Starting today, Canadians with short-term travel plans to England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland will need an electronic travel authorization — or an ETA.

Travellers will be asked to submit information such as their passport details, dates of travel and modes of transportation, which will be reviewed by authorities.

The digital pre-screening system is new for the U.K., but a similar one has been in place in Canada since 2016.

It's "kind of like doing a pre-approval for a credit card," said W…