Two messages arrive at GetETA more often than any others, and they are really the same message. “I paid and no confirmation email came.” And, years later, “I deleted the email with my eTA number, can you send it again?” Both people are afraid of the same thing: that without the email there is no eTA.
There is. Start with the part that removes most of the panic.
You do not fly on the email
The eTA is an electronic record held on the government’s side and linked to your passport number. At check-in the airline scans your passport and the system answers yes or no. Nobody asks to see the email, the number, or a printout.
So a lost email is an inconvenience, not a lost eTA. What you actually need to establish is one thing: does a valid eTA exist against this passport? And you can answer that without the email — run an eTA status check with your passport details.
Where the email actually goes
In the order we see it:
- Spam or the Promotions tab. Automated approval mail lands there constantly. Search your whole mailbox for “eTA” rather than scrolling the inbox — including folders you never open.
- A typo in the address you typed. One wrong letter and the approval went to a stranger. It cannot be re-sent to a different address, because the address is part of the submitted application — this is one of the mistakes that cannot be edited after submission.
- Someone else’s mailbox. A relative, a travel agent or a colleague applied for you and used their own address. Ask them before doing anything else.
- It has not been issued yet. Sometimes there is simply nothing to deliver — the application is still being reviewed. Most take minutes, some take days.
The money left your card and nothing happened
Check the status first. Three outcomes, three different problems:
- The check finds a valid eTA. Everything worked, only the email went astray. You are done — note the number and fly.
- The check finds a pending application. It is in the queue. Give it the time it needs and do not submit a second one; two applications on one passport slow each other down.
- The check finds nothing at all. Now it is worth looking closely. Either the payment failed and nothing was ever submitted, or the passport number in the application does not match the passport in your hand — often a letter O typed as a zero. If the money did leave your account and no application exists, write to our support with the date and amount and we will trace the payment.
Recovering a number from years ago
This is the second version of the question, and the answer is short: there is nothing to dig out of your inbox, and you do not need to. The eTA is not stored in the email; the email was only a copy. Run a status check on the passport you used and, if the eTA is alive, you will have the number and its expiry date in front of you.
Two things to keep in mind while you do it:
- Use the passport you applied with. If you have renewed since then, the old eTA is gone anyway — a new passport does not inherit it.
- Even if the eTA is found, check its expiry date against your passport’s. An eTA dies with the passport it is attached to, whichever comes first.
What not to do
Do not apply again to “get the email”. A second application on the same passport does not produce a duplicate approval; it produces a flagged case and a longer wait, and you pay twice.
Do not wait for the email if your flight is close. The email is the slowest way to learn something you can check in a minute. Check the status, then decide.
Do not assume “no email” means “refused”. A refusal comes with its own message and its own reasons — and if that is what you are actually facing, read what a refusal means and what to do next.
Official information: after you apply for an eTA