Starting early next year, millions of annual visitors who don't require a visa to enter Canada will nevertheless need to obtain preapproval from Ottawa under a new border-security regime designed to bar unwanted arrivals – including returning jihadis.

Air travellers will have to pay $7 and receive an "electronic travel authorization" (eTA) before boarding a flight to Canada under a 2011 deal between Washington and Ottawa to better protect North America from security threats.

The Canadian government announced Wednesday that this new prescreening regime, which has received relatively little public attention, will be mandatory as of March 15, 2016. The eTA will be valid for five years.

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"These amendments will enable Canada to adopt a strengthened methodology in order to better identify high-risk travellers, such as persons known to be foreign fighters, and prevent them from travelling to Canada," the federal government said in a notice.

It is specifically targeting air travellers from countries whose nationals are permitted to visit Canada without a visa, reasoning that this group receives the least scrutiny from authorities. "Visa-exempt foreign nationals are not systematically screened for admissibility until they arrive at a Canadian port of entry," the government said.

Similar prescreening systems are already in place in the United States and Australia.

Americans will be exempt from this new air-travel requirement, as will some categories of foreigners merely passing through Canada, including air crews. The Queen and members of the Royal Family will also be granted a pass.

The government concedes the measure could discourage visitors at first. "It is acknowledged that there may be some minimal short-term impacts on tourism associated with the transition to the new eTA requirements," Ottawa said in a statement.

It says this prescreening will save Canada the trouble of turning back unwanted arrivals after they've landed. More than 7,000 people from countries other than the United States – people who did not require visas to enter Canada – were found inadmissible after arriving at Canadian airports in 2012 and 2013.

The government estimates prescreening will prevent more than 60,000 unwanted arrivals from flying to Canada over the next decade.

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Rob Taylor, vice-president of public and industry affairs at the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, said it's crucial this new travel authorization is as easy as possible for visitors to obtain – or tourists frustrated by the requirement could head elsewhere.

"The international marketplace for international travellers is extremely competitive," he said.

The new travel authorization will require people planning to reach Canada by air to give the Canadian government biographical details about themselves so authorities can check their names against databases to determine if they pose a "threat to the health … safety or security of Canada."