Canada visitor visa (Temporary Residents)

 ▪ Visitor Visa Exemptions
 ▪ Can I change my status after I arrive with a visitor visa to   Canada?

Want to visit Canada? Visiting Canada is a great way to experience all that the country has to offer. The Canadian Visitor Visa is intended for people seeking to visit Canada for a short time. A Temporary Resident Visa will be needed in some cases.

Every year more than 35 million people visit Canada. Canada welcomes these visitors as tourists, students or temporary workers. As a visitor with a resident temporary visa, you will enjoy the many opportunities Canada has to offer as it is the world's second largest country. It is beautiful, big, spacious, rugged, and varied. Its cities are large and modern. It is an advanced G-7 nation offering the best standard of living.

A visitor visa does not allow you to live nor work in Canada. It only gives you the right to enter Canada for a temporary visit. If you are seeking to live and work in Canada on a permanent basis, we invite you to complete our Free Online Assessment.

If you wish to get a visitor visa to Canada, you must submit a visitor visa application to a visa office at a Canadian embassy, high commission or consulate abroad, along with two passport size pictures, proof of available funds, along with a non-refundable processing fee.

Visitor Visa Exemptions


People from many countries do not require a visa to visit Canada.

These include:
 ▪ citizens of Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Austria,  Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Botswana, Brunei, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel (National Passport holders only), Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Republic of Korea, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, Slovenia, Switzerland, United States, and Western Samoa

 ▪ Anyone with in possession of US Green card

 ▪ British citizens and British Overseas Citizens who are re-admissible to the United Kingdom;

 ▪ Citizens of British dependent territories who derive their citizenship through birth, descent, registration or naturalization in one of the British dependent territories of Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn, St. Helena or the Turks and Caicos Islands;

 ▪ Persons holding a valid and subsisting Special Administrative Region passport issued by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China;

Can I change my status after I arrive with a visitor visa to Canada?

A temporary resident enters Canada with a particular status and under specific conditions. A temporary resident who wants to change these conditions and status after arrival must get the approval of an immigration official.

In most cases, temporary residents cannot apply for permanent resident status from within Canada.

Exceptions to this rule include:
 ▪ refugees or protected persons
 ▪ live-in caregivers; and
 ▪ spouses or common-law partners of Canadian citizens or permanent residents