Three in Four Travelers Get Travel Authorization Right on First Attempt
Service eVisa's Travel Readiness Index found 76% of travelers correctly complete electronic travel authorizations on the first try. Passport data errors are the most common reason for corrections.
NEWARK, Del., Oct. 1, 2026 – Three out of four travelers, or 76 percent, correctly complete their electronic travel authorization on the first attempt, according to the Service eVisa Travel Readiness Index. The data, based on over 10,000 anonymized applications for the UK ETA, US ESTA, Canada eTA, New Zealand NZeTA, and Australia ETA submitted between January 1 and September 1, 2026, indicates a high success rate.
Passport data errors, including incorrect numbers, issue dates, or expiry dates, were the most frequent cause for corrections, accounting for 31% of issues. Other common mistakes included the order of names (19%), confusion between nationality and passport issuing country (13%), and birth date formatting (9%).
Travelers from Singapore, Japan, and Switzerland demonstrated the highest accuracy in their applications. Singaporean travelers achieved a 89.4% first-time success rate, followed by Japan at 88.1% and Switzerland at 86.7%.
Service eVisa provides private assistance for obtaining electronic travel authorizations. The company advises travelers to copy information directly from their passports, ensure names are in the correct order, and apply well in advance of their travel dates to avoid errors.