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I plan to enter Canada from the US by car via the Douglas Border Crossing. I must complete the ArriveCAN form, which asks my exact day and time of arrival. I don't know the exact time yet.

Can I complete the ArriveCAN form at the last minute at the Canadian border when queuing to enter Canada? That way I can provide the exact arrival time.

I know that one has to compete the ArriveCAN form no longer than 72 hours prior to arrival, but I didn't see any instructions as to the minimum time before arrival it has to be completed.

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Franck Dernoncourt
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    I doubt that's what they expect you to do. Common sense would suggest instead that you fill it out once you know the date and have a reasonable estimate of the arrival time (within a few hours). – Nate Eldredge Sep 12 '21 at 22:29
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    @NateEldredge Thanks, my common sense fails to see the point in indicating the time (and day), so I don't plan to use it. – Franck Dernoncourt Sep 12 '21 at 22:31
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    For one thing, it lets them verify that your planned arrival is less than 72 hours away. For another, it may help them plan border staffing based on expected arrival volumes. Most likely of all, they have lazy programmers who used a pre-built date/time selection widget and ignored that HH:MM was more precision than they had any use for. – Nate Eldredge Sep 12 '21 at 22:35
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    @NateEldredge reason 1 could be handled more efficiently without asking for the time. reason 2 was valid before covid, 72h is likely too short to change schedule, and using history would likely be more efficient. +1 for reason 3: save 10 USD on the coder and cumulatively waste countless hours of human time, which administrations typically excel at. – Franck Dernoncourt Sep 12 '21 at 22:38
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    How could #1 be handled more efficiently? Some people will undoubtedly fail to read the instructions and try to fill out the form for a trip that's a week away, or that is 78 hours away. By asking for the date, the app can check this and let those people know that they have to wait until later, instead of having them show up at the border not knowing their form was invalid. They do need at least the hour; if you fill out the form on Tuesday at noon for a Friday arrival, it matters for the 72-hour rule whether you plan to arrive Friday morning or Friday afternoon. – Nate Eldredge Sep 12 '21 at 22:42
  • @NateEldredge if indicated date is on 3rd day, put a large red warning. – Franck Dernoncourt Sep 12 '21 at 22:43
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    @NateEldredge The entire ArriveCAN system is pointless for land crossing tourists as it’s about quarantine which those tourists will never do (they’ll instead turn around and drive home). But of course bureaucracies loathe to reduce paperwork requirements, especially for foreigners. – JonathanReez Sep 12 '21 at 23:19
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    @NateEldredge the laziest programmers would implement time-picker with seconds precision. Whoa! Actually, ISO8601 allows for millisecond precision :-) – usr-local-ΕΨΗΕΛΩΝ Sep 13 '21 at 10:53
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    FWIW, I went through this procedure in July and was off by a couple hours. Nothing happened, they didn't seem to care. – Mattwmaster58 Sep 13 '21 at 16:37
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    If you are Canadian, you do not even need to use the app. They like it when you do, but you can't be refused entry into your country for not using a smartphone app (no law requiring you to have a smartphone even exists) – CodyBugstein Sep 13 '21 at 19:46
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    @CodyBugstein: they can't refuse entry, but you can be required to quarantine after you arrive if you don't use the app, which is a huge pain in the butt. If you follow the ArriveCAN rules you will typically be exempted from quarantine (we didn't even have to do a COVID test upon arrival). – Ben Bolker Sep 13 '21 at 22:37
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    It asks for your planned arrival time. Surely you can put the time you plan to arrive, if there is no traffic, or the normal amount of traffic, or whatever. That's the truth. You may actually arrive somewhat before or after that: in the unlikely event that someone asks about it, a simple "I planned to arrive at noon, but as it turns out there have been really long lines here today" would be both truthful and reasonable. – Kate Gregory Sep 13 '21 at 23:35
  • @KateGregory thanks it also asks for the planned port of entry but I don't know whether indicating a port of entry that is different from the port of entry one eventually uses would be appreciated by the border agents. Stricto sensu I agree that you are correct though. – Franck Dernoncourt Sep 13 '21 at 23:37
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    @usr-local-ΕΨΗΕΛΩΝ No. I already found the laziest programmer--who implemented the system where I got my second vaccine shot. Enter birthdate--calendar shows a month, it has no way to pull back to get a wider view. Had I been born a couple months later it would have been a devilish task (666 swipes.) The system already had my birthdate from the first shot. – Loren Pechtel Sep 14 '21 at 03:46
  • The exact time seemed appropriate for an arrival by air(where you have an exact estimated time of landing - but obviously close to zero plane lands exactly at the estimated time). Like most of these cross-border forms, the point is mostly to get information about you and make sure you comply to all requirements and didn't forget to get tested, to have a proof of vaccination, or a quarantine plan. I stood in line at the airport behind people that didn't get tested before flying, so that's not uncommon. I don't think border agents worry too much about the time of arrival unless you're 12h off. – Vince Dec 20 '21 at 06:10
  • It doesnt matter when you enter it. For example i pulled over bear windsor tunnel and filled it in before entering. So yes you can. – JonH Jan 05 '22 at 17:25

2 Answers2

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Logically speaking they have to allow last minute form submissions because someone living in Blaine or Point Roberts could literally be less than 1 minute away from the Canadian border. So you should be fine doing it at the very last second though keep in mind that there’s barely any cars waiting in line to cross into Canada meaning that you won’t have enough time to do it at the border and there’s nowhere to pull over once you’ve entered the final border crossing area. If you’re driving with someone in the car, have them do it roughly 10 minutes before the crossing. If you’re alone, pull over at the last gas station and get it done.

Though personally I’d just do it the night before, giving them an approximate time of arrival. The limit is only there to ensure you’re not over the 72 hour limit, there’s no actual rule saying you must arrive on that exact moment.

JonathanReez
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  • "...keep in mind that there’s barely any cars waiting in line to cross into Canada." Depends on the border crossing. When I crossed into Alberta on land in July, it took over 2h to get through, even though there was only a handful cars because of testing requirements. – Mattwmaster58 Sep 13 '21 at 16:36
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I don't know about in the line itself.

I forgot to fill the forms out until I saw a highway sign in upstate NY reminding me to do it. Filled out/uploaded the ArriveCAN forms while sitting in a Tim Horton's in Lewiston, NY (in order to use wi-fi and A/C power) within <30 minutes of arriving at the Queenston-Lewiston border crossing. Everything turned out fine (late Sunday evening, there was no line at the border crossing itself), although obviously YMMV.

Got there about 15 minutes after the arrival time I put in the form because it took longer than expected to fuss around with power cords, internet connections, etc.

update: crossed again, this time pulled into the duty-free parking lot just before the border to fill out ArriveCAN. There were other complications, but the ArriveCAN part was fine.

Ben Bolker
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