A visitor visa turns on one question: whether an officer believes you will leave at the end of your stay.
The Short Answer
What decides a visitor visa application?
One requirement defeats most applications: an officer must be satisfied that you will leave Canada by the end of the period authorized for your stay. Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, section 179(b), and Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, section 20(1)(b). Nothing turns on whether your trip is genuine or whether you are a good person. It turns on whether the officer, reading your file, believes you will go home.
THE TEST
One Question Decides It
IRCC has told Parliament in terms that the most common reason for refusing a temporary resident visa is a negative assessment that the applicant will leave at the end of their authorised stay. In 2023 it processed roughly 3.3 million visitor visa applications and refused about 1.2 million of them.
The factors officers weigh are published: the purpose of the travel, family ties, assets, travel history and employment. An application that does not speak to all five is relying on an officer to fill the gaps favourably, and on those numbers that is not a safe assumption.
Most refused applications we see are not weak cases. They are strong cases that were never actually argued: documents supplied without an explanation of what they prove, and the central question left for the officer to infer.
DUAL INTENT
Wanting to Stay Is Not a Reason to Refuse You
This is the most commonly misapplied provision in the area, and it is worth quoting in full: An intention by a foreign national to become a permanent resident does not preclude them from becoming a temporary resident if the officer is satisfied that they will leave Canada by the end of the period authorized for their stay. Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, section 22(2).
The correct question is not whether you want to immigrate. It is whether you would leave at the end of your authorised stay if your permanent residence application were refused. IRCC’s own guidance says so, and adds a line worth remembering: the need to assess dual intent is in the Act and cannot be overcome by program delivery instructions.
So a pending sponsorship is not a bar, and an officer who treats it as one has made an error that is reviewable. It is among the clearest grounds we see in refusal files.
THE ROUTE MOST PEOPLE MISS
An eTA Instead of a Visa
If you have held a Canadian visitor visa in the past ten years, or you hold a valid United States non-immigrant visa, two things follow.
The first is CAN+, which may process your application faster. It is automatic. There is nothing to apply for and no fee, and the only document it asks for is a copy of the US visa where that is the basis. IRCC publishes no country or visa office restriction for CAN+, and we will not tell you there is one.
The second matters more. Nationals of seventeen visa-required countries can apply for an electronic travel authorisation instead of a visa when flying to Canada, on exactly those same two conditions. Those countries are:
Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica
Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco
Panama, the Philippines, Seychelles, Thailand
St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines
Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay
An electronic travel authorisation costs $7 against $100 for a visa, and needs no biometrics. The condition is the mode of travel: this route is for flying. Arrive by land or sea and you still need the visa. It is the first thing we check for anyone on that list.
HOW LONG YOU CAN STAY
Not What the Visa Says
The period authorised for a temporary resident is six months, or another period fixed by an officer on the basis of your means of support in Canada, the period you applied to stay, and the expiry of your passport. Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, section 183(2).
Three things routinely catch people out.
The date printed on the visa is the date by which you must arrive. It is not a date by which you must leave and it says nothing about how long you may stay.
Your authorised period also ends ten years after the day you last provided biometrics, whatever the visa says. Section 183(4)(c.1).
You do not choose between a single entry and a multiple entry visa. The same fee applies to both and IRCC decides which to issue.
If you want to stay beyond your authorised period you must apply before it ends, not after. Applying in time keeps your status alive while the application is decided. Applying late means you are out of status and looking at restoration instead, which is a harder and more expensive position. We set out both on our pages on maintained status and restoration of status.
Government fees. Visitor visa $100 a person, or $500 for a family of five or more. Biometrics $85 a person, or $170 for a family of two or more. Electronic travel authorisation $7. Extending your stay with a visitor record $100. Restoring status after it has lapsed $246.25. These change, so we confirm them at the time.
We do not publish a processing time. IRCC’s own figure varies by country, is served through a live tool, and excludes the time taken to give biometrics, so a number printed here would be wrong within weeks. We will check the current figure for your country when you call.
General information
This page is general information about Ontario and Canadian law published by Lexaltico LLP. It is not legal advice, it does not account for the facts of any particular situation, and reading it does not create a solicitor-client relationship. Rules change, and whether any option is available to you depends on your own circumstances.
I have family in Canada. Does that count against me?
Family ties are one of the five factors officers weigh and they cut both ways: they explain the purpose of the visit, and they are also a reason an officer may think you will stay. What decides it is the overall picture of whether you will return, which is why ties to your home country, your employment and your assets need to be evidenced rather than asserted.
I have applied for permanent residence. Should I wait before visiting?
Not necessarily, and the law is expressly on your side. An intention to become a permanent resident does not preclude you from becoming a temporary resident, provided the officer is satisfied you would leave at the end of your authorised stay. The application has to answer that question directly rather than hope it does not come up.
My visa says it expires next year. Can I stay until then?
No. That date is the last date on which you may arrive in Canada. How long you may stay is decided separately, at six months by default or by the officer at the border, and it can be shorter. If you want to stay longer you must apply before your authorised period ends.
Do I need a visa or an eTA?
It depends on your nationality and how you are travelling. Visa-exempt nationals need an electronic travel authorisation to fly, and need neither to enter by land or sea. Nationals of seventeen visa-required countries can use an eTA instead of a visa when flying, if they have held a Canadian visitor visa in the past ten years or hold a valid US non-immigrant visa. Everyone else needs a visa. Tell us your passport and how you plan to arrive and we will tell you which applies.
What is CAN+ and do I have to apply for it?
It is faster processing, and no. If you held a Canadian visa in the last ten years or hold a valid US non-immigrant visa, your application is processed under CAN+ automatically. There is no separate application and no fee. The only document is a copy of the US visa if that is the basis. IRCC publishes no restriction by country or visa office.
How much does a visitor visa cost?
The government fee is $100 a person, or $500 for a family of five or more applying together, plus biometrics at $85 a person or $170 for a family of two or more. An electronic travel authorisation, where you qualify for one, is $7 and needs no biometrics. Those are the government fees only.
Start My Enquiry
Visitor Visa Lawyers: Start My Enquiry
Our lawyers offer a no-obligation initial assessment for most matters. If you have been refused before, bring the refusal letter. It is the first thing we read.
Lexaltico LLP
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North York
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No obligation. We will tell you honestly whether we can help.
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Our immigration team replies within 2 business days. Urgent? Call +1 416 333 6200, answered 24/7. Submitting this form does not create a solicitor-client relationship.
Representative Outcomes
Cases We Have Handled
Immigration · 2026
Refugee exclusion set aside on judicial review
Mîra v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2026 FC 603Federal Court · Mr. Justice McHaffie · 6 May 2026 · Docket IMM-21730-24 Our client is a Romanian expert accountant. She says she was prosecuted and convicted in her absence on corruption charges after…
Mîra v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2026 FC 603 Federal Court · Mr. Justice McHaffie · 6 May 2026 · Docket IMM-21730-24
Our client is a Romanian expert accountant. She says she was prosecuted and convicted in her absence on corruption charges after refusing to alter her expert reports to suit prosecutors at Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate. She and her partner claimed refugee protection in Canada in 2018.
How the exclusion arose
The Minister raised exclusion under Article 1F(b) in 2020, then withdrew that intervention in October 2023 after reviewing the evidence. The Refugee Protection Division went on to find our client generally credible and not excluded.
On appeal the Refugee Appeal Division raised exclusion on its own motion, gave notice, and excluded her. The Minister did not intervene. So the finding under review was one the Minister had already abandoned.
What the Court held
The application for judicial review was allowed and the decision set aside for both applicants, on two grounds.
The new evidence. The Division refused fresh evidence of corruption inside the prosecuting authority as irrelevant. The Court found it had mischaracterised the argument and had not engaged with the material at all, which included reporting that linked the prosecutor in our client’s case to indicted officials said to hold influence over prosecutors.
The exclusion finding. The Division reasoned that because Romania is a country where the rule of law prevails, a charge and conviction could be relied on. It cited Arevalo Pineda for that, but not the passages of the same decision requiring an objective assessment of all the claimant’s evidence and satisfaction that the issuing authority itself respects the rule of law. The Court held that reliance on jurisprudence stripped of its qualifying context does not meet the standard, and noted that no assessment of the issuing authority was ever carried out.
On the authority of Qazi, where a claimant alleges the charges are fabricated and has been found credible, the existence of a warrant alone is not enough. The Division had to go further and did not.
Why it was hard
Displacing an Article 1F(b) exclusion is difficult, and considerably harder when the conviction comes from a European Union member state. The presumption that a charge from such a state can be taken at face value is precisely what had to be dislodged, and it was dislodged on the record rather than on assertion.
Outcome
Judicial review allowed. The decision was set aside for both applicants and the appeal remitted to a differently constituted panel. That is the relief sought on a judicial review: the exclusion finding no longer stands and the appeal is heard again before a fresh panel.
“I had the absolute pleasure of working separately with two lawyers from Lexaltico — Pooja Lassi and Matthew Ram — on different matters. The level of professionalism, expertise, and care demonstrated by each of them was consistently exceptional. They do not simply service your needs — they take the time to thoroughly understand your situation and proactively problem-solve.”
SJR
★★★★★
“I had the absolute pleasure of working separately with two lawyers from Lexaltico — Pooja Lassi and Matthew Ram — on different matters. The level of professionalism, expertise, and care demonstrated by each of them was consistently exceptional. They do not simply service your needs — they take the time to thoroughly understand your situation and proactively problem-solve.”
SJR
Who will handle this
A law firm that also runs the applications
Lexaltico LLP works both halves of immigration. Lawyers at the firm
conduct the litigation, which is applications for leave and judicial review in the Federal Court
and the questions of law that come with them. That work can only be done by a lawyer, and it is a
substantial part of what this practice does.
Applications and representation before the Immigration and Refugee Board are
run by our licensed consultants. The consultants below are Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants, licensed by the College of Immigration and
Citizenship Consultants and authorised to represent you for a fee under section 91 of the
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. They may act for you before Immigration, Refugees and
Citizenship Canada and before the divisions of the Board, including the Immigration Appeal Division and
the refugee divisions.
Sehrish MetlaRCICBusiness Immigration · Express Entry · ESDC Application · Global Mobility Programs · Visitor Visas and CAN+sehrish@lexaltico.com
Muhammad JunaidRCICExpress Entry · Sponsorship · Permanent Residence · Visitor Visas and CAN+mjunaid@lexaltico.com
Which of the two your matter needs depends on the matter, and it is settled
at the first consultation before any work begins. It can change partway: a refusal that starts as a fresh
application can end up in the Federal Court, and you are told at the point that happens rather than
afterwards. The firm's lawyers are regulated by the Law Society of Ontario and its immigration
consultants by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants.
Bringing family to Canada
Related pages
Sponsorship, visitor visas and the super visa, and what to do when one is refused.
Use of this website does not establish a solicitor-client relationship between you and Lexaltico LLP. Such a relationship is only formed when Lexaltico LLP has expressly confirmed in writing that it has agreed to act on your behalf. Until that confirmation is provided, no obligation of confidentiality exists.
Not Legal Advice
Information on this website is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Do not act on any information here without first consulting a qualified lawyer licensed in your jurisdiction. Lexaltico LLP disclaims all liability for actions taken or not taken based on this website's contents.
Confidentiality of Enquiries
Do not submit confidential information through this website or by email until a solicitor-client relationship has been confirmed in writing. Information submitted before that point will not be treated as confidential.
Law Society of Ontario Regulation
Lexaltico LLP is regulated by the Law Society of Ontario (LSO) under the Law Society Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. L.8. All lawyers are members in good standing. Alberta matters are handled by lawyers licensed with the Law Society of Alberta (LSA).
Law Society of Alberta
Our Alberta-licensed lawyers are members in good standing of the Law Society of Alberta (LSA).
Immigration Regulatory Body: CICC
Immigration consulting services are provided by Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants (RCICs) in good standing with the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants (CICC) under the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Act, S.C. 2019, c. 29, s. 292.
Estimator & Calculator Tools
The Severance Estimator and Estate Dispute Evaluator are for informational purposes only. Results are estimates and do not account for specific contractual terms, statutory provisions, or judicial discretion. These tools do not create a solicitor-client relationship. Always seek independent legal advice before making any legal decision.
Privacy: PIPEDA and CASL
Your personal information is protected in accordance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), S.C. 2000, c. 5 and Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL). We do not sell your information. Withdraw consent at any time: hello@lexaltico.com.
Initial Assessment
The no-obligation initial assessment is a brief introductory conversation. It does not include a review of your documents and does not constitute legal advice. Lexaltico LLP charges a fee for substantive consultations, including civil litigation, criminal defence and immigration matters; the firm may waive that fee at its discretion. Any fee is disclosed in advance and credited in full toward your account if you retain the firm. Documents are reviewed and advice given only at a paid consultation or once the firm has been retained. No solicitor-client relationship arises, and no duty of confidentiality applies, until confirmed in writing.
Referral Fees: LexKonnect
Where we refer a matter to another firm, including through LexKonnect, we comply with Rule 3.6-6.1 of the Law Society of Ontario’s Rules of Professional Conduct. Any referral fee is set out in the Law Society’s standard referral agreement, signed by you before the referral proceeds, and no fee is payable to us unless and until the receiving firm has been paid for its work. You are never obliged to accept a referral and are free to retain any firm you choose. No referral arrangement affects the independent professional judgment of any lawyer at this firm.
Limitation Periods
Failure to commence proceedings within applicable limitation periods may permanently bar your claim. In Ontario, the general limitation period is two (2) years from discovery under the Limitations Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 24, Sched. B. Seek legal advice promptly.
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Reviews shown on this site are written by third parties and published on platforms we do not control. Each describes one person’s experience of one matter. They are not a promise, a prediction or a guarantee about any other matter, and they should not be read as a statement about the quality of legal services generally. Every case turns on its own facts.
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Lawyers, Paralegals and Consultants
Not everyone at the firm is a lawyer. Licensed paralegals in Ontario may act only within the scope permitted by the Law Society of Ontario, which does not include most family, estate or criminal matters. Immigration consulting may be provided by Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants, who are not lawyers. Each page and each biography states which applies. Ask us at the outset who will handle your matter and under which licence.
Languages
We serve clients in a number of languages. Every page of this site is written and published in English. Where a document, a summary or a conversation is provided in another language, the English version governs in the event of any difference. If you need an interpreter, tell us when you book and we will arrange one.
Lexaltico LLP
Legal Notices
How Lexaltico LLP handles personal information, under PIPEDA and Ontario law.
What we collect
What you give us
When you use a form on this site, email us or telephone us, we collect what you choose to send:
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How we use it
Purpose
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Your rights under PIPEDA
Under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act,
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Enquiries that do not become files
If you contact us and no retainer follows, what you sent is retained only as long as our conflict
records require, then destroyed.
If you are not satisfied with our answer you may complain to the Office of the Privacy
Commissioner of Canada.
Short, and written to be read rather than scrolled past.
The four things that matter most
Nothing on this site is legal advice, however specific it looks.
Using the site or sending a form does not make us your lawyers.
Do not send confidential information before a retainer is signed.
Past results depend on their own facts and do not predict yours.
What this site is
Information, not advice
This site publishes several hundred pages about Ontario law. They are written carefully, they cite
statutes and cases by name, and they are reviewed. None of that makes them advice about your
matter. Law is applied to facts, and we do not know yours.
The difference is practical rather than technical. A page explaining that spousal support is
usually indefinite after a twenty year marriage is accurate as a general statement and may be
wrong about you, because of a domestic contract you signed, a period of separation you have
forgotten, or an income that is not what a tax return says it is.
Law also changes. Pages carry a review date where one is relevant. A page reviewed last year may
not reflect an amendment made since, and a page about a subject currently before an appellate
court may be overtaken between your reading it and your acting on it.
When we become your lawyers
Three things must happen first
A conflict check must be completed. We act for a great many people and
businesses, and we cannot act against a current client or use what we learned from a former one.
That check happens before anything else and occasionally means we have to decline.
We must confirm in writing that we are prepared to act. Not every matter is one we
can take, and saying so early is better than taking a file we cannot properly serve.
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Confidentiality before a retainer
Why you should not send us documents yet
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solicitor client relationship for the privilege to attach to.
It can also create a problem for you. If you send us detailed information about a dispute and we
are later approached by the other side, what you sent may affect whether we can act for either of
you.
So tell us the shape of the problem and leave out the detail: the area of law, roughly when it
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documents come after the retainer.
Results, testimonials and reviews
What they do and do not tell you
Case results described anywhere on this site are real and are described accurately, and they are
specific to their own facts. A settlement at three times the original offer happened because of
that employer, that contract and that person’s history. It says nothing about what your
matter is worth.
Client reviews are the views of the people who wrote them. We do not offer anything in return for
a review, we do not write them, and we do not ask only the clients we expect to be positive.
Calculators on this site produce estimates from the figures you enter. They apply published
formulas and they cannot know about the facts that most often change the answer.
Copyright, links and governing law
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The content of this site belongs to Lexaltico LLP or its licensors. You are welcome to read it,
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Links
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Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent the law permits, Lexaltico LLP is not liable for any loss arising from your
use of, or reliance on, anything published on this website.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the law of Ontario and the federal law of Canada that applies in
Ontario. Lawyers and licensed professionals at the firm are regulated by the Law Society of
Ontario, and marketing on this site is intended to comply with the
Rules of Professional Conduct.
Every limit on what this website tells you, and every thing it does not do, in one
place rather than in small print at the bottom of each page.
Before you rely on anything here
Four limits, and they matter in this order.
Not legal advice
Everything published on this website is general information. It is not legal
advice, it does not take account of the facts of any particular situation, and reading it does not
create a solicitor client relationship. Do not act, or decide not to act, on anything here without
speaking to a lawyer licensed in your jurisdiction about your own circumstances.
Jurisdiction
These pages describe the law of Ontario, and of Alberta only
where a page says so expressly. They do not describe the law of any other province, territory or
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Each page states the law as at the review date shown on it. Legislation is amended and case law
develops. A page accurate when written may no longer be.
Generality
These pages describe how a rule usually works. That is not the same as how it applies to your
facts. The exceptions are where most real matters live, and a page written for a general reader
cannot tell you whether you are inside a rule or inside its exception.
If you contact us
If you are in danger
If you or a child are in immediate danger, call 911.
This website is not an emergency service. Enquiries sent through a form here are read during
business hours and a reply may take up to 2 business days.
Using this website, submitting a form, sending an email or speaking to us on the telephone does
not make us your lawyers. That relationship arises only when the firm has
confirmed in writing that it has agreed to act, a conflict search has been completed, and a
retainer has been signed.
Confidentiality of enquiries
Do not send confidential or sensitive information through this website or by email until we have
confirmed in writing that we can act for you. Information sent before that point is
not treated as confidential and may prevent us from acting for you, or for
someone else, in a connected matter.
Response times
We aim to reply within 2 business days. Contacting us does not guarantee a reply within any
particular period, does not oblige the firm to act, and does not stop, extend or satisfy
any limitation period, filing date or court deadline.
Our telephone line
Our line is answered 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Outside office hours calls are taken
by our intake service, who record your details and pass them to the firm. A lawyer responds during
the next business day, or sooner if the matter is urgent. Answering the telephone is not the same
as giving legal advice, and no relationship arises from that call.
Who we are and how we are regulated
Law Society of Ontario
Lexaltico LLP is regulated by the Law Society of Ontario under the
Law Society Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. L.8. All lawyers practising in
Ontario through the firm are members in good standing.
Law Society of Alberta
Alberta matters are handled by lawyers licensed with, and in good standing with, the
Law Society of Alberta. A lawyer licensed in Ontario is not thereby licensed in
Alberta, and the reverse is also true.
Immigration regulation
Immigration consulting is provided by Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants
in good standing with the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants under the
College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants Act, S.C. 2019, c. 29,
s. 292.
Lawyers, paralegals and consultants
Not everyone at the firm is a lawyer.
Licensed paralegals in Ontario may act only within the scope the Law Society
permits, which does not include most family, estate or criminal matters.
Immigration consultants are regulated by the College, not by a law society,
and are not lawyers.
Law clerks and managers support files but do not give legal advice.
Each page and biography states which applies. Ask at the outset who will handle your matter and
under which licence.
Languages
We serve clients in thirteen languages. Every page of this website is written and published in
English. Where anything is provided in another language, the English
version governs in the event of a difference. If you need an interpreter, tell us when
you book and we will arrange one.
Fees
The initial assessment
The no-obligation initial assessment is a brief introductory
conversation. It does not include a review of your documents and does not constitute
legal advice.
The firm charges a fee for substantive consultations, including in civil litigation,
criminal defence and immigration matters. The firm may waive that fee at its discretion.
Any fee is disclosed in advance and credited in full toward your account if you retain the
firm.
Referral fees
Where we refer a matter to another firm, including through LexKonnect, we comply with Rule 3.6-6.1 of the Law Society of Ontario’s Rules of Professional Conduct. Any referral fee is set out in the Law Society’s standard referral agreement, signed by you before the referral proceeds, and no fee is payable to us unless and until the receiving firm has been paid for its work. You are never obliged to accept a referral and are free to retain any firm you choose. No referral arrangement affects the independent professional judgment of any lawyer at this firm.
What is published on this site
Calculators and estimators
They produce estimates from what you type and cannot know the rest. They do not
account for the terms of your contract, statutory exceptions, or the discretion a court will
apply. Do not make a decision on a number produced by a calculator.
Past results
Any outcome described happened on its own facts, before its own decision maker,
under the law as it stood at the time. Past results do not predict or guarantee the result of any
other case.
Reviews and testimonials
Reviews shown here are written by third parties and published on platforms we do not control. Each
describes one person’s experience of one matter. They are not a promise, a
prediction or a guarantee about any other matter.
Links to other websites
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Limitation periods
Failure to start a proceeding within the applicable limitation period may permanently bar
your claim. In Ontario the general period is two years from discovery
under the Limitations Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 24, Sched. B.
Shorter periods apply to many claims. Seek advice promptly. Nothing on this website extends a
limitation period.
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