Visiting Canada: TRV, eTA, and Entry Requirements

Maybe your daughter just had her first baby and you want to be there for the early weeks. Maybe you are quietly weighing a bigger move and want to see Canada for yourself first. Whatever is bringing you here, the rules around visiting are not as tangled as they look. Here is what actually matters, in plain terms.

Which document you need to get in

There are two main entry documents, and which one you need comes down to the passport you hold and how you are travelling.

A visitor visa (TRV)

A visitor visa, officially a Temporary Resident Visa, is a document IRCC places inside your passport. You need one if you are a citizen of a visa-required country. A visitor visa can be valid for up to ten years, or until your passport or biometrics expire, whichever comes first, so a single approval can cover many trips. You can confirm the current application fee on the official IRCC fee list.

An Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA)

If you are from a visa-exempt country, you do not need a visa. Instead you need an eTA, which is linked electronically to your passport. One important detail people miss: an eTA is only for travelling to or through Canada by air. You do not need it if you are arriving by land or by sea. The fee is small and an eTA is generally valid for up to five years, or until your passport expires, whichever comes first. Citizens of some visa-required countries can use an eTA for air travel instead of a visa, so it is worth checking your own situation.

When you do not need either

A few travellers are exempt. Canadian citizens, including dual citizens, travel on a valid Canadian passport. Canadian permanent residents travel on a valid PR card or PR travel document. And lawful permanent residents of the United States can use their valid U.S. status. If one of these is you, you can skip the eTA.

How long you get to stay

Most visitors are allowed to stay for up to six months. But the real decision is made by the border services officer when you arrive, and they can give you more or less than six months depending on your situation. If they do, they write the date you must leave by right in your passport.

So the first thing to do after you land is check your passport. If there is a date, that date governs everything. If you did not get a stamp at all, you can generally stay for six months from the day you entered, or until your passport or biometrics expire, whichever comes first. The point is simple: your authorized stay is what counts, never a date you assumed in your head.

What you cannot do as a visitor

A visitor visa lets you visit, and the limits are mostly about work and study.

• You cannot work, paid or unpaid, without a work permit. Interviews and networking are fine; doing the job is not.
• You cannot enrol in a study program longer than six months without a study permit. A short course of six months or less is generally allowed.
• You cannot stay past the date your status allows, whether that is the date in your passport or the six months from your entry.

Staying longer with a visitor record

If you find you need more time, you do not have to leave and start over. You apply for a visitor record, which is an extension that sets a new date by which you must leave. Apply online through your IRCC account, and apply well before your current status runs out. IRCC recommends giving yourself a comfortable cushion ahead of your expiry date rather than leaving it to the last week; the extend your stay page spells out the current timing.

A visitor record is not a visa, and it does not let you re-enter Canada if you leave. It is purely about how long you may stay this time. Once it is approved, the document itself takes a little while to reach you after the decision letter, so keep your paperwork together in the meantime.

Here is the reassuring part. If you apply to extend before your status expires, you keep legal status while IRCC works through your application. This is called maintained status (you may have heard the older term, implied status). You can stay in Canada under the same conditions until a decision is made, so a slow processing time does not put you out of status. Keep your confirmation number handy.

If your status has already expired

If time got away from you and your status has already lapsed, breathe. You generally have 90 days from the day you lost your status to apply to restore it as a visitor. A fee applies, restoration is not guaranteed, and the exact cost is best confirmed on the live IRCC fee list rather than from memory, but the door is genuinely open during that window. After 90 days, you would need to leave Canada and apply again from outside. Either way, the sooner you act, the better your footing, because an unaddressed overstay can follow you into future applications.

A few things worth checking before you book

Biometrics, meaning your fingerprints and photo, may be required. If they are, pay the biometrics fee when you submit your application so nothing stalls, and be ready for IRCC to use them to confirm your identity when you arrive. And if you are connecting through a Canadian airport on your way somewhere else, check whether your passport needs a transit visa, because some nationalities do even for a flight that never leaves the terminal.