A TRV is a temporary resident visa counterfoil that is stamp in your passport/travel document. It allow you to embark on a journey to Canada. At the Port of Entry, a Border Service Officer, will determine how long you can stay on each entry. It's usually 6 months. However, in some situation a BSO may grant entry for less than 6-months. If you're issue a multiple entry TRV (Visitor visa), you'll be able to travel to Canada (back and forth) until the expire date on it.
Visitor Visa Stay Length
- Thread starter sheikhzaid
- Start date
I know but suppose CBSA gives me 6 month and multiple entry then it means I can exit and re-enter for spent total period of 6 months within Canada.
So, for example. Can I return to Canada on the same visa after I come back or do I need to apply for the visa again?
You really need to understand the difference between a visa (TRV) and status in Canada. They are NOT the same thing. The TRV is a stamp in the passport allowing you to board a commercial carrier to travel to Canada. Status allowing you to stay in Canada is granted by CBSA at a Port of Entry.
If you have a multiple-entry TRV, you can travel to Canada multiple times while it is valid. However, every single time you come to Canada, CBSA will evaluate you as a new visitor in order to grant status.
Yeah I got that, I was solely talking about stamp visa. Say the validity of that is 5 years, then can I travel back to Canada on that even if the stay was granted for a month? Will I be able to travel back to Canada on the basis of stamp and then re-assessed at the border or will I need to get a new stamping once again after I come back and my stay period expires?
The stamp that cbsa does (or doesn’t these days) puts in your passport is irrelevant to whether you can come to Canada. If you have a multi entry TRV (the counterfoil IRCC places in your passport after you apply, that is what let’s you travel to Canada for the duration of the counterfoil.
So, in a simple analysis; when you apply for visa at VFS or Visa office as the case maybe for your country of residence and the application is approved, you get a Visitor Visa counterfoil (TRV) on your passport. The Immigration/Visa officer, will determine and it will be on your counterfoil if you're issued a multiple or single entry. For multiple entry visa, you can travel to Canada multiple times and report to a Border Officer, who will determine how long you can stay for that trip. Once you exit Canada to your home country, you can travel again to Canada with the same Visa once it has not expire according to the date on it. However, you'll still report to Border officer, who will assess you and determine how long you can stay again.
Thanks, this is exactly what I wanted to know. I totally understand that it is up to the officer to make a decision for my length of stay. I just wantd to know whether I can travel back to Canada or not on the visa. I guess I can travel to Canada as long as the visa is valid and then it will up to the officer to assess my case when I return even if I held single entry or stay expired. The officer can still approve of me if he wants to and see my case as genuine.