Planning a trip to Canada to see family, to travel or to attend an international event? How the application is put together decides how easily it is assessed. We look at your personal circumstances, your travel history, your finances and the purpose of the trip, then build a complete, consistent visitor visa application that answers what IRCC actually asks. The decision is always IRCC’s; our job is to make sure nothing in your file is left unexplained.
Partner and children can apply at the same time
Not required
Varies by country
CAD 185 per person
A visitor visa does not convert into permanent residence. It is temporary status, and nothing about it creates a right to stay. You can use a visit to see the country and look at the labour market, but a work permit application must normally be filed from outside Canada. The temporary policy that allowed visitors to apply from inside the country ended in 2025.
A visitor visa is a travel document issued outside Canada before you travel. It lets you ask a border officer for permission to enter. A visitor record is issued inside Canada, sets or extends the length of an authorised stay, and is not a visa: it does not let you re-enter Canada once you have left.
Yes. There is no formal appeal against a refused temporary resident visa, but you can reapply at any time. A new application should answer whatever the officer was not satisfied about, which is why it is worth requesting the officer’s GCMS notes first. Reconsideration and judicial review at the Federal Court also exist; judicial review is litigation and is handled by a Canadian lawyer, not by a consultant.
Usually up to six months per entry. The border services officer decides the exact period on arrival and may stamp your passport or issue a visitor record. If you are given nothing in writing, the default is six months from the date you entered.
Ask for a free review of your situation. Working through the requirements before you apply costs nothing and is far cheaper than paying the fees twice.
Is the Canada visitor visa proving harder than you expected?
Applying takes time and the documents are unforgiving, so this guide sets out how the process actually works. A Canada visitor visa, formally a temporary resident visa or TRV, lets you enter Canada for a limited period to travel, to see family or to attend an event. Knowing the requirements, the documents and the sequence of steps before you start is what keeps an application straightforward.
Below you will find the types of visitor visa, who qualifies, the fees in CAD, how long a visa stays valid, current processing times and answers to the questions applicants ask most.
A Canada visitor visa (temporary resident visa) is permission for a temporary stay in Canada that lets you enter the country for a set period. It suits people travelling for tourism, family visits or short business trips.
What a Canada visitor visa gives you:
Type of visa:
Single Entry (one entry only)
Multiple Entry (as many entries as you need while it is valid)
Validity:
up to a maximum of 10 years, or until your passport or your biometrics expire — whichever comes first
the stay allowed per entry is normally six months at most
Purpose of travel:
tourism and holidays
visiting family and friends
short business trips, with no right to work
A Canada visitor visa — a Visitor visa, or Temporary Resident Visa — is issued to people who want to spend a short period in Canada. It covers sightseeing, visiting relatives, attending a conference and going to business meetings, and it is temporary status rather than a route to living in the country.
The visitor visa sits within temporary residence and comes in three forms:
A single-entry visa allows one entry to Canada. Once you leave, the visa is spent and you must apply again before you can return. IRCC issues single-entry visas only in limited situations; most applicants are considered for a multiple-entry visa automatically, at no extra cost. The visa shows the dates it is valid for, but it does not set the date you must leave — that is decided by the border services officer when you arrive.
A multiple-entry visa lets you travel to Canada as often as you wish while it remains valid. IRCC issues these for up to a maximum of 10 years, or until your passport or your biometrics expire, whichever comes first. An officer may set a shorter validity depending on your circumstances. Each entry normally allows a stay of up to six months, and the border officer sets the exact period. After you leave you can return at any time while the visa is still valid; there is no fixed waiting period, though repeated back-to-back stays invite questions about whether you are still visiting.
Note: a visitor visa does not authorise work or business activity in Canada. You may take a course only if it runs for six months or less; anything longer requires a study permit.
The super visa is a long-validity multiple-entry visa for the parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens and permanent residents. It is not open to other relatives.
Canada super visa differs from an ordinary multiple-entry visa in how long you may stay. A super visa is valid for up to 10 years, and since July 2022 the rules for each visit are these:
To qualify you need a letter of invitation from your child or grandchild in Canada, proof that their household income meets the minimum required, an immigration medical exam, and private medical insurance of at least CAD 100,000 valid for at least one year.
IRCC assesses a visitor visa application against a short list of points. The ones that decide most cases are these:
A visitor visa application is submitted online to IRCC, not to an embassy counter. These are the documents to have ready:
If you are applying without a letter of invitation, add the following:
The whole application runs online through IRCC. These are the steps, in order:
Create a secure account on the IRCC website and answer the eligibility questions. The system generates a personalised document checklist and the forms for your case. Download the forms, complete them carefully — dates, addresses and employment history have to match your supporting documents — then upload everything and pay the fees.
Any document that is not in English or French must be submitted with a certified translation and the translator’s affidavit or declaration. Take care at this stage. An application with missing, inconsistent or poorly translated documents can be returned as incomplete or refused.
Step three: biometrics
Once you have submitted and paid, IRCC sends a biometric instruction letter. Book your appointment and give your fingerprints and photograph at a visa application centre within the deadline stated in that letter. Where there is no centre in your country — Iran, for example — you travel to the nearest one. Applicants from Iran most often use:
Processing time depends on where you apply from and on how many applications that office is handling. IRCC publishes current times country by country and updates them regularly, so check the figure for your own country before you plan anything.
Times change constantly and complex files take longer than routine ones. For that reason submit the application and complete biometrics at least three months before the date you intend to travel.
If you have already given biometrics for a Canadian application, they stay valid for 10 years. During that period you do not pay the fee again and you do not need to return to a visa application centre.
The government fee is CAD 185 per person: CAD 100 to process the visitor visa and CAD 85 for biometrics. If your biometrics are still valid you pay only the CAD 100. Biometrics for a family applying together are capped at CAD 170 in total.
Budget for the rest as well: travel to the nearest visa application centre, accommodation and flights, certified translations and any documents you have to obtain. None of it is refunded if the application is refused, which is why the basics matter:
Fees are set by IRCC and change from time to time. Confirm the current amounts before you pay.
You have to satisfy the officer that you can pay for the trip yourself. The documents that carry weight are:
Together these make up proof of funds.
How much you need depends on the trip and on who is paying for it. If a close relative in Canada invites you and undertakes to cover your costs, you can show less of your own money, but their financial documents then have to be filed alongside yours.
There is no official minimum. IRCC does not publish a fixed figure for visitor visas, and any adviser quoting a threshold such as CAD 12,000 per person is quoting a number the department has not set. What matters is that your funds are proportionate: flights, accommodation, insurance and daily costs for the full length of the stay, for everyone travelling, with a margin on top.
Two different things get called an extension. If you are inside Canada and want to stay longer, you apply to IRCC to extend your stay as a visitor before your current status expires; if it is approved you receive a visitor record, which sets a new departure date but is not a visa and does not let you re-enter the country. If you are outside Canada and your visa has expired, you file a fresh visitor visa application: current passport, new forms, up-to-date financial documents and the same fees again.
A previous visa helps only in that it creates a record. What an officer looks at is whether you left Canada on time and complied with the conditions of your status. Every application is assessed on its own facts and the decision rests with IRCC. Aval Visa can review your circumstances, tell you plainly where the weaknesses are and prepare the application properly — whether it is a first visitor visa, an extension of stay, or a work permit application filed from outside Canada. Hadi Imani is a Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant, RCIC #R522575, regulated by the CICC.
