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Canada IVA helps applicants understand whether they need a visitor visa or an eTA, prepare the right documents, and move forward with a structured temporary entry strategy.
A temporary visit to Canada can look simple from the outside, but the right entry document depends on your passport, your reason for travel, and how you plan to enter Canada.
We help you understand whether your case is likely to require a visitor visa or an eTA. Canada says travelers need one or the other, not both.
We help you approach the visitor process with the right documents and a clearer plan.
If your real goal is work, study, or long-term immigration, a visitor route may not be the right place to start.
The goal is to reduce confusion before you apply and before you travel.
A visitor visa, also called a temporary resident visa, is a document placed in your passport to show that you meet the requirements to travel to Canada. Canada says most travelers need a visitor visa. The posted starting fee is CAD 100.
An eTA is for visa-exempt foreign nationals traveling to Canada by air. Canada says an eTA costs CAD 7, is usually valid for up to 5 years or until the passport expires, and allows short stays that are normally up to 6 months at a time.
If you are visa-exempt and arrive by car, bus, train, or boat, Canada says you generally do not need an eTA or a visitor visa.
For France-based applicants, the right answer depends on the passport or travel document being used, not only on where the person lives.
This route is for temporary entry, not for long-term status.
For people visiting Canada for travel or short stays.
For people visiting relatives or loved ones in Canada.
For temporary business visits such as meetings, events, or short training, where the visitor is not entering the Canadian labour market. Canada says business visitors must plan to stay less than 6 months, keep their main place of business and source of income outside Canada, and not enter the Canadian labour market.
Some travelers also need a temporary entry document to transit through a Canadian airport on the way to another destination.
If your main goal is to work or study in Canada, you may need a different immigration route.
The exact list depends on the reason for travel and the document type, but the logic is usually the same: identity, purpose of travel, and proof that the visit is temporary and supported by the right documents.
Many visitor visa applications are based on family visits, but an invitation letter is not the same thing as a guarantee of approval.
Canada says you may be asked to include a letter of invitation from someone in Canada.
Canada states clearly that an invitation letter does not guarantee that a visitor visa will be issued. Visa officers still assess whether the applicant meets the legal requirements.
Canada says the person writing the letter should write it in good faith and include accurate information about the visitor and the visit.
If the visit is family-based, the application still needs to make sense as a temporary entry case.
Some short business activities can fall under the visitor route, but not every work-related trip qualifies as a business visit.
Canada says business visitors must plan to stay less than 6 months.
Canada says a business visitor must not plan to enter the Canadian labour market.
Canada says the main place of business and the main source of income and profits must stay outside Canada.
Canada lists business meetings, special events, and short training as examples.
If the trip looks more like work than business visiting, the visitor route may not be the correct one.
A visitor visa and a visitor record are not the same thing.
We help you understand whether your case points toward a visitor visa or an eTA.
We help clarify whether the visitor route actually fits your purpose of travel.
We help organize the process so you understand what may be needed and what should come next.
We help you understand how invitation letters, visit purpose, and supporting documents fit into the temporary entry process.
CICC-guided process.