Requirements, documents and how to request the visa to Canada

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Welcome to the tutorial on how to request a tourist visa a Canada and I also detail all the steps, documents and requirements that need to achieve it.

Canada It is one of the calmest countries to travel, but also since South America It is one of those that look furthest away due to a procedure, have a visa, since only Chile is exempt from that requirement.

With this particularity, If your plans are traveling to Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver or wherever you want in this beautiful country, I have thought about this complete tutorial, Maybe you see it long, but believe me it's easier than doing it for the Visa to the United States.

Requirements and how to apply for a visa to Canada

Before starting, I recommend you have the following documents at hand:

• Valid passport.
• United States visa if you have it.
• Past passport where you have a Canadian visa issued less than 10 years.
• Identity card.
• Marriage certificate.

With that at hand, Let's start the tutorial step by step, You can do it yourself without problems and without needing help or pay for this:

1. They must create an account on the IRCC portal in this link: https://ircc.canada.ca/visit-visiter/en/get-account-ircc-portal
2. In the link above you must enter your email and you will receive an invitation code, which must be entered on the registration page.
   1. Here they will ask for your name, email, create a password and phone number.
3. You will receive an email with an activation code for the IRCC account that you must enter on the previous page.
   1. Once the correct code has been entered, you will now be able to enter the portal.
4. Once inside, scroll to the section that says: Start an application and click on the link that says Apply to visit, study or work in Canada as a temporary resident.
5. Select if they apply for the visa as a group or only.
6. Select the type of visa you will request, For this exercise, I will do it for a tourist or visitor visa.
7. Select the reason why they need that type of selected visa. In my case: To visit Canada as a tourist
   1. Here you must include in 470 characters your travel plans with what you will do and the dates of your entry and exit visit.
8. Select if you are applying on behalf of someone else.
9. Traveler information: here you must put all your names, Date of birth and gender.
10. Enter the travel document data, in this case passport detailing number, issue date, expiration and answer the questions if they have a valid visa for the United States.
11. Citizenship: Answer the questions indicated about your nationality, place of birth and if you have another nationality.
12. Identity card: enter your identity card details.
13. Contact information: Enter your current address where you live and the details of your current place of residence.
14. Biometrics: The system will ask if you have previously entered biometric data in case you previously requested a visa to Canada, otherwise, you must register them.
15. Enter how much money you will have to cover your expenses in Canada.
16. Professional information: They are going to ask you all your university studies, with end start date, university and even the address of where you studied.
17. Job information: you must enter all your jobs from the last 10 years, detailing functions in 100 characters, Starting dates, End and your current work (important).
18. Travel history: you will have to enter all the trips you have made in the last 5 years with start and end dates of the trip like the cities you visited.
    1. You must also respond if you previously extended your visit to Canada outside the legal period or if you have been rejected for a visa before..
19. Criminal information: Honestly answer the indicated questions.
20. Medical history: Answer the question about diseases, vaccinations and others yes or no.
21. Family information: answer each of the questions about your family state, as if you have a family or if you are married according to each personal case.
22. They will also ask you what language you speak as a native and what language you want communication to be in. (french or english).
23. Contact information: Enter your email and phone numbers.
24. You will have the opportunity to review and edit the information entered in each and every one of the sections.

Once this was done, comes the second and most important part of the process, The upload of the files required for visa order processing:

• Scanned files should not weigh more than 2 Megas;
• and JPG formats are accepted, png, doc y pdf.

With the necessary documents ready, you must upload each of them separately:

Once the files have been uploaded and the consent and data declaration have been accepted, you can continue to the third part of the process, which is the payment of the fee for the consular service of CAN$100. Here you must make payment only with credit cards, With those of Ecuador I had no problems and the payment is immediate.

Once paid in my case CAN185 for taking biometrics, Information about the start of the process will be sent to your email.

How is the biometric registration taken??

In the case of Ecuador, there is no embassy here, Therefore, the biometrics are taken in a reliable company in Canada that is located in the El Bosque sector in the north of Quito, which does not take more than 15 minutes.

This process will be carried out first, making an appointment on the Visa Application Center website, to know the closest place to you, you can use the search engine on this page: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/biometrics/where-to-give.html

Once the nearest place is located, You will be able to reserve your appointment following the instructions for each of the available places..

Yes indeed, Once the biometric fee has been paid, you will have a maximum 30 days to perform biometric shots, otherwise, you will lose the money and have to start the whole process again.

When you do this process you will receive an email confirming the taking of the biometrics and also, The process on the IRCC website will be updated with the date of this process.

How long does it take to get your visa approved or not??

In this particular case, the process took exactly 6 months and a half from entering the procedure until the email arrived indicating that the visa had been approved and it was time to send the passport to Bogota.

It is worth indicating here how the visa process continues once the biometrics have been taken.:

1. After receiving confirmation of biometric data collection, The wait begins, which, depending on each case, could require the consulate to ask you for more documents to verify your travel intentions..
2. If your visa is approved or not, You will receive an email that says «A message about you application is waiting for you». This means that you log into your IRCC account to check the messages in your mailbox..
3. If the answer is positive, you will find a message in the mailbox that says: Original Passport Request.
   1. You must open this message and print the PDF in which the instructions for sending the passport are indicated.
4. Too, to the joy of all, On the IRCC website you will see this message: Final decision: Your application was approved. You need to send us your valid passport to finalize your application.
5. In the notification you will see what you need to send:
   1. Provide your passport or travel document, along with a copy of the PDF that I indicated
   2. Your passport must have at least one blank page.
   3. Your passport must be valid for the period of your intended stay in Canada.
   4. Please note that they will not be able to issue a visa after the expiration date on your passport.
6. You must go to leave these documents and the passport at the VAC office in Quito, the same place where you did the biometric
   1. You can check more details here: https://visa.vfsglobal.com/ecu/en/can/
7. After leaving the passport, We must wait for him to return from Bogotá, It can be tracked with a code and instructions that they will give you..
8. According to the contracted service, The passport will arrive at your home or you will have to go pick it up at the VAC offices in Quito with the requested documents.
9. Have a good trip!

On average and depending on the country, This procedure takes 30 a 60 days (Ecuador the average is 130 days), but until the passport came back in my case with the visa stamped from Colombia, passed by 7 Exact months.

So consider this time to plan your trip, Sure, could vary in each case, but in mine in particular, This was the reality and the complete procedure included the sending of the passport to the Consulate in Bogotá, which was included in the canceled value, took 210 days.

All approval or non-approval decision notifications, passport shipping, additional requirements and more, It will be electronically and there is no direct way to contact the Canadian Embassy in Bogota.

Prices

Prices for this service are:

• Visa: CAN$100 o $73 American dollars.
  • These prices include sending the passport abroad if necessary.

If you must complete the biometric registration, this has an additional value of CAN$85.

Requirements to request a visa to Canada

The minimum requirements or documents necessary are:

• A valid passport or travel document.
  • Must have at least 1 free page where we can paste your visitor visa.
• You may need other documents depending on how you answer the questions on the application.
• Information you must enter: Personal data, Travel document details, Finance, Educational history, CRIMINALITY AND SECURITY, Medical history, Family information.

What is the validity or how long does the visa to Canada last??

This is a great question and the answer is: it depends.

This varies depending on the passport expiration date., Then said that, If your passport is valid for 1 year, the visa to Canada will be one year, while your passport has 10 years of validity before it expires, your visa to Canada will last that long.

An additional tip, If you have the visa a USA of tourist, You will have a great point in your favor to obtain this visa, otherwise, You can still do it if you meet the requirements previously indicated..

Any additional questions that have, Enchanted to help them.

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