many thanks.

Best advice anyone here can give you is to rebook the flight without the transit through Canada.

Your eTA is non-standard due to the spent conviction. Based on experiences on this forum, non-standard eTAs are taking a few months to process right now since they have to be reviewed by an individual officer and there is a huge backlog of applications at this time.

There is no way to expedite the eTA or have someone look at it asap.

You could of course roll the dice and hope it's look at within the next two weeks. However most others we've seen here recently have been waiting significantly longer.

 

[scylla]

Hi,

I have a flight booked to the USA in two weeks (from the UK). The flight has a transfer in Canada. I foolishly booked this not realising that I would need an ETA to even transit (please correct me if I am wrong) and that the ETA required disclosure of all convictions.

I have a historic minor conviction (well over 10 years old).

I applied for the ETA in May, was quickly asked to upload a police certificate. Which I got and uploaded in mid May. The certificate does not show anything as the conviction is spent.

I have not heard anything from the Canadian authorities. I have chased them twice and only received generic 'we are processing your application' responses. I have emailed the London office this morning but have no idea how long they will take to respond.

My questions is, does anyone know how long it is taking to process these applications? I understand should be deemed rehabilitated so it should be granted, so the issue is just ensuring someone looks at it asap.

I am now very anxious about my travel date. I am wondering if I should cut my losses and try and book an alternative flight (although my original flight is non-refundable). But have no idea if they are likely to respond soon. Booking an alternative will cost a lot and is on the cusp of my personal affordability.

If anyone has any knowledge about processing times or anyway I can encourage the application to be looked at ASAP, I would be very grateful.

Many thanks.

Oh - and yes, you need an eTA to transit. You won't be allowed to board the plane without one.

 

[bamboocottonbuds]

Thanks for the reply and information, very helpful even if its not the answer I was looking for. Frustrating!