Leaving Canada before receiving confirmation of restoration visitor status

[Flemish]

Hi, I'm visiting my girlfriend in Canada. I'm from a visa waiver country and can stay in Canada for 6 months. I overstayed those 6 months by a few weeks and wanted to apply to restore my visitor status, which you have an opportunity to do within 90 days after the 6 months have passed.

But for family reasons my girlfriend and I will likely have to make a short trip to Mexico and then Europe, leaving within the next few days.

And I would like to return to Canada after that short trip.

But it is my understanding that if you apply for restoration of visitor status the expectation is that you remain in Canada, at least until you receive the confirmation (or rejection) of your request.

So if I apply for restoration of visitor status but then leave the country before hearing back, I think that creates a problem next time I try to enter Canada.

But if I exit Canada without applying to restore the visitor status that will likely also create a problem when I try to enter Canada next time.

Does anyone have good advise on what to do in this situation? (and of course I shouldn't have thought so lightly about overstaying the 6 months and then applying for restoration of visitor status. That was dumb)

Thanks in advance

 

[Jeet1998]

Dont worry my uncle aunty overstayed 20 days but they apply for extension and they got dont worry

 

[scylla]

Hi, I'm visiting my girlfriend in Canada. I'm from a visa waiver country and can stay in Canada for 6 months. I overstayed those 6 months by a few weeks and wanted to apply to restore my visitor status, which you have an opportunity to do within 90 days after the 6 months have passed.

But for family reasons my girlfriend and I will likely have to make a short trip to Mexico and then Europe, leaving within the next few days.

And I would like to return to Canada after that short trip.

But it is my understanding that if you apply for restoration of visitor status the expectation is that you remain in Canada, at least until you receive the confirmation (or rejection) of your request.

So if I apply for restoration of visitor status but then leave the country before hearing back, I think that creates a problem next time I try to enter Canada.

But if I exit Canada without applying to restore the visitor status that will likely also create a problem when I try to enter Canada next time.

Does anyone have good advise on what to do in this situation? (and of course I shouldn't have thought so lightly about overstaying the 6 months and then applying for restoration of visitor status. That was dumb)

Thanks in advance

There's nothing you can do to guarantee you will be allowed back into Canada when you return. Whether you are allowed into Canada and for how long is always up to CBSA.

Are you leaving within the next few days or is your trip a while off yet? If you aren't leaving immediately, then I would apply to restore your status asap. At least you can then say you made an effort to fix the overstay.

Make sure you have a return ticket when you fly back to Canada.

 

[Flemish]

There's nothing you can do to guarantee you will be allowed back into Canada when you return. Whether you are allowed into Canada and for how long is always up to CBSA.

Are you leaving within the next few days or is your trip a while off yet? If you aren't leaving immediately, then I would apply to restore your status asap. At least you can then say you made an effort to fix the overstay.

Make sure you have a return ticket when you fly back to Canada.

Thanks for your response. We'd have to leave within the next week so I'd definitely not have a response back re the restoration request. And yes, applying to restore visitor status does show that I made an effort to right the wrong. But it would also mean that when I then subsequently try to reenter Canada a few weeks later I would be doing so before the prior wrong was officially righted, so to speak. So I assume that when I'm at the immigration kiosks at the airport it would detect there is an ongoing issue and it'd include that in the printout you get and that you then have to show the officer, which then most likely would mean a secondary inspection interview in which I'd have to make my case, which might be quite a nerve wrecking experience.

If instead i leave Canada without first applying for restoration of visitor status, I guess the question is whether there is any hope that the overstay would have gone undetected. I assume immigration authorities get passenger lists from all airlines, no matter the destination, and so they'd automatically have it in their system that the exit was more than 6 months after the entry. So that's probably not a wise course of action either.

So then yeah, it may be better to apply for restoration of status, then leave, and then hope for the best when trying to reenter.

 

[scylla]

Thanks for your response. We'd have to leave within the next week so I'd definitely not have a response back re the restoration request. And yes, applying to restore visitor status does show that I made an effort to right the wrong. But it would also mean that when I then subsequently try to reenter Canada a few weeks later I would be doing so before the prior wrong was officially righted, so to speak. So I assume that when I'm at the immigration kiosks at the airport it would detect there is an ongoing issue and it'd include that in the printout you get and that you then have to show the officer, which then most likely would mean a secondary inspection interview in which I'd have to make my case, which might be quite a nerve wrecking experience.

If instead i leave Canada without first applying for restoration of visitor status, I guess the question is whether there is any hope that the overstay would have gone undetected. I assume immigration authorities get passenger lists from all airlines, no matter the destination, and so they'd automatically have it in their system that the exit was more than 6 months after the entry. So that's probably not a wise course of action either.

So then yeah, it may be better to apply for restoration of status, then leave, and then hope for the best when trying to reenter.

The overstay is recorded either way.

 

[Flemish]

Maybe the 90 day period in which you can apply to restore your visitor status is treated as a kind of grace period, in the sense that because you have 90 days to apply to restore your status it is not registered in the system as an overstay until those 90 days have passed.

I don't know. I'm probably grasping at straws here.

 

[scylla]

Maybe the 90 day period in which you can apply to restore your visitor status is treated as a kind of grace period, in the sense that because you have 90 days to apply to restore your status it is not registered in the system as an overstay until those 90 days have passed.

I don't know. I'm probably grasping at straws here.

Yes, you're grasping at straws.

It's not a grace period from the perspective of recording the overstay. It's only the period of time you have to restore your status from within Canada. The overstay starts as soon as you fall out of status in Canada.

Again, ultimately what happens at the border when you return is up to CBSA. You certainly want to make sure you have a return ticket since you are not allowed to live in Canada, only visit. It's quite possible you will be asked no questions at all when you return. Or it's possible you may be asked questions in which case you need to answer all questions honestly. I'm not sure how long you are planning to stay in Canada when you return. If for just a few weeks, then likely a much lower chance of any issue. If you're trying for another six month visit, then likely a higher chance you could be asked questions - especially since this will make it seem like you're attempting to live in Canada.

 

[Flemish]

All good points, thanks

 

[Flemish]

Hi, I'm visiting my girlfriend in Canada. I'm from a visa waiver country and can stay in Canada for 6 months. I overstayed those 6 months by a few weeks and wanted to apply to restore my visitor status, which you have an opportunity to do within 90 days after the 6 months have passed.

But for family reasons my girlfriend and I will likely have to make a short trip to Mexico and then Europe, leaving within the next few days.

And I would like to return to Canada after that short trip.

But it is my understanding that if you apply for restoration of visitor status the expectation is that you remain in Canada, at least until you receive the confirmation (or rejection) of your request.

So if I apply for restoration of visitor status but then leave the country before hearing back, I think that creates a problem next time I try to enter Canada.

But if I exit Canada without applying to restore the visitor status that will likely also create a problem when I try to enter Canada next time.

Does anyone have good advise on what to do in this situation? (and of course I shouldn't have thought so lightly about overstaying the 6 months and then applying for restoration of visitor status. That was dumb)

Thanks in advance

So here is what I ended up doing and how it went. I decided *not* to apply for restoration of visitor status and instead would just hope my overstay would go unnoticed. Beforehand I vowed to always be truthful but not necessarily very detailed when asked questions electronically or by an officer, and just face those consequences. Anyway, I left Canada by flying directly to Mexico avoiding any stop or stay in the US because I was concerned about immigration record sharing by US and CAD authorities. I entered Mexico without problems and had a ticket for the US when entering Mexico to show if Mexican immigration asked for an exit ticket. But they didn't ask. In Mexico I did my thing. Then flew from Mexico to the US, on a return ticket (to mexico). In the US did my thing. I originally was going to return to Mexico and then try to enter Canada via Mexico but ended up just trying to enter Canada from the US directly, now being able to show i had entered the US from Mexico instead of Canada. In the meantime I had to apply for electronic travel authorization for Canada before I tried entering. And got it approved. Which was a relief. But I knew I wasn't out of the woods yet. Anyway, I got a return ticket to Canada from the US with a stay for 4 days but the return ticket was a 100% refundable one. Upon arrival I did the kiosk thing, got a receipt, and then bypassing lots of other passengers could immediately walk to the front of the special line for people with a kiosk receipt. An officer took my receipt, asked a few questions that I answered technically truthfully but not with the degree of detail that might cause a raised eyebrow, and I was in.

It was quite a nerve-wracking experience though, and with one question in particular that the officer at the airport asked me, if he had asked just one more follow-up question my truthful answer to that would have no doubt caused suspicion in him that I was trying to stay there for longer and i would have been sent to the secondary interview area, and that would have not gone well. So it was a close call and I will definitely not overstay again, and my gf and i will apply for PR for me as soon as possible to avoid this ordeal in the future.

tl;dr: seems that when they electronically evaluate your past travel history they can't see that you overstayed your visa, or they don't care enough about it to reject your application. and as long as you are from a visa waiver country and get the receipt from the kiosk, the interview by the officer will be short and not very detailed and he can't see your past history either, but that is not a guarantee that the officer won't ask you simple questions that might get you in trouble.

 

[Copingwithlife]

So here is what I ended up doing and how it went. I decided *not* to apply for restoration of visitor status and instead would just hope my overstay would go unnoticed. Beforehand I vowed to always be truthful but not necessarily very detailed when asked questions electronically or by an officer, and just face those consequences. Anyway, I left Canada by flying directly to Mexico avoiding any stop or stay in the US because I was concerned about immigration record sharing by US and CAD authorities. I entered Mexico without problems and had a ticket for the US when entering Mexico to show if Mexican immigration asked for an exit ticket. But they didn't ask. In Mexico I did my thing. Then flew from Mexico to the US, on a return ticket (to mexico). In the US did my thing. I originally was going to return to Mexico and then try to enter Canada via Mexico but ended up just trying to enter Canada from the US directly, now being able to show i had entered the US from Mexico instead of Canada. In the meantime I had to apply for electronic travel authorization for Canada before I tried entering. And got it approved. Which was a relief. But I knew I wasn't out of the woods yet. Anyway, I got a return ticket to Canada from the US with a stay for 4 days but the return ticket was a 100% refundable one. Upon arrival I did the kiosk thing, got a receipt, and then bypassing lots of other passengers could immediately walk to the front of the special line for people with a kiosk receipt. An officer took my receipt, asked a few questions that I answered technically truthfully but not with the degree of detail that might cause a raised eyebrow, and I was in.

It was quite a nerve-wracking experience though, and with one question in particular that the officer at the airport asked me, if he had asked just one more follow-up question my truthful answer to that would have no doubt caused suspicion in him that I was trying to stay there for longer and i would have been sent to the secondary interview area, and that would have not gone well. So it was a close call and I will definitely not overstay again, and my gf and i will apply for PR for me as soon as possible to avoid this ordeal in the future.

tl;dr: seems that when they electronically evaluate your past travel history they can't see that you overstayed your visa, or they don't care enough about it to reject your application. and as long as you are from a visa waiver country and get the receipt from the kiosk, the interview by the officer will be short and not very detailed and he can't see your past history either, but that is not a guarantee that the officer won't ask you simple questions that might get you in trouble.

In a nutshell it just means what a lot of Canadians have come to realize. Our immigration system is a joke. Should operate like the USA. Overstay= ban