Canada · temporary visits

Visiting Canada, and the one question underneath every application

Visitor visa, eTA, Super Visa, business visitor, extension — different names for the same regime. Every one of them turns on whether an officer believes you will leave at the end of your stay.

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Which route is yours

Four ways people visit Canada

Most confusion at the start of a visit application is people applying under the wrong heading. These are the headings.

Visitor visa (TRV)

The route for Pakistani passport holders

A counterfoil placed in your passport before you travel. Pakistan is a visa-required country, so this is the route that applies to almost everyone reading this page.

Visit visa from Pakistan

eTA

For visa-exempt nationalities only

An electronic authorisation linked to a passport, for citizens of visa-exempt countries flying to Canada. It is not a cheaper visitor visa — it is a different regime you either fall into or you don’t.

Super Visa

Parents and grandparents

A multiple-entry route for parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens and permanent residents, allowing a materially longer stay per entry than an ordinary visitor visa — with its own medical-insurance and host-income conditions.

Business visitor

Meetings, not employment

You may attend meetings, conferences, negotiations and after-sales work as a visitor. What you may not do is enter the Canadian labour market. That line is narrower than most people assume.

The real test

Will you leave when you’re supposed to?

Canadian regulations require an officer to be satisfied that a temporary resident will leave Canada by the end of the period authorised for their stay. That is the whole decision. Everything else — the bank statements, the invitation letter, the hotel booking — exists only as evidence pointing at that one prediction.

It is worth being precise about the burden. The officer does not have to prove you will overstay. You have to satisfy them that you won’t. A file that is merely not suspicious is not the same as a file that is convincing, and that gap is where most refusals live.

The law also recognises what people call dual intent: wanting to become a permanent resident one day does not, on its own, bar you from temporary status. What matters is whether the officer believes you will comply with the temporary status you are asking for right now.

What actually persuades

What a strong visit file rests on

Ties you are actually returning to
Employment, a business you run, property, dependants, ongoing obligations. Not a list of assets — a reason your life continues in Pakistan.
A purpose that makes sense
A specific, dated, evidenced reason to travel. “Tourism” with no itinerary and no history of travel is not a purpose; it is a gap.
Funds with a history
Money that has been where it is for a while and can be traced to how you earned it. A balance that appeared last month reads as staged, whatever the amount.
A consistent story
What you tell the officer must match your forms, your bank record, your employer’s letter and your host’s letter. Contradictions get read as misrepresentation, not as clerical error.

Said plainly

Visitor applications are refused often, and the reason is structural

We would rather you heard this from us than discovered it after paying.

Refusal is a common outcome on this route, and the reason is structural, not personal. Permanent-residence streams like Express Entry are largely scored: the criteria are published, and you meet them or you don’t. A visitor application is not scored at all. It is judged on an officer’s assessment of your intentions under the temporary resident rules, and it carries no appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division — only judicial review in the Federal Court. IRCC publishes its own approval and refusal figures, which move year to year; if you want the current picture, read it from the source rather than from a consultant’s website, including ours. IRCC temporary residence data on the Open Government portal.

That subjectivity cuts both ways. It means a genuine applicant with a thin travel history can be refused. It also means a case that was refused once can succeed later on better evidence, or be overturned where the decision was unreasonable. What it never means is that anyone can guarantee you an outcome. Read our no-guarantee policy.

One practical consequence: a weak application filed today sits on your immigration record for years and has to be declared on everything you file afterwards. Applying early and badly is more expensive than waiting and applying properly.

After you arrive

Status, extensions and the visitor record

The visa gets you to the border. What happens after that is a separate set of rules people routinely miss.

A visitor visa is travel permission, not status. The officer at the port of entry decides how long you may stay, and that period — not the expiry date printed on the visa — is what governs you. If nothing is stamped or issued, a default period applies; if the officer writes a shorter date, the shorter date wins.

To stay beyond that period you apply, from inside Canada and before your status expires, for a visitor record — a document that extends your stay and states its new end date. It is not a visa and it does not let you re-enter Canada; if you leave, you need valid travel permission to come back.

Applying before expiry matters. Do it in time and you generally keep lawful status while the application is pending. Miss the date and you are out of status, with a restoration process that is time-limited and considerably less forgiving. The default length of stay, the restoration deadline and the fees are all set by IRCC and change, so confirm them at the source before you rely on them — IRCC guidance on extending your stay as a visitor.

Where the visitor route is the wrong application

If your actual plan is to work in Canada, to study a full programme, or to remain permanently, the visitor route is not a way in and we will tell you so rather than file it. Officers read intent, and a visit application made by someone who plainly intends to stay is both likely to fail and likely to make the correct application harder later. If that is you, look at work permits instead, or book a consultation and we will tell you which application actually fits.

Already refused

If you’ve had a refusal

A refusal is not a verdict on you and it is not the end of the route — but reapplying with the same file rarely changes anything. The first step is finding out what the officer actually decided and why, and then choosing honestly between a stronger reapplication and challenging the decision itself.

What to do after a Canadian visa refusal

Straight answers

The questions people actually ask

Do I need a visitor visa or an eTA?

If you hold a Pakistani passport, you need a visitor visa. An eTA is only for citizens of visa-exempt countries, and mostly only when flying. You apply for one or the other, never both. If you hold a second nationality, that can change the answer, and it is worth checking before you file anything.

Why is the visitor visa refused so often?

Because it is decided on a prediction, not a checklist. The officer has to be satisfied you will leave at the end of your authorised stay, and if they are not satisfied, they refuse. Nothing in the application forces them to be satisfied — which is why complete, honest, well-evidenced files still get refused, and why anyone promising you an approval is selling something they don’t own.

Does wanting to immigrate later ruin my visitor application?

Not by itself. Canadian law recognises dual intent: wanting permanent residence eventually does not disqualify you from temporary status, provided the officer is satisfied you will leave at the end of the stay you are asking for. What does damage a case is concealing the intention and being caught, or asking to visit when what you actually want is to stay.

How much money do I need to show?

There is no published figure to hit, and we won’t invent one. What matters is that the funds are proportionate to the trip you have described, that they are yours, and that they have a traceable history. A large balance with no explanation hurts more than a modest one that clearly came from your salary.

What does it cost and how long does it take?

Two separate things: the government fee paid to IRCC, and our professional fee. Both the fee schedule and the current processing times are published by IRCC and both change, so we point you at the source rather than print a number here that may be wrong by the time you read it — see the IRCC fee list at canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/fees.html and the processing-times tool at canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/check-processing-times.html. Our own fee is quoted in writing for your file before you commit.

Can I work or study on a visitor visa?

No. A visitor is not authorised to work, and study is limited to short courses under the rules in force. Business visitors are an exception only in a narrow sense — you may conduct business here for a foreign employer, but you may not take up employment in Canada. If the real plan is to work, the visitor route is the wrong application and filing it can damage the right one.

My visitor visa was refused. Can I just apply again?

You can, but reapplying with the same file usually produces the same result. The useful first step is understanding what the officer actually decided — the refusal letter, and where appropriate the officer’s notes — and then deciding honestly whether a stronger reapplication or a challenge to the decision is the better route.

Before you file

Find out whether your visit application is worth filing

Tell us why you’re travelling, what you can evidence and what your history looks like, and we’ll tell you honestly how your case reads to an officer — including when the answer is to wait.

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