Visa policy of Canada

Entry passport stamp for Canada issued to a citizen of the United States by the Canada Border Services Agency at Vancouver International Airport in 2012.

A foreign national wishing to enter Canada must obtain a temporary resident visa unless he or she is a citizen of one of the 51 eligible visa exempt countries and territories. Every year, more than 35 million people visit Canada.

Canada will introduce a mandatory Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) for all visa-free eligible nationals (excluding US citizens) arriving by air from 29 September 2016. Travelers are able to apply early as of August 1, 2015. Select visa requiring nationals would also be eligible for an eTA.

Visa policy map

  Canada

  Countries with visa-free access to Canada (prior electronic travel authorization - eTA - necessary from 29 September 2016 when arriving by air, except for United States citizens and Permanent Residents of Canada)

  Visa required to enter Canada

Visa exemptions

The citizens of the following countries and territories are able to visit or transit through Canada with a valid passport and without obtaining a visa for a period of up to six months. Visitors are eligible if they are in good health, can convince an immigration officer that they have ties (job, home, financial assets or family) that will take them back to their home country and have enough money for their stay. In some cases a medical exam and letter of invitation may be required.

European Union / EFTA Andorra Antigua and Barbuda Australia Bahamas Barbados Brunei Chile Hong Kong Israel Japan

Monaco New Zealand Papua New Guinea Republic of Korea Samoa San Marino Singapore Solomon Islands Taiwan United States Vatican City

Notes

1. ^ – excluding Bulgaria and Romania.
2. ^ – including British nationals holding Guernsey passport, Manx passport, Jersey passport, British Overseas Territories citizen passports — Anguillan passport, Bermudian passport, British Virgin Islands passport, Caymanian passport, Gibraltar passport, Montserratian passport, Pitcairn Islands passport, Saint Helena passport, Turks and Caicos Islands passport, British National (Overseas) passport and if having the right of abode — British Overseas Citizen passport and British Subject passport.
3. ^ – visa free travel for holders of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region passports only.
4. ^ – holders of national Israeli passports only.
5. ^ – visa free travel only for holders of the ordinary passport issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taiwan that includes their personal identification number.
6. ^ – Including persons lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence who are in possession of their alien registration card (Green card) or can provide other evidence of permanent residence.

Allowed stay

On entry, Canada Border Services Officer (BSO) stamp passports or travel documents and visitors are granted a stay of 6 months from the date of entry. If a specific date was written on the stamp, however, the visitor must leave Canada before that date. Visitors wishing to extend their status date must apply 30 days before it expires.

Inclusion criteria

In order to be added to the visa waiver list a country has to fulfill about 40 conditions, grouped into seven categories:

• socio-economic conditions
• immigration issues
• travel document integrity
• safety and security issues
• border management
• human rights issues
• bilateral considerations.

The decision is made by analyzing all of the criteria in an overall review instead of a checklist so there is a certain level of flexibility.

Electronic travel authorization

In December 2013, the Canadian government announced intention to introduce an Electronic Travel Authorization system (eTA) similar to the US Electronic System for Travel Authorization as part of an action plan to establish a common approach to screening visa-exempt foreign nationals. Privacy Commissioner of Canada expressed concern over the plan. An eTA will become mandatory for all visa-free eligible nationals (except US nationals) and US permanent residents arriving by air from 29 September 2016. Travelers are able to apply early as of August 1, 2015. eTA won't be necessary for overland entry or entry by sea, but solely for arriving by air. Nationals of the United States and citizens of France who are resident in Saint Pierre and Miquelon (when traveling direct from Saint Pierre and Miquelon) are exempt, as well as Permanent Residents of Canada.

Visitors apply through Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada website and are required to pay a cost recovery fee. Visitors have to provide biographic details, passport and background information that is otherwise required in visa applications. Other required data includes information on additional citizenship, available funds, employment information and contact details including residential address. Applicants also have to answer questions about their health, immigration history and on any convictions they may have had in the past. There are no questions on travel plans in Canada. Following a risk assessment of the applicant, an eTA valid for multiple entries to Canada over a period of up to five years should be issued.

Planned expansion

The eTA scheme is planned to expand to include citizens of four other countries with certain conditions. Citizens of the following countries who have held a Canadian visa in the last 10 years or who hold a valid United States non-immigrant visa will be allowed to enter Canada solely with an eTA when arriving by air:

Brazil Bulgaria Mexico Romania

As of April 2016, there is no confirmed date for the expansion, which would only be implemented after the eTA system has been fully implemented on 29 September 2016. Until then, citizens from these countries still need a visa to enter Canada.

Visa-free transit

In addition to visa exempt nationals, the Transit Without Visa (TWOV) program and the China Transit Program (CTP) allow certain foreign nationals to transit through Canada on their way to and from the United States without a Canadian transit visa. They also must hold a valid US visa, travel on an approved airline (either Air Canada, Air China, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, Philippine Airlines, Jazz Air, Sky Regional Airlines, and Air Georgian) and transit through a participating Canadian international airport (either Vancouver International Airport or Toronto Pearson International Airport, Terminal 1 only).

For Transit Without Visa those are the nationals of the following countries:

• Indonesia
• Thailand
• Taiwan (those who do not qualify for the visa exemption)
• Philippines

For China Transit Program, the travellers must hold the People's Republic of China passport and leave from one of the following cities: Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Chengdu, Shenyang, Harbin, Hong Kong, Manila, Seoul Incheon, Taipei, Tokyo Haneda and Tokyo Narita.

There is a plan to allow all passengers to transit without a visa through the Vancouver International Airport.

Canadian visas

Canadian visa

Countries whose citizens undergo a mandatory biometrics collection for a Canadian visa.

Citizens of the majority of countries need a temporary resident visa to visit Canada. They need to apply at one of the consular offices of Canada or at one of the Canadian Visa application centers (run by VFS Global). There is no separate application for business visitors. The temporary resident visa covers all visitors, including those in Canada on business. Some visitors are eligible to apply entirely online. Parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens and permanent residents can apply for the parent and grandparent super visa which allows them to stay for up to two years in Canada without renewing their status.

Citizens of the following 29 countries, as of September and December 2013, also must provide biometrics (fingerprints and photograph):

Afghanistan Albania Algeria Bangladesh Cambodia Colombia DR Congo Egypt Eritrea Haiti

Iran Iraq Jamaica Jordan Laos Lebanon Libya Myanmar Nigeria Pakistan

Palestine Saudi Arabia Somalia South Sudan Sri Lanka Sudan Syria Tunisia Vietnam Yemen

The list is expected to be extended to 148 countries.

Number of tourist visas issued:

Year	Number of visas
2009	543,894
2010	599,200
2011	606,750
2012	664,042
2013	686,128
2014	835,396

Arrival statistics

Most visitors arriving to Canada in 2015 came from the following countries of residence (excluding the United States):

Rank	Country	Number
1	United Kingdom	733,280
2	China	511,234
3	France	507,627
4	Germany	343,716
5	Australia	307,123
6	Japan	294,934
7	Mexico	204,756
8	South Korea	204,741
9	India	200,094
10	Hong Kong	152,624
	Total visiting foreign residents	5,497,083

Visa policy changes

On 5 September 2002, visa restrictions were reintroduced for Saudi Arabian citizens travelling to Canada because 'Saudi Arabia has not demonstrated the necessary will nor that it possesses the infrastructure to deny the use of its passports to terrorists, criminals or other inadmissible persons'.

On 24 September 2002, visa restrictions were reintroduced for Malaysian citizens travelling to Canada because 'the Malaysian passport and passport issuing system are vulnerable to abuse'.

On 11 May 2004, visa restrictions were reintroduced for Costa Rican citizens travelling to Canada because the 'number of Costa Rican nationals travelling to Canada to claim refugee protection or to enter the United States illegally, using Canada as a transit point, continues to grow' and also because there is 'a growing incidence of Costa Rican document abuse by nationals of neighbouring countries'.

On 26 March 2009, visa requirements were lifted for Croatian citizens travelling to Canada because 'immigration violation and visa application refusal rates for Croatian nationals have steadily decreased over the past five years, while the number of refugee claims and removals has remained low'.

On 13 July 2009, visa restrictions were reintroduced for Mexican citizens travelling to Canada because of three main factors: the number of refugee claims for Mexican nationals has substantially increased from less than 3 500 in 2005 to almost 9 500 in 2008, the immigration violation rate has steadily increased over the past three years and the risks related to travel documents, organised crime and corruption.

Canadian citizens enjoy visa-free access to the Schengen Area, which includes the Czech Republic. When the Czech Republic joined the European Union with 9 other countries in 2004, the European Union started a dialogue with the Canadian government to lift visa requirements for citizens of these countries to receive visa reciprocity between the all Schengen countries and Canada. The result was the lifting of visa requirements for Czech citizens in October 2007. However, on 16 July 2009, Canada reintroduced visa requirements for Czech citizens as the overstay percentage was very high because many Roma filed for asylum. The EU urged Canada that "This highly regrettable situation should be brought to an end as soon as possible." In October 2013, following a contentious reform of the refugee determination system that significantly brought down the number of false asylum claims, Canada lifted visa requirement for Czech citizens effective immediately on November 14, 2013.

Starting from 22 November 2010, holders of an ordinary Taiwan passport with a personal identification number were able to enter Canada without a visa because 'TRV refusal rates and the number of immigration violations, removals, and asylum claims by Taiwan passport holders are low'.

On 13 September 2012, Botswana, Namibia, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Swaziland were removed from the list of exempted nations. As a result, citizens of these five countries were required to obtain visas in advance to travel to or transit through Canada. Botswana, Namibia, and Swaziland were removed primarily due to concerns relating to human trafficking (especially of minors) and the use of fraudulent documents. Also, Namibia had the highest immigration violation rate, with 81% of its citizens in Canada committing immigration violations, and 71% of Namibian travellers made asylum claims in 2011 in Canada. Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines were removed mainly because of unreliable travel documents, in particular because 'criminals from these countries can legally change their names and acquire new passports'. In certain cases, citizens of these two countries 'who were removed from Canada as security risks later returned using different passports'. In addition, the removal of Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was prompted by the 'unacceptably high number of asylum claims from St. Lucia and St. Vincent, with about one and a half percent and three percent of the population of these countries making asylum claims in Canada over the past five years'.

On 12 May 2014, Canadian government sources announced a possible removal of visa requirements for Chilean citizens, following its participation as the 38th member of the Visa Waiver Program. Visa requirements were finally lifted on 22 November 2014.

In October 2014, it was reported that the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the European Union might not be ratified by Bulgaria and Romania unless the visa requirement was lifted for their citizens by Canada. Under Canadian legislation, for a country to be added to the visa waiver list there should be less than 3% immigration violations and visa refusal rate of less than 3% over 3 years. For Bulgarians the immigration violation rate was 4.4% in 2013 and the average 3 year visa refusal rate was 15.76%. For Romanians the immigration violation rate was 2.7% in 2013 and the average 3 year visa refusal rate was 15%. Even though the thresholds are not absolute, Canadian authorities notified the EU that political manoeuvre is not possible when the difference between the threshold and rates is too big.

As of 22 November 2014, holders of Saint Kitts and Nevis passports need a visa to enter Canada due to national security concerns.

In December 2014, Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird announced changes in legislation that would allow a visa-free regime for all EU citizens.

In April 2015, the previous Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, announced that Brazilian, Bulgarian, Mexican and Romanian citizens who have recently visited Canada or who have a US non-immigrant visa will be able to visit Canada without a visa but with an electronic authorization from 2016.

Current Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, has committed to abolish visa requirements for Mexicans visiting Canada.

See also

• Immigration to Canada
• Visa requirements for Canadian citizens

External links

• CIC: Countries and territories whose citizens require visas in order to enter Canada as visitors
• Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA)