The visitor visa or the temporary resident visa is one of the most sought-after official documents that help you set foot on Canadian soil. It is a piece of a formal paper that is stuck on your passport by the Canadian authorities. The paper proves that you fulfill all the necessary needs to enter Canada.
The majority of the travellers entering Canada opt for a visitor visa. Even if you are transiting through one of the several Canadian airports en route to your final destination, you may have to apply for one. You have the facility of either applying for a visitor visa on paper or online.
To get the Canada visit visa, you have to fulfill specific basic requirements. You need to:
There may be situations wherein you may be asked to undergo a medical examination of yourself and provide a letter of invitation from a permanent resident of Canada.
If you are traveling to Canada with a visit visa, you will be allowed to stay in the country for a maximum period of 6 months.
However, at the port of entry, you may be allowed to either shorten or lengthen your stay beyond 6 months by the border services officer. If this happens, a specific date will be stamped on your passport, by which you need to leave Canada. At times, you may be given a piece of document, known as the visitor record, which will have the date by which you will have to depart from Canada.
If there is no date stamped on your passport, you will be allowed to stay in the country for a maximum duration of 6 months from the time of your arrival or until the expiration of your passport, whichever is earlier.
In case you require a date stamped on your passport, you can speak to the border services officer about it. Just in case you arrive at a Canadian airport with primary inspection kiosks, talk to the officer once you are done with the formalities at the kiosk.
There are certain essential documents that you need to provide along with the application form for the visit visa to Canada. These include:
With effect from the 15th of March, 2016, all passengers entering Canada and with a valid passport from eTA-required countries will have to carry a valid eTA document.
Electronic Travel Authorization or eTA is a requirement for entry into Canada by air for all passengers holding a passport from visa-exempt countries. This document will be linked to a passenger’s passport and will be valid for 5 years or until the expiration date of the passport, whichever is earlier. However, if you get a new passport, you will have to opt for a new eTA.
If you have a valid eTA, you will be allowed to visit Canada as many times as you want. However, such stays cannot extend beyond a maximum of 6 months. If you intend to travel within Canada, you do not require an eTA.
If you have an eTA, that does not guarantee you an entry into Canadian soil. Upon arrival, you may be asked to provide your passport and any other valid and necessary documents by a border services officer. You will have to convince the officer about your eligibility for setting foot on Canadian soil.
Several reasons may deem you unfit to enter Canada. If you are involved in:
There may also be financial, security, and health reasons that may prevent your entry into Canada.
Once your visa application was rejected, there is no use in applying once again. Doing so with the same information, even with a travel or immigration agent, will not alter this decision. There may be two reasons for your application getting rejected:
The application for an eTA is only possible on the official Canadian government website. The process for the application is rather simple and hardly takes a few minutes. Although some requests can take several days to process, many applicants get their eTA approval via an email within a few minutes of submission.
It is always recommended to apply for an eTA before you decide to book your flight to Canada. You will require your valid passport, an email address, and a credit or debit card to complete the eTA application form.
The total processing time needed after submitting your application for a visitor visa to Canada may range from 2 days to 4 weeks. It depends upon several factors, such as documents submitted along with the form, various financial and health proofs, and successful personal interview with an immigration officer.
If you wish to extend your stay in Canada as a visitor, you need to apply for the same minimum 30 days before your visitor status expires. Initially, when you arrive in Canada, you use either your visitor visa or an eTA or passport to enter the Canadian soil.
If you wish to extend your stay in the country as a visitor, you will have to apply for a visitor record. It is not a visa but a piece of document that gives you the status of a visitor in the country and also lets you stay longer. A visitor record has a new expiry date, which is the new date by which you need to leave the country.
We, at Rose Valley, efficiently and effectively guide you through the visa application process and keep you updated with the changing policies in this matter from time to time. We can also take care of the legal formalities in the visa application process for you.