ArriveCAN

The app is easy to download. It asks for time of arrival. I had to rstmate the arrival. Because we are driving in it depends on the traffic, how long it takes to get lunch before we arrive at the destination, if we leave on time, etc. It took a long time to find out where we were entering the country. It might be easier if you are familiar with all of the options, but I was not. I could not figure out how to do the scan of my passport. I could scan it on my own scanner but that was not an option. So I had to enter the information manually. I understood that I could not enter the information until 72 hours before entering Canada. However, it did not tell me that it Hass to be 24 hours based on the TIME of entering. I tried to enter the information that morning, but could not enter information such as the time. It was very frustrating. I think clear instructions would have been helpful. There are three of us (we are friends) coming in the same vehicle but we do not live together so each of us filled out our own information. This also caused confusion as to how to accurately enter information. I am looking forward to my time in Canada and hope that getting through customs will be quicker because of the app. Thank you for the opportunity to complete some of the information ahead of our arrival.

Spent several days trying to fill out the ArriveCan form online without the app. Could not login; said the password was incorrect. I requested it to reset the password and gave it my email, but the process locked up at that point; never able to get an email or reset my password. Finally I found out there is an ArriveCan app and I downloaded that. No it would not let me enter in my true embarkation date, because I’m already on the ship and it won’t let me back up beyond today’s date. It also would not let me use or upload a previously scanned copy of my passport; I had to take a new picture online. When filling out my COVID-19 vaccination information, when I went to fill out the second date of vaccination; it would have been nice it’s a calendar reverted back to the date of the first vaccination, because the second vaccination supposed to happen within 30 days at the first. But again it reverted back today’s date, and I had to flip through the months to get back to last year‘s vaccination date. But I will say that I was able to get my information entered through the app; whereas I could not do it online.

This app is supposed to make travel to Canada easier it is a fairly laborious process to fill it out and it doesn’t link well with the border agents. What would make this app better, especially for repeat travelers back to Canada, is to remember some of the basic information about the traveler. The app forces you to manually input information about your identity, vaccination status, and testing every time you return. Although some of these things of course will change over time some of the basic information stays static to the profile of the traveler. My advice is to take the time ahead of your travel to ensure that you have the app precisely completed. The second major issue with the app is the connection with the border agent. We are repeat travelers back to Canada and at the border each time the border agent has given us the permission not to quarantine - double vaccinated and had negative tests. This however was not reflected in the app nor our communications back to the government of Canada. Daily we would receive notifications from the app about needing to quarantine in place even though we were permitted to travel per the discussion with the border agent. This caused us quite a high degree of anxiety not knowing which was right. Again, my advice to all those who are using the app is to ensure that you have clear guidance from your border agent so that you do not have to worry about what the app says.