Visitor visa and super visa in Canada

No, and the Act says so in terms. Section 22(2) provides that 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. That is dual intent, and it is the provision most often missed by families who believe a sponsorship in the queue has to be kept quiet.

The two intentions have to be held honestly at the same time. A parent with a permanent residence application pending can still be a genuine visitor, because the visit ends and the permanent application has not been decided. Concealing it is the separate and far worse problem. Misrepresentation under section 40 carries a five year bar on every application, and it is found on omissions more often than on lies.

So declare the pending sponsorship, the relatives here, and every earlier refusal. The officer can see all three in the department's own system regardless.

Nationality decides it, and then how you travel. Section 7(1) of the Regulations is the rule for the first group: a foreign national may not enter Canada to remain on a temporary basis without first obtaining a temporary resident visa, so a citizen of a visa required country needs one whatever the mode of travel. Section 7.1(1) catches everybody exempt from that, and requires an electronic travel authorisation to enter by air, which covers flying in and transiting through a Canadian airport and leaves arrival by car, bus or train needing nothing.

United States citizens are outside the scheme and need neither, only proper identification such as a valid United States passport. Lawful permanent residents of the United States are exempt from the eTA as well, and travel on a valid green card together with a passport from their country of nationality, which is the pair of documents the airline checks at the counter.

The eTA costs $7 and lasts five years or until the passport expires, whichever comes first. It is tied to the passport it was issued against, so a new passport needs a new eTA. A visitor visa costs $100, or $500 for a family of five or more applying together. Biometrics are $85 a person and $170 for a family of two or more, and once given they stand for ten years.

It is a visitor visa, issued on different terms to one group of people. The host has to be the applicant's child or grandchild, by birth or adoption, a citizen, permanent resident or registered Indian, at least 18, living in Canada, and has to meet the minimum necessary income and sign a letter of invitation. In exchange the visa allows entries for up to ten years and a stay of five years at a time rather than six months.

Three requirements have no equivalent on an ordinary visitor visa. A medical examination with a panel physician is always required, not only for long stays from certain countries. Private medical insurance has to be in place covering health care, hospitalisation and repatriation, for at least $100,000, valid for a minimum of one year from the date of entry, and paid for rather than quoted: a quotation is not accepted, though instalments with the deposit paid are.

The insurance rule has a trap in it. The policy may come from a Canadian insurer, or from a foreign company authorised by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions and appearing on its public list, and in that case the policy has to have been issued while that company was carrying on insurance business in Canada. A policy bought abroad from an insurer that is not on that list does not satisfy the requirement, however good the cover is.

The third difference is where the applicant has to be. A super visa is applied for from outside Canada and the visa is printed by an office outside Canada. A parent already here on a visitor record cannot convert to one without leaving.

It has to do more than say the visitor is welcome. For a super visa the letter is a required document and it carries the host's promise of financial support for the whole visit, the names and details of everybody in the household, and the relationship to the applicant. The family size in that letter is what the income is measured against, so a letter that under-counts the household produces an income figure that fails.

On an ordinary visitor visa the letter is not required and does not bind anybody, and it does not decide the application either. It is useful for a narrow purpose: it explains why this trip, at this time, for this long, to this address. An officer reading a purpose that matches the dates, the money and the ties is being given the answer to section 179(b). A letter that only expresses affection adds nothing to the file.

Income is proved with notices of assessment from the Canada Revenue Agency for the year relied on. A spouse or common-law partner may co-sign and add their income. Where a host is employed but recently arrived, pay slips for twelve months, an employer's letter and bank statements can carry the point, but the assessment is what the department asks for first.

Section 187 defines it, and the test is about where the money lives. A business visitor is someone engaging in international business activities in Canada without directly entering the Canadian labour market, which the Regulations then define: the primary source of remuneration for the activities has to be outside Canada, and the principal place of business and the actual place where profits accrue have to remain predominantly outside Canada.

The Regulations name three cases that always qualify. Buying Canadian goods or services for a foreign business or government, or being trained in them. Giving or receiving training inside a Canadian parent or subsidiary of the foreign employer, where any goods or services produced are incidental. Representing a foreign business or government to sell goods for it, so long as the sales are not to the general public in Canada.

Meetings, conferences, site visits and after sales service under a contract sit inside this. Doing the work itself does not, and the line is crossed more often by installation and commissioning work than by anything else. Where it is crossed the answer is a work permit, and that is a different application on a different clock.