Citizenship and Immigration committee  No, the individual traveller would need to go online to complete the form.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No. We would expect that they would align with the questions that are now asked of individuals who are applying for a temporary resident visa, but, as Ms. Welbourne said, in some countries there are issues that run deeper than what we think we may need for the eTA to function effectively.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We plan to work with the agency responsible for border security to ensure that the program is aligned with that agency's advance passenger information initiative. This system will make it possible to send the eTA decision to airports and airlines. So that the airlines receive accurate information as quickly as possible to determine whether the individuals can travel to Canada, CIC technologies need to be aligned with the agency's technologies.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  For the moment, we aren't planning to share the information we collect with other countries, not even the United States. Our current framework makes it very difficult to do so. We are negotiating a treaty with the United States on information concerning the people who submit visitor requests.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Again, if there is a need for further information or clarification, the individual would speak to a visa officer to be able to clarify. Perhaps just to take a step back, the process with what we would call a triage centre here in Canada would be that it would be staffed 24/7, and if there were issues like this that came up, there would be a human intervention in Ottawa.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  This would not apply to permanent residents or Canadian citizens. However, we are working with the Canada Border Services Agency, under the rubric of the perimeter strategy, on an entry-exit information system being piloted at two or four ports on the land border. Once expanded to the air mode around 2015-16, it will be an opportunity for the Government of Canada to have a better sense of the residency requirements being met by permanent residents.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We see where other countries are going, particularly the United States, which has had ESTA since 2008, with good success and from which we are learning. A clear example would be issues related to refugee claimants. Under the current system, we estimate the cost to Canadian taxpayers for a rejected claimant runs up to about $50,000 a year with regard to access to social services, welfare, and that sort of thing.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The initial program design is only for the air mode. As we start to look at the volumes of individuals who are passing across the land border, that's where the cooperation with the U.S. is so essential to an alignment between Canada's eTA and the U.S. ESTA to ensure that, once in the perimeter, security risks are absolutely minimized for crossing the 49th parallel, but to really push the risks offshore, outside continental Canada and the United States.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Correct.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  We can do that. I'll ask Ms. Welbourne to speak to the detail.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Yes. In fact, as Ms. Welbourne said, we will be recovering the costs of this program over a period of time, but there will be initial investments required to be able to ramp up, to build the type of supports that you're referring to. For an individual who has adverse information on their file and is directed to see a Canadian visa officer, we are, in our design model, ensuring that there are additional resources available for our operations overseas to be able to deal with those increased reports—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  No.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Well, as I said, we are looking at additional resources for the operational network to be able to deal with added volumes of potential interviews where we're not doing them now, because these are visa-exempt nationals. So—

Citizenship and Immigration committee  There is no plan at this point to share the information beyond Canadian agencies that are responsible for or have a role in the processing of visitor or visa applications.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I guess you could term this as a type of visa requirement. We would look at this as a security screening opportunity to push risks and threats offshore to the extent possible. There will be a fee required for the eTA. We think it will be nominal, a very small fee in comparison with what Australia or the U.S. charge, which I think ranges up to $20 for a one- or two-year period for validity of an eTA.