How long do I have to stay out of Canada once here for a visit?

[Islander68]

I have read in many places that as a season resident , a person from the US can come into Canada and stay at their seasonal/summer home for up to 6 months. but nowhere have I read about how long one must be outside of Canada between stays. so here are a few questions

1)Is this per Calendar year? and Does it have to be a continuous stay of 6 months or can one come for 3 months , leave and come back again for another 3 months?
2)I thought I read somewhere something about 183 days?
3) once you have stayed your 6 months and left Canada, how long do you have to remain outside Canada before being allowed to return?
4) Can I make day trips to Canada to visit friend if it is during the time that I am not supposed to be in Canada?
5) where can this be found in writing or it just an official/unofficial thing?

 

[scylla]

The reason why you haven't been able to find any rules is because there aren't any. How long someone is allowed into Canada as a visitor is ultimately determined by the immigration officer you deal with at the border. Same goes for leaving after a visit to Canada and returning again. There's no black and white rule regarding how long you have to stay outside of Canada - and what happens when you try to re-enter is entirely up to the immigration officer.

However generally speaking, the more time you are spending in Canada (especially if you are spending more time in Canada each year than outside of Canada), the higher the chance you may run into issues with immigration (since immigration may be concerned that the individual is attempting to live in Canada without authorization).

The 183 rule has nothing to do with visiting. It's related to Canada's health care system and the minimum number of days required to keep coverage.

 

[kriv]

I have read in many places that as a season resident , a person from the US can come into Canada and stay at their seasonal/summer home for up to 6 months. but nowhere have I read about how long one must be outside of Canada between stays. so here are a few questions

1)Is this per Calendar year? and Does it have to be a continuous stay of 6 months or can one come for 3 months , leave and come back again for another 3 months?
2)I thought I read somewhere something about 183 days?
3) once you have stayed your 6 months and left Canada, how long do you have to remain outside Canada before being allowed to return?
4) Can I make day trips to Canada to visit friend if it is during the time that I am not supposed to be in Canada?
5) where can this be found in writing or it just an official/unofficial thing?

each time a person enters into canada he has to go through immigration so it all depends on the immigration officer if he is convinced that you are genuine visitor he will let you enter.
- every time you enter into canada as a visitor you are only permitted/authorize to stay upto 6 months unless a different time period specified by the immigration officer while seeking entry. if you are given an entry less than 6 months the entry stamp afix on the passport will have an expiry date on it. if no expiry date on the stamp then it is considered 6 months.
- to extend your stay for more than 6 months you have to apply for the extension.
- if you have a genuine reason to be a visitor you can enter into Canada multiple times, there is no restriction or time bar for coming back. technically you can go out of canada in the morning and return back the same evening. no restriction BUT when every time you come back you have to be a genuine visitor and must have a valid reason to enter canada.

Generally: when you make a trip to canada you are allowed for 6 months, when you leave canada your trip ends. if you require to re-enter into canada again (i.e a 2nd trip) you again get a 6 months for this 2nd trip.

Abuse of visitor status/visa: You can re-enter multiple times into canada no matter how much time you have spend outside of canada as far your intentions are only to visit.
example:
1. MR xyz is a US citizen and he visit his friends/family who are living in canada every month, he spend 2,3 days or a weekend in Canada and goes back.

2. MR ABC is a US citizen he comes to canada spend 5-6 months and then tried to re-enter canada again after 2,3 days.

IN the above examples obviously mr xyz is a genuine visitor (he wont face any problem even if he makes 15 visits to canada in a year).
in case of MR ABC he will be stopped and questioned by the CBSA as his intentions/act seems tobe suspicious. MR ABC will only be allowed to enter into canada once CBSA is convinced that he is a genuine visitor

Hope it helps

 

[Islander68]

It helps a little.... my situation involves a summer residence that is in Canada, more specifically on island in Canada that is off the coast of Maine. The only way on and off the island is to cross through the USA. When at my summer residence I cross that border 3-4 times a week.

My permanent residence is in the USA. For years I have been coming here for 5-6 months during the spring and summer, then return home for the winter months.

Does my crossing the border daily, affect my 6 months in Canada? Does each day that I cross and re-enter, count as a start of a new 6 month period? I have been thinking of staying for part of the winter to experience winter in Canada.
If I came in May and stay until September... then return again in October and cross weekly until say January. Would this be acceptable.. if I cross the border at least once a week?

Would I still be able to claim Seasonal residence status , or would I be considered an overstay?

 

[Jalex23]

It helps a little.... my situation involves a summer residence that is in Canada, more specifically on island in Canada that is off the coast of Maine. The only way on and off the island is to cross through the USA. When at my summer residence I cross that border 3-4 times a week.

My permanent residence is in the USA. For years I have been coming here for 5-6 months during the spring and summer, then return home for the winter months.

Does my crossing the border daily, affect my 6 months in Canada? Does each day that I cross and re-enter, count as a start of a new 6 month period? I have been thinking of staying for part of the winter to experience winter in Canada.
If I came in May and stay until September... then return again in October and cross weekly until say January. Would this be acceptable.. if I cross the border at least once a week?

Would I still be able to claim Seasonal residence status , or would I be considered an overstay?

Too specific to help you with this. This is all up to the CBSA officer.

No, if you are crossing frequently then you will be crossing under the same original visitor status until it expires. Once it expires you will be reassessed.

 

[canuck_in_uk]

No, if you are crossing frequently then you will be crossing under the same original visitor status until it expires. Once it expires you will be reassessed.

Incorrect. A person is reassessed upon every entry to Canada. There is no "original visitor status" that is retained when a person leaves Canada.

 

[Islander68]

So does this mean I can stay at my summer residence for as long as I want as long as I cross the border at least once a week? meaning longer than my allowed 6 months?

 

[canuck_in_uk]

So does this mean I can stay at my summer residence for as long as I want as long as I cross the border at least once a week? meaning longer than my allowed 6 months?

Not necessarily. A CBSA officer can bounce you back at any time if they feel that you are trying to live in Canada as a visitor. A really annoyed officer could even give you a 1 year Exclusion Order. No one on this forum can guarantee that you will continually be allowed re-entry every week without issue.

 

[vfarwaha]

Hello forum, I entered canada on visitor visa in december 2015 and left canada in may 2016. after that I re-entered canada in july 2016, this time I applied for an extention to stay more and i got the extention upto January 2018. I left canada on 2 january 2018 (13 day before my extention was about to expire). Now I want to know that after how much time I can re-enter canada. First time I stayed for about 5 months and second time I stayed for about 18 months.

Any guidence from this forum will be highly appretiated....


Warm thanks !

 

[bellaluna]

Hello forum, I entered canada on visitor visa in december 2015 and left canada in may 2016. after that I re-entered canada in july 2016, this time I applied for an extention to stay more and i got the extention upto January 2018. I left canada on 2 january 2018 (13 day before my extention was about to expire). Now I want to know that after how much time I can re-enter canada. First time I stayed for about 5 months and second time I stayed for about 18 months.

Any guidence from this forum will be highly appretiated....


Warm thanks !

There's no set rule, but the rule of thumb is at least 6 months, better if it's longer than your last stay. I try not to judge, but it looks like you've been using your visitor visa to live in Canada. I'm not a CBSA officer, and this activity makes me suspicious, what more when a CBSA officer looks at your record?

If you have valid reasons to stay in Canada, you should be looking into applying for permanent residence instead.

 

[scylla]

Hello forum, I entered canada on visitor visa in december 2015 and left canada in may 2016. after that I re-entered canada in july 2016, this time I applied for an extention to stay more and i got the extention upto January 2018. I left canada on 2 january 2018 (13 day before my extention was about to expire). Now I want to know that after how much time I can re-enter canada. First time I stayed for about 5 months and second time I stayed for about 18 months.

Any guidence from this forum will be highly appretiated....


Warm thanks !

Given how long you've been in Canada, I would recommend you remain outside of Canada for at least 8 months before attempting to return - longer would be better.

 

[radionnazmiev]

Hi there. I’m in a similar situation. I stayed in Canada for 10 months on visitor visa+extension. Left at the end of November 2017. Applied for a student visa and got rejected. Now at the end of April I’m trying to come back in visitor visa for a couple of weeks. Will I be pulled over at YVR by customs officers? I’m really worried.

 

[Jcb83]

Hey guys. I have a similar yet different situation. My parents are Canadian but I am not, and neither is my wife. We are American/Hong Kkng citizens living long term as permanent residents in Hong Kong. We want to send our kids to school to a private school in Canada and make my parents their guardian while they are in school and the kids would get what’s called a study permit to study in Canada. My wife and I own a holiday house in Canada, and another one in New York. But our main home and business and banking and all other “home” things take place in Hong Kong. We own some businesses in Hong Kong so don’t work day to day jobs there, affording us the luxury of so much travel. Our plan would be to spend 2 weeks in Canada with my parents and our kids and then 2 weeks back in Hong Kong or NY, then 2 weeks in Canada again, then 2 weeks away. And when school is on break for October break, Christmas, spring break, Easter and summer, total of about 12 weeks, neither I nor my wife nor my kids would be in Canada. We’d most likely be in New York or Hong Kong. I see that the school year is approximately 40 weeks in total, so my wife and I would be in Canada for approximately 20 weeks per year, off and on, usually in for 2 weeks, maybe even up to 4 at a time, but definitely not 4-6 months consistently as many on this forum have done, and definitely never exceeding 26 weeks/180 days per year. Would anyone foresee this to be a problem with each re-entry?

 

[Samb6771]

Hello forum.
I am a 20 male US citizenship. I originally came to Canada as a student on a visa to go to school and spend time with my gf of 5 years. I stopped going to school and using my visa about 6 months ago. We are now engaged and I visit and stay about 3 months every 4 months because I wish to spend time with my fiancee. I take online classes from US to manege this. Will I run into trouble with immegration?

 

[savyamu]

hi,
My parents got a visitor visa before we landed in Canada as permanent residents. They came to see us last year for 20 days only, This year after a gap of about 8 months, they will visit us again for 4 months... does it seems alright, or what are the expected questions on airport entry??