Temporary Resident Visas, better known as visitor visas, to Canada can take many shapes and forms. Typically, they can be for the purpose of tourism, visiting family, or conducting exploratory visits for the purpose of future investments. In 2017, a total of 1,438,633 Temporary Resident Visas and 3,932,529 electronic travel authorizations were approved for visitors.
Acquiring a temporary resident visa to Canada is a difficult process. Ultimately, the decision is always in the hands of the Visa Officer who has quite some discretion.
A temporary resident visa application can be refused on a number of grounds, including:
- security
- human or international rights violations
- criminality
- organized crime
- health
- financial reasons
- misrepresentation
- non-compliance with the Act
- inadmissible family member
However, one of the most common grounds for refusal is that the applicant has not demonstrated that they would return to their country of residence upon the end of their authorized period of stay. This is evaluated by looking at a variety of factors including, but not limited to:
- the purpose of the visit
- the applicant’s financial support and stability at home
- the applicant’s financial support and stability in Canada
- the applicant’s family circumstances
- travel history
- history of refused visa applications to Canada and other countries world wide
As would be expected, previous refusals are viewed as a negative factor in the submission of a new application for a temporary resident visa to Canada. Preparing a temporary resident visa application requires the collecting of various documentation that provides support for the factors addressed above. An application for a temporary resident visa can be made online, or by paper.
What to do if your temporary resident visa has been refused?
You can appeal a temporary resident visa refusal to the Federal Court of Canada through an Application for Leave for Judicial Review. However, the timeline for when you can make this appeal varies and depends primarily on where the refusal decision was made:
- The refusal decision was made in Canada: 15 days from the date of the refusal
- The refusal decision was made outside Canada: 60 days from the date of the refusal
*Disclaimer: The blog sets out a variety of materials relating to the law to be used for educational and non-commercial purposes only; the author(s) of the blog do not intend the blog to be a source of legal advice. Please retain and seek the advice of a lawyer and use your own good judgement before choosing to act on any information included in the blog. If you choose to rely on the materials, you do so entirely at your own risk.
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