ArriveCan

On the advice of several people, we decided to create our Canadian government ArriveCan account and enter our passport and COVID vaccine information before we left on our trip.

When we looked at the website, it stated that the information could be entered either using your phone or your PC using their web site. We chose the web site, because we prefer using the larger keyboard and monitor as opposed to the phone’s virtual keyboard and tiny screen.

Setting up the account was easy enough. As instructed by the web site, I attempted to enter the passenger information. I entered both my name and Marg’s name and stated that purpose of the trip was a vacation. But I couldn’t find anywhere to enter our passport and vaccine information.  It seemed to indicate that information could only be entered 72 hours prior to the landing back in Canada. Now I might have missed that option, but I’ll be damned if I could find it.

So, I tried the phone app. After searching around the screen, I finally found the data entry screen I was looking for. After what seemed like multiple attempts to scan in our passports, I was finally able to load that information into the system. Our proof of vaccination file went in very smoothly. So, we’re now officially in the PHAC/Canada Customs system.

After this exercise, I feel for those who are not tech savvy and don’t have either a smartphone or a computer.  Nowhere did I see any mention of the existence of paper forms. What if I don’t have data on my phone or access to a computer, how could I securely enter the arrival information from my vacation site.  This process needs to be re-evaluated by travellers, not techies, especially if it becomes the de facto standard for Canadian Customs