The source for the following information was the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) , website. The information in this portal is for general interest and referral purposes only. For the most recent and accurate guidelines you must contat Citizenship and Immigration Canada directly.
Citizenship and Immigration is a federal government department is responsible for determining who is admissible into Canada under the various categories/classes of immigration through which you can apply to legally enter Canada.
CIC is responsible for enforcing the provisions of the immigration and refugee protection Act (IRPA).
To ensure you have the most accurate information you must visit the CIC website their offices or other direct representative for detailed information and requirements about entering Canada as a:
Visitors
Visitors are non Canadian citizens or non permanent residents who come to Canada on a temporary basis and who leave at the end of their authorized stay. This includes tourists, people visiting family in Canada, business travellers, foreign students, and temporary workers. Visitors require temporary resident visa (TRV) and have to apply for a visitor's visa before they can come to Canada except those from countries that are designated as visa-exempt.
How can I Visit Canada?
To be granted a temporary resident visa, you must satisfy the visa officer that;
- You have a valid travel document, such as a passport
- Be in good health
- You have ties, such as a job, home and family, that will take you back to your country of origin
- You will leave Canada at the end of your authorized visit.
- Have enough money for your stay.
- Have a letter of invitation from someone who lives in Canada.
- Pass medical examination
A completed temporary resident visa application should be submitted to the visa mission responsible for your country with a non refundable processing fee. To find out the address of Canadian Embassy in your country or responsible for your country please visit the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) website.
For further information about applying for a temporary resident visa visit the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) website.
Temporary Foreign Worker
How can I come to Canada to work temporarily?
Non Canadian citizens or permanent residents who want to come to Canada and work need a work permit in addition to their temporary resident permit in order to work legally in most jobs in Canada. You need to apply for a work permit from a Canadian High Commission or Embassy at the same time you apply for your visa before you come to Canada.
What do I need to apply for work permit?
For the work permits:
- You need to get a job offer from a Canadian employer before you apply.
- The employer must apply for a labour market opinion from Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC) and receive positive labour market opinion.
- Completed application indicating that you satisfy the requirements of IRPA
- HRSDC will decide whether the employer can hire a foreign worker to fill the job.
Example of types of work permit includes I T professionals, live-in caregivers, hospitality industry and agricultural workers.
In addition to the above, you have to:
- Satisfy a visa officer that you will leave Canada at the end of your work permit.
- Show that you have enough money to support yourself and your family while you are in Canada.
- Respect the law and have no criminal record. (You may have to provide a police clearance certificate).
- Show that you are not a risk to the security of Canada.
- Be in good health. (You may have to have a medical examination.)
For more information on temporary foreign workers, please visit the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) website.
Students
If you are not a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, depending on your citizenship or where you live, you might need a temporary resident permit as well as study permit to study in Canada.
You do not need a study permit if you plan to study in a short-term program for 6 months or less but you can apply for a study permit if you want to. If your program of study is more than (6) six months, you need to apply for a study permit. If you have a study permit already, you can apply to extend your study permit from inside Canada. However, if you do not have a study permit already, you will have to apply for an initial study permit outside of Canada.
What do I need to apply?
To apply for a study permit, you need:
- A letter of acceptance from the school you want to attend;
- Proof of identity (such as a passport or travel document) for you and any family members who come with you to Canada;
- Proof that you have enough money to pay school fees and support yourself and any family members who come with you while you study To demonstrate that you and any family members who come with you will leave after you complete your studies.
- You and any family members who come to Canada with you, and who are 18 years of age and over, may have to provide police certificates.
- To pass a medical exam.
To find out more information or obtain application form, please visit the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) website.
Permanent Resident
Under this category, there are different subcategories that you can apply depending upon your ways to apply and you have to decide which one best suits you and your family circumstances. The different subcategories are:
- Skilled workers and professionals
Applicants under this category are people who want to settle and work in Canada (outside of Quebec). They are selected based on a point system on their education, work experience, knowledge of English and/or French, age and adaptability factors. To obtain detailed information on the requirements and application process, please visit http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/index.asp. If you want to settle and work in Quebec, the province of Quebec is responsible for selecting its own skilled workers and you should visit Government of Quebec website for detailed requirements and application process.
- There is a non refundable cost recovery application processing fee per applicant and family members and a right of permanent resident fee. The right of permanent resident fee is refundable, should your application not be successful.
- Quebec skilled workers
These are people selected by the Quebec government to settle and work in Quebec. Quebec establishes its own immigration selection requirements and you must follow the Quebec selection process first and after selection will your application be finalized by citizenship and immigration Canada.
Please visit Government of Quebec website for details.
Investors, entrepreneurs and self-employed
Business immigrants are selected based on their ability to become economically established in Canada. To become a Canadian permanent resident, you must apply for and be issued a Canadian permanent resident visa under one of the categories below.
Investors
The Immigrant Investor Program seeks to attract experienced business persons and their capital to Canada. You must demonstrate:
- business experience,
- legally obtained minimum net worth specified by the government of Canada,
- have business management experience and
- must make an investment of specified sum of money as directed by the government locked in for 5 years. The amount invested will be returned without interest to the investor after 5 years and 2 months.
Entrepreneurs
- The Entrepreneur Program seeks to attract:
- experienced business persons who will own and actively manage a qualifying business in Canada that contribute to the economy and create jobs and
- are subject to conditions upon arrival in Canada.
- You must demonstrate business experience and a minimum legally obtained net worth specified by the government of Canada.
Self-Employed persons
The Self-Employed Persons Program seeks to attract applicants who have the intention and ability to become self-employed in Canada. Self-employed persons are required to have either
- relevant experience that will enable them to make a significant contribution to the cultural or athletic life of Canada, or
- experience in farm management and the intention and ability to purchase and manage a farm in Canada.
For detailed information on the requirements and process, please visit Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) website.
Provincial nominees
Most Canadian provinces have programs that encourage immigrants to settle in those provinces and benefit their economies. If you wish to immigrate to one of Canada’s provinces as a provincial nominee, you must first apply to the province where you wish to settle. The province will consider your application based on their immigration needs and your genuine intention to settle there. For detailed information and application process please visit the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) website.
Sponsoring your family
Who can Sponsor?
Canadian citizens and permanent residents living in Canada, 18 years of age or older, may sponsor close relatives or family members who want to become permanent residents of Canada. Sponsors must promise to support the relative or family member and their accompanying family members for a period of 3 to 10 years to help them settle in Canada. The main objective of the family class is to re-unite families.
Who can be sponsored?
The following persons can be sponsored as members of a family class:
- spouse, common-law or conjugal partner, including same sex partners
- dependent child, including a child adopted abroad or in Canada
- parents or grandparents
- any other relative, if the sponsor has no other relatives described above either in or outside of Canada
Applicants and their family members have to pass medical, criminal and security background checks in order to be admitted into Canada.
For full details and application package, please visit http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/sponsor/index.asp.
Refugee
Refugees and people needing protection are people in or outside Canada who fear returning to their own country for fear of persecution, danger of torture, a risk to their life or a risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment. Convention refugees are persons with a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.
Citizenship and immigration Canada through the visa missions outside Canada determines refugees (Overseas) to be resettled to Canada as landed immigrants whereas inside Canada (inland) refugee claims are determined through the Immigration and Refugee Board. Organizations like UNHCR refers refugees needing protection to Canadian embassy for consideration and processing. For detailed information on both overseas and inland refugee process, please visit Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) website - Refugee Section or Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada website. Both systems of determination are provided for under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).
Under the Canada –Quebec accord, Quebec government selects the refugees who will settle in Quebec while CIC determines whether the person selected by Quebec meet the requirements under Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
Overseas Refugee Determination Process by CIC.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada classifies refugee determination into 3 categories namely;
- Convention Refugee Class
Who is a convention refugee & who can apply as one?
You are a convention refugee if you are outside your home country or the country of your habitual residence and you cannot return to that country due to well founded fear of persecution based on;
- Race,
- Religion
- Political opinion
- Nationality or
- Membership in a particular social group
The referral agencies will refer you to CIC to be resettled in Canada when there is no other durable solution or viable protection for you. The Canadian visa officer will then assess your application based on the provisions of the Immigration and Refugee protection Act to determine if you qualify to be admitted as a permanent resident into Canada.
To apply, you must be:
- outside Canada and want to come to Canada
- be referred by UNHCR or other referral organization or private sponsorship group
- and selected as a government-assisted or privately sponsored refugee or have the funds to support you and your family after you arrive in Canada.
- You have to pass a medical examination, security and criminal checks.
- Country of Asylum Class
What is Country of Asylum?
It is for people who do not qualify as convention refugees and are in refugee-like situations
You are in the Country of Asylum Class if you:
- are outside your home country or the country where you normally live
- have been, and continue to be, seriously and personally affected by civil war or armed conflict, or have suffered massive violations of human rights
- cannot find an adequate solution to your situation within a reasonable period of time and
- will be privately sponsored or have the funds required to support yourself and your dependants.
Referral to CIC under the country of asylum class is mainly through private sponsorship program. The Visa officer will then assess your application based on the provisions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
- Source Country Class
In unusual situations, refugees displaced within some countries can apply directly for resettlement to Canada through the source country class. You are a member of the source country class if you;
- live in a country that has been named a source country of refugees
- live in your home country
- have been, and continue to be, seriously and personally affected by civil war or armed conflict
- have lost the right of freedom of expression, the right of dissent or the right to engage in trade union activity, and have been detained or imprisoned as a result
- fear persecution because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion
- cannot find an adequate solution to the situation within a reasonable period of time and
- will be assisted by the Government of Canada, be privately sponsored or have the funds needed to support yourself and your dependants after you arrive in Canada.
Referral is mainly by private sponsorship group who identify the refugees from countries identified as source countries by citizenship and immigration Canada.
The Canadian visa officer will then conduct assessment of your application based on the requirements of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. You will need to pass a medical examination, security and criminality checks.
For further information on any of the above, please visit the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website.
How to apply for Refugee Claims inside Canada
You may be able to seek protection in Canada as a refugee while you are in Canada, if you fear persecution or your removal from Canada would subject you to a danger of torture, a risk to your life or a risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment, if returned to your home country.
There are two ways you can apply for protection within Canada.
- You can make a claim when you arrive in Canada, at the port of entry like an airport, a seaport or a Canada-United States border crossing. At ports of entry, claims are received by officers of the Canada Border Services Agency.
- You can make a claim at a Citizenship and Immigration Canada office.
You will need your identification documents like passport, drivers licence, birth certificates etc. The officer receiving your claim will make a determination whether your case is eligible to be referred to Immigration and Refugee Board Canada (IRB) and if so, give you a personal information form to complete and submit within a specified timeframe. If you arrive at the land border between US and Canada, you may be ineligible to make a refugee claim due to safe third Country agreement between US and Canada.
If the IRB or CIC decides that you are a convention refugee or a protected person, you can then complete and file an application for permanent resident.
For detailed information, please visit http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/refugees/inside/apply-after.asp and http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/applications/refugee.asp.