How Long Can I Stay in Canada as a Visitor?

IRCC's rule is that most visitors can stay up to 6 months. The exact date depends on how you came in. If the border officer stamped your passport, the date written next to the stamp is the day you must leave. If nobody stamped it and you used a kiosk at the airport, you can stay 6 months from the day you entered, or until your passport expires, whichever comes first. If you have already extended once, the expiry on your visitor record is the deadline.

The one date that does not matter here is the expiry printed on your visitor visa. A visa can be valid for years and lets you travel to Canada while it lasts. It says nothing about how long each visit can be.

To stay past your deadline you apply for a visitor record. IRCC describes it plainly: it is a document with a new expiry date, and that date becomes your new deadline to leave. It is not a visa. The same application is used by students and workers who want to stay on as visitors after their permit ends, and by people allowed to work or study without a permit.

Apply online before your current status expires. IRCC says at least 30 days before. The fee is $100 per person on the current fee list. You may be asked for biometrics; IRCC says to book that appointment as soon as you can. If the application is approved, the record arrives in the mail within about 6 weeks of the decision letter.

If you applied before the deadline, you can legally stay in Canada until IRCC decides. IRCC calls this maintained status. It applies to visitor record applications but not to temporary resident permit applications, which never carry maintained status. Nothing about your visit changes in the meantime; you simply keep to the conditions you already had.

A visitor record lets you stay longer. It does not let you leave and return. If you travel anywhere other than the United States, you need a valid visitor visa or eTA to come back into Canada, and the officer at the border sets the length of the new visit.

You have lost your status. IRCC's program guidance gives 90 days from the day status was lost to apply for restoration. The fee to restore status as a visitor is $246.25 on the fee list, and you must stay in Canada while it is decided. After 90 days, restoration is no longer available and you are expected to leave. The restoration guide is written for students but the 90-day rule and the process are the same for visitors.

Most visitors get up to 6 months per entry. A parent or grandparent who wants to stay longer, repeatedly, is what the super visa is for: it allows a stay of 5 years. Super visa or visitor visa sets out the choice, and what the host has to show covers the income table.

The passport stamp first, because that is the date that counts. Then the 30-day mark, the reason for staying longer, and proof the visit is still temporary, since the same questions from the original visa are asked again. In our experience, most trouble starts with someone reading the visa expiry as the stay limit.