Temporary Relaxation of Visitor Visa and Super Visa Requirements for Canada
Posted on 05/07/2023
If you have applied for a Temporary Resident Visa or a Super Visa on or before January 16, 2023, then you may be eligible for exemptions that are meant to streamline the process for you. While these changes are helpful, they are laser-focused and aren’t a complete relaxation of the visitor visa requirements for Canada. However, they are a helpful change.
Let’s see what they are.
I: Super Visa holders or applicants
- If you have applied for a Super Visa on or before January 16, 2023, and your application is still being processed and has not been rejected, and
- You have not had a temporary resident visa, or a study permit, or a work permit, or a permanent resident visa application refused in the previous 4 years,
- Then you will be exempt from the requirement that you must satisfy the immigration officer that you will leave Canada when your visa expires.
It is important to understand that you still have to leave at the end of your visa’s validity period, but what this exemption does is speed up your application’s processing and make the requirements slightly more flexible.
- If you have applied for a Super Visa on or before January 16, 2023, and your application has been approved and you seek to enter Canada for the first time using that newly issued Super Visa,
- Then you will be exempt from the requirement that you must satisfy the immigration officer that you will leave Canada when your visa expires.
Again, please note that you are still subject to Canada’s immigration laws and must leave Canada after your Super Visa expires (with the understanding that under a Super Visa you have multiple entries allowed over a 5-year period).
II: Temporary Resident Visa applicants
- If you have applied for a Visa under the Visitor Class on or before January 16, 2023, and your application is still being processed and has not been rejected, and
- You have not had a temporary resident visa, study permit, work permit, or permanent resident visa refused during the previous 4 years, and
- You are 18 years of age or older, and
- You have not applied for a visa under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel, and
- You have not requested that your visa be granted as a Super Visa,
- Then you will be exempt from the following requirements:
- The requirement that you may be inadmissible for financial reasons
- The requirement that you must satisfy immigration officers that you will leave Canada when your visa expires
- If you have successfully applied for on or before January 16, 2023, and subsequently received a Temporary Resident Visa, then you are exempt from the requirement that you must satisfy immigration officers that you will leave Canada when your visa expires.
Once again, please note that the rules and regulations for Visa holders still apply and that the above exemptions are meant to speed up and make the process a little more flexible, in order to encourage visitors to Canada. They are not an invitation to overstay your visit.
Also, these measures are temporary and will expire on December 31, 2023, and may be revoked an any time without prior notice.
Posted in News Tips and tagged Super visa, Visitor Visa
