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New rule

Employer-specific work permit? Since 17 September 2026 IRCC applies four genuineness tests to every job offer, LMIA or not.

Check your offer

Visit Canada · TRV & eTA

Visitor visa or eTA? Find out in three taps.

Almost every traveller needs one or the other — rarely both. Which one depends on your passport, how you’re arriving and what’s already in it. Work it out below, then see how long you can stay once you land. Offices in Brampton and London, Ontario.

Visa or eTA? How long can I stay
  • TRV, eTA & transit
  • Six-month default
  • Refused before? We fix the reason
The view from a window seat on descent over Canada at sunrise: clouds parting over forest, a turquoise river and snow-capped mountains, with the aircraft wing at the edge

Applying for the wrong document costs a fee and weeks of your travel window. Overstaying costs far more.

6monthsStandard authorized stay, unless an officer records a different date
90daysWindow to apply for restoration once status has lapsed
$185Visitor visa $100 + biometrics $85, per person
$7eTA fee — air travel only, usually approved in minutes
New · May 26, 2026

Indonesia and Malaysia joined the eTA-eligible list on May 26, 2026. Citizens of those countries who hold a valid US non-immigrant visa, or held a Canadian visitor visa in the past 10 years, can now fly to Canada on a $7 eTA instead of applying for a visa. Arriving by land or sea still requires a visa. IRCC’s eligibility page →

Document finder

Three questions. One answer.

Canada’s rule is one or the other — almost never both. It turns on nationality, how you arrive and what’s already in your passport. Confirm the result on the official IRCC tool before you book.

Around 140 nationalities are visa-required. Not listed? Pick the closest match or check IRCC's tool.

02How will you arrive?

03Do you hold a valid US non-immigrant visa, or a Canadian visitor visa issued in the past 10 years?

04How many people are travelling?

Everyone on the trip is assessed separately; family fees are capped.

Stay tracker

How long can you stay? Count from the day you landed.

A visitor is normally authorized for six months from the date of entry — unless an officer wrote a different date in your passport, which then governs. To extend or restore that status, the rules, fees and 90-day window live on their own page.

Use the entry stamp in your passport, not the date your visa was issued.

02Did an officer write a date in your passport, or do you hold a visitor record?

No stamp at all is common at airports. With no date recorded, the six-month rule applies.

03Have you applied to extend your stay?

Applying before your status expires lets you remain while IRCC decides. Applying after it expires does not.
—Days left
Authorized until—

Reviewed August 2026 — an estimate, not a determination of your status. A border officer, a visitor record, or your passport expiry can all shorten the period, and conditions on your entry govern over any calculator. Confirm on canada.ca or have us review the entry stamp itself.

The assessment

Four things get weighed. Everything else is supporting evidence.

A visitor application answers one question asked four ways: will this person come, do what they said, and leave when they said? Every document either supports that or quietly undermines it.

  1. 01 · Purpose

    A trip an officer can picture: dates, a reason, and something connecting the two. “Tourism” across an open-ended window reads as an intention to stay.

  2. 02 · Ties

    Employment, property, dependants, studies or a business — weighed against what you would give up by overstaying, not simply listed on a form.

  3. 03 · Funds

    Enough for the trip, held long enough to look ordinary, and explained where a large deposit lands shortly before filing. Source matters as much as balance.

  4. 04 · History

    Prior travel, prior compliance and prior refusals — for any country. An undisclosed refusal is a far larger problem than the refusal itself.

Where files fail

Refusals rarely turn on the truth. They turn on the proof.

Most refused applicants genuinely intended to visit and genuinely intended to leave. The file simply didn’t let an officer conclude that. Re-submitting the same package with a fresh fee almost never changes the result — the refusal reasons have to be answered first.

  1. Ties stated, not evidenced

    An employment letter with no payroll behind it, or property claimed with no title attached. Officers weigh what is proven, not what is asserted.

  2. Funds that appear from nowhere

    A balance that jumps days before filing, with no sale deed, loan document or salary history to explain it.

  3. A purpose that doesn’t fit the plan

    A two-week holiday attached to a six-month request, or an invitation letter naming a host whose own status is never shown.

  4. An undisclosed refusal

    Any country, any visa type. Non-disclosure is treated as misrepresentation and reaches far beyond one refused trip.

Have us read your file Refusals & remedies

Adjacent options

Sometimes the visitor visa isn’t the instrument. These often are.

Good to know

Questions, answered.

Why are visitor visas refused so often?
Almost always for one of four reasons: weak ties to your home country, an unclear or unconvincing purpose, thin or unexplained finances, or limited travel history. Officers are deciding whether you will leave, and the file has to answer that directly.
Do I need a visa or an eTA?
Visa-required nationals need a temporary resident visa. Visa-exempt travellers flying to Canada generally need an electronic travel authorization instead. Which applies depends on your citizenship and how you are travelling.
Does an invitation letter help?
It helps, but it is not the application. An invitation without strong ties, a credible purpose and clear finances rarely changes an outcome.
How long can I stay?
Usually up to six months per entry, but the border officer decides and may authorise less. Check the stamp or any document you receive on arrival rather than assuming six months.
Can I work or study on a visitor visa?
No. Visitor status does not authorise work, and study is limited to short courses. Working without authorisation has consequences that outlast the visit.

More questions on this topic are answered in the Help Centre.

Before you book the flight

Get the document right — and the dates right.

A short consultation confirms your path, tests your ties and funds the way an officer will read them, and puts your extension on the calendar before it becomes a restoration. Brampton, London, or remotely anywhere in Canada.

Get my assessment Book a consultation

General information only, not legal advice, and no consultant–client relationship is created by reading this page. Fees, eligibility and authorized periods change — confirm current requirements on canada.ca before you act. Reviewed August 2026.

Visitor visa review

Why do visitor visas get refused — and will yours?

Send a few details. A licensed RCIC reads your profile personally, then replies with the routes that genuinely fit, the ones that do not, and the consultation fee and next available times.

  1. 01Read personally by a CICC-licensed consultant
  2. 02A written shortlist of the programs you qualify for
  3. 03Fee-based; the fee and times come by reply

CHK Immigration Services, Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (CICC). Offices in Brampton and London, Ontario. Submitting this form does not create a client–consultant relationship; IRCC makes all final decisions. Prefer to talk first? Call 647-948-7200 or book a paid consultation.

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