Are you in Canada on a visitor visa?

There have been some important changes to temporary resident visas: on June 3, 2011, Citizenship and Immigration Canada wrote an e-mail to all Canadian embassies abroad regarding visitor visas to Canada. We have recently provided information on the 2Vancouver.com website about visitor visas to Canada, and encourage you to read our previous post here.

The June 3 e-mail encourages immigration officers to issue long term multiple-entry visas to visa applicants whenever possible. It specifically states that multiple-entry visas should be generally be issued to those whose permanent residence applications are being processed, and to business travelers.

Recently re-iterated in an news release, Citizenship and Immigration Canada has specifically instructed that such multiple-entry visas should be issued for as long a validity period as possible. (The longest a temporary resident visa can be issued for is the duration of a passport.)

What does this mean for travellers to Canada? The Canadian government appears to be moving towards the issuance of long term multiple-entry visas as the norm. All immigration officers have been instructed to encourage certain applicants to apply for multiple-entry visas instead of single-entry ones wherever possible.  

Applicants are still required to demonstrate that they will leave Canada prior to their temporary resident status expiring, that they are not criminally, medically, or otherwise inadmissible, and that they will not engage in unauthorized work or study.  


Article courtesy of Ryan Rosenberg & Steven Meurrens, Canadian Immigration Lawyers based in Vancouver BC. 


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