Visitor Visa & eTA

Normally six months from the day you enter. But that is only the default. If the border officer stamps your passport with a specific date, that date governs instead, and if you are issued a visitor record, the date on it governs.

The critical distinction is between your visa and your status. The visa is your permission to travel to Canada and seek entry, and it has its own expiry date. Your status is how long you may remain once admitted. People routinely assume a visa valid for ten years means they may stay for ten years. It does not. Note your entry date and your status expiry date on the day you arrive.

No, and this genuinely surprises people. A visa authorizes you to travel to a Canadian port of entry and seek admission. The decision to admit you is made separately by a Canada Border Services Agency officer when you arrive, who may refuse entry, shorten your permitted stay, or impose conditions.

In practice, refusals at the border are uncommon for travellers whose account is consistent with their application. What causes problems is inconsistency: a different stated purpose, a much longer intended stay, or documents that contradict the application. Officers can see your file. Carry your supporting documents in your hand luggage and answer questions the same way you answered them on the form.

They mean the concrete, documentable things that will pull you back. Steady employment with approved leave and a job to return to. A business you own and operate. Property in your name. A spouse, children, or dependent relatives remaining behind. Ongoing studies. Financial and legal obligations that continue.

What does not work is simply asserting your intention. Every applicant states they will return, so a statement of intent carries almost no weight. What carries weight is evidence created by someone other than you: an employer letter on letterhead confirming your position and approved leave dates, a title deed, a business registration, or a school enrolment record. Build the file from third-party documents, not from promises.

There is no published minimum for a visitor visa. The requirement is that you have sufficient funds for your stay and your return journey, assessed against the trip you have actually described. A two-week visit to family who are hosting you needs far less than a two-month independent tour.

What matters more than the number is provenance. Officers look at the pattern, not simply the balance. A modest account with six months of consistent salary deposits reads far better than a large balance that appeared three weeks before you applied. If a large deposit is genuine, explain it in writing and provide evidence of its source. Unexplained money is one of the most common reasons a financially comfortable applicant is refused.

Yes. This is called dual intent, and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act expressly provides that intending to become a permanent resident does not disqualify you from applying to come temporarily. Having a spouse, parent, or child in Canada is not a disqualification either.

The officer must still be satisfied that you would leave at the end of the authorized stay if the permanent application were refused. Address this directly in the application rather than hoping it will not come up. The worst approach is concealing a pending application, because officers see both files, and inconsistency between them can become a credibility problem rather than an oversight.

You cannot work. Working without authorization is a serious breach that can result in removal and a bar on returning, and it is not cured by the employer being willing or the work being unpaid in the ordinary sense. If you would be entering the Canadian labour market, you need a work permit.

Visitors may generally take a short course or programme of six months or less without a study permit. Anything longer requires one. Separately, business visitors may attend meetings, conferences, and negotiations, and may take orders, provided their remuneration and principal place of business remain outside Canada. That line between business visitor and worker is legally precise, and we assess it before you travel rather than after you are questioned at the border.

Apply for a visitor record from inside Canada before your current status expires. Applying in time gives you maintained status, which means you may lawfully remain while the application is decided, even past your original expiry date. Applying at least thirty days ahead is sensible practice.

Give a genuine reason for the extension and provide evidence for it, in the same way you evidenced the original application. Note also that a visitor record is not a visa. If you leave Canada after your visa has expired, you will need a new visa to return, even if the visitor record itself was still valid.

Act immediately. You may apply to restore your status as a visitor within ninety days of losing it. Restoration is discretionary, carries an additional fee, and requires a credible written explanation of what happened. Beyond ninety days it is not available at all, and you are expected to leave Canada.

Do not simply remain and hope. An overstay affects every future application to Canada and to many other countries, and a period of unlawful presence is far harder to explain later than a restoration application filed promptly. If you are inside the ninety-day window, speak to us this week rather than next month. This is a sensitive situation and we handle it in confidence.

Visitor visa refusals are among the most reversible in the system, because the underlying concern is usually evidentiary rather than legal. There is no appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division, but reconsideration, a properly rebuilt fresh application, and Judicial Review all remain available. We order the GCMS notes first, because the template refusal letter tells you almost nothing about what the officer actually thought. Full detail is on our Refusal and Appeal page.

The initial review is free and carries no obligation. Beyond that you receive a written retainer with a fixed professional fee before any work begins, separate from government fees. We do not guarantee approval and you should treat any representative who does as a warning sign, because Canadian law prohibits guaranteeing an immigration outcome. What we commit to is an honest read on your prospects before you spend anything.