Canada Opens the eTA to Indonesian and Malaysian Travellers: Two Conditions Decide If You Qualify

Canada has added Indonesia and Malaysia to its partial visa-exemption list. Under regulations published in the Canada Gazette, Part II, the change took effect at 5:30 a.m. EDT on 26 May 2026.

Eligible citizens of both countries can now travel to Canada by air on an Electronic Travel Authorisation instead of applying for a Temporary Resident Visa.

The two conditions
This is a partial exemption, not a general one, and the qualifying test is where most readers will find out whether it applies to them.

To use the eTA route, an Indonesian or Malaysian citizen must either have held a Canadian Temporary Resident Visa within the previous 10 years, or hold a valid United States non-immigrant visa.

Meet one of those, and the lighter route is open. Meet neither, and nothing has changed: the full Temporary Resident Visa process still applies.


Why the distinction matters
The two routes are not comparable in effort. An eTA is an online authorisation linked electronically to your passport, valid for up to five years or until the passport expires, permitting stays of up to six months per entry. A Temporary Resident Visa is a full application with documentation, processing time and, in many cases, biometrics.

For travellers who qualify, this is a genuine simplification. For those who do not, the headline is misleading, and planning a trip on the assumption that Canada is now easy to enter would be a mistake.

Air travel only
The eTA applies to travellers arriving by air. It is not the document for entering Canada by land or sea, and travellers driving in from the United States are on a different set of rules.

How large is this change?
Modest, by Ottawa's own estimate. The regulatory analysis projects around 4,300 additional visitors a year from the two countries combined.

That figure is a useful corrective. This is a targeted facilitation for travellers who have already been vetted by Canada or the United States, not an opening of the market.

An eTA is not a guarantee of entry
Canada states this explicitly. An approved eTA permits you to board a flight to Canada. The border services officer at the port of entry makes the admission decision.

What to do
Check the two conditions against your own history before you plan. If you held a Canadian visa in the last decade, find the details; you will need them. If you hold a current US non-immigrant visa, check it is still valid, not merely unexpired in appearance.

If neither applies, budget the time for the full visa route and start earlier than you think you need to.

Verified against Canada Gazette, Part II (SOR/2026-87) and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada guidance.