Visa to Canada for Russians in 2021

Applying for a tourist visa to Canada

The consular office provides the opportunity to obtain a visa to Canada virtually . Another model of potential actions is to independently submit a request through the Canada visa center in Moscow or in another region of the Russian Federation.

• We provide professional services for issuing Canadian visas to Russians, taking into account all the requirements of the visa regime.

The obtaining procedure consists of the following steps

1. Submitting an application;
2. Payment of the consular fee;
3. Preparation of documents;
4. Translation of documents
5. Filling out the form;
6. Personal visit to the Canadian Exhibition Center for an interview.

Canada is a country with a significant level of ecology, development and culture.

• There are no special architectural attractions here, but the natural landscapes outshine the splendor of the buildings of the old cities of Europe.

Tourist visa to Canada

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• Consultations with a VFS visa specialist are held Mon-Fri, from 9:00 to 18:00

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What to include with your Canada visa application

After the Canadian visa application form, we proceed to the necessary documents, which are uploaded to your personal account on the immigration website from your computer in electronic form - Supporting Documents :

Route sheet and reservations

Itinerary, Travel and Purpose of travel (my travel itinerary for Canada in the form of a test in English, printed on a sheet of A4 paper): I fly to Vancouver, spend one night there, then take a car and go to city N, then go to city NN, then to the city of NNN, and then I return to Vancouver, from where I fly home (Air tickets do not need to be attached to the documents).

I make all hotel reservations in accordance with my itinerary: Vancouver 2 nights, then a night in city N, etc. through the hotel booking website.

Then I print out the confirmations for these reservations. I scan all this: a letter describing the route, printouts of hotel reservations into one file, checking that its weight does not exceed 4 M.

Financial guarantee for a visa to Canada

Proof of income confirmation of my financial solvency: I make a certificate from the bank about the balance on the deposit account and print out a statement from the current account for 3 months. I translate the statement of balance into English, and I translate the statement where necessary into English with a pen on top. Then I scan everything: the originals and the translation into ONE file and save it on the computer.

Passport and its data

Passport or travel document

A scan of the first page of the international passport that I am applying for a Canadian visa. And scans of all visa pages. Everything in ONE file.

Digital Photo – digital photo (will be taken in any photo studio in Moscow, uploaded to your flash drive or email).

Photo for Canadian visa

Business Registration

Constituent documents of my individual entrepreneur. I scan the original OGRN and the translation certified by me into one file.

Family information

Family Information Form - a questionnaire for my family. I print out the form, fill it out by hand and scan it into a file.

The story of my travels

Travel History My adventures in other countries over 10 years: visas and stamps in old passports (within reasonable limits). I scanned 25 pages with different visas and strange stamps into one file

Let me remind you that the file weight should not exceed 4 MB. If you get more, reduce the scanning resolution in the scanner settings.

Cost of a visa to Canada

Visa consultation +7 (495) 128-69-79

Canada Visa Update 2019

1) The consular fee for a visa to Canada is now 100 Canadian dollars.

2) From July 31, 2021, applicants for a visa to Canada must submit biometric data: fingerprints and a digital photo. This can be done at the Canada visa center closest to you: Moscow, St. Petersburg and Vladivostok. Bring your passport and letter from IRCC with you.

3) Those who apply for a Canadian visa not online and have a valid US visa, or a trip to Canada on a previous visa, do not need to submit financial documents .

About this news in a separate topic: Visa to Canada news 2019

Applying for a tourist visa to Canada

Tourists come here to ski, go mountain climbing, and get acquainted with Western culture. The main obstacle on the way from Russia to Canada is obtaining an entry permit or tourist visa.

Despite the increasing number of quotas for specialists , the number of illegal migrants to Canada is growing. In view of this, authorized officials at the embassy or visa and migration department consider each applicant as a potential illegal immigrant.

• The tourist must collect not only documents indicating his financial stability and safety for Westerners, but also indicating the existence of significant reasons for returning to his homeland.

Applying for a tourist visa to Canada on your own requires native knowledge of one of the local official languages.

• The applicant must have a deposit in a bank; if a visa is requested for subsequent receipt of a residence permit, the deposit should be opened immediately in a Canadian bank.
• In order not to miss the details of the procedure and increase the likelihood of approval, you should contact an accredited visa center, where for a small additional payment all burdens will be removed from you.

Employees themselves collect documents, translate them and apply notary stamps. The service includes support for taking biometrics and to the embassy for an interview. The cost of a full service and a limited set of services can be found on the website.

Let's sum it up

The rules for obtaining a tourist visa to Canada and the list of documents are not at all complicated. If you are an avid traveler and follow the laws, you will most likely not have any problems with your visa.

When submitting, follow the main rules:

• complete list of documents;
• competent translation;
• filling out forms without errors;
• open and honest motivation letter.

And if you have questions about the submission procedure or the list of documents, feel free to ask them through the feedback form.

Tourist visa to Canada for Russians - list of documents

Even if your visit abroad does not take you more than 1 week, you need to pay special attention to the list of papers that you submit to the embassy for study.

The basis for submission is:

1. Applicant's questionnaire
   . It consists of three parts - the first contains information about the applicant himself, the second serves to transmit extended data about the applicant, the third is needed to reflect family status - information about immediate relatives and spouses is entered here.
2. The photo
   is placed in the envelope immediately after the questionnaire. Two photographs are needed to be attached to the tourist’s personal file and pasted into the visa. Photos must be identical, their size is 35*45 mm. It is prohibited to be photographed wearing glasses with black lenses, bright lipstick, or provocative clothing or pose. Facial expression should be neutral, gaze directed towards the camera. The photo is in color and is taken against a light background.
3. Foreign and domestic passports
   . Certified and translated copies are suitable for the package. The original passport must be submitted after the application is approved. If you have old foreign passports that reflect the history of your travels around the world, it’s worth adding their originals. Special attention is paid to the expiration dates of documents.
4. Financial documentation
   varies depending on the type of counterparty requesting a Canadian tourist visa. Individuals provide a certificate from their workplace indicating the level of wages. For a legal entity, it is necessary to collect the statutory documents of its company, as well as extracts from the tax office confirming the absence of fines. A tourist visa to Canada for the unemployed, pensioners and students is issued with the involvement of a sponsor.
5. Medical insurance
   with a minimum coverage of services – 30 thousand US dollars. The document can only be completed at an accredited center; a leaflet from a dubious institution will not be accepted by embassy staff.
6. Receipt for payment
   for consideration of a package of documents. The visa fee is waived only for children under 6 years of age and socially vulnerable groups traveling to Canada to obtain refugee status. The rest pay about 4,500 thousand rubles for the details indicated on the official website of the consulate.
7. Tourist set
   . This documentation includes: an itinerary sheet - drawn up by hand, signed by the applicant, listing the places and attractions that the tourist plans to visit; voucher - a certificate of reservation of housing in a hotel or with another tenant through a realtor; copies of air tickets indicating the exact date of the traveler's return home.

A tourist visa to Canada for Russians allows up to 180 days abroad without leaving. Most often, the period of its validity is limited by consulate employees based on the arrival and departure dates indicated on the tickets.

There is usually no point in creating a multiple visa - Canada does not belong to the Schengen zone, so its entry permit does not give the right to visit Europe or America.

If you live in the CIS countries, but are a citizen of one of the Baltic countries, you will have a simplified visa regime if you need to visit Canada. For more information about the entry procedure and the set of documents, please contact the experts at our visa center.

Documents for a visa to Canada - basic package

The initial package of documentation indicates the social and financial situation of the applicant. It is completed with the following papers:

• Questionnaire. Filled out in electronic format on the official website of the Canadian Consulate. In addition to reflecting basic information about the tourist, it is also a statement on the basis of which a visa is issued.
• After the application form, a receipt for payment of the consular fee . The transfer is carried out on the same website, short-term visa applicants pay 100 Canadian dollars, applicants for national documents - $155.
• Two photographs are taken in the Schengen format, their size does not exceed 35 by 45 mm. Requirements for filming should be clarified by phone or read in a separate article.
• A foreign passport and a Russian passport are attached in the form of copies of all completed spreads. Copies of sheets in old foreign passports are needed only if they contain past Canadian, American or Australian visas. The original foreign passport can be submitted after personal appearance at the consulate or visa center office.
• A certificate from the place of employment is required , as it regulates the amount of wages and the vacation period during which the trip is carried out. Additional financial guarantees may include an extract from the current bank account, form 2-NDFL for individuals.
• Medical insurance is issued with coverage of at least 40,000 Canadian dollars. Requesting a policy is possible only from accredited companies, such as RESO-garantiya, Ingosstrakh, Rosgosstrakh.

Depending on the age of the applicant, a birth certificate or pension certificate .

If the application is submitted by a legal entity, in addition to personal data, a complete package of statutory documentation for the company is attached.

How to get a tourist visa to Canada on your own

Independently obtaining an entry permit involves completing all procedures except handing over the package to the embassy. This is done by visa center specialists. They will first check that the documents are filled out correctly and arrange them in the correct order. A service fee is charged for services.

Open the website https://www.canadainternational.gc.ca (the official portal of the Canadian Consulate) and follow these steps to create a personal account:

1. Answer a few questions in English to determine the type of visa required to enter the country.
2. Receive an individual number that will accompany you in the system. Next, this code must be indicated in the application form IMM 5257.
3. Fill out the applicant form. All questions and answers must be in the state language. The procedure is simplified by the fact that a number of questions have ready-made answer options, just like in testing. The virtual form must be saved to your computer.
4. After submitting the application form to the system, the user receives a GGKey, which gives the right to register on the site.
5. Now you can create a personal account. After logging into your account, you will need to re-enter your identification number and verification question and answer.

The activation period for your personal account is 2 months

. In the future, it will be closed and automatically deleted from the system. Within the specified period, you must upload all the documents listed above to your account. The photo is attached in electronic format, but without processing in photo editors.

• Images and documents in docx, jpeg and pdf formats are accepted. All copies must be in color - use a scanner for this, not a regular copier.

How to get a visa to Canada

We will consider applying for a regular temporary resident (tourist) visa. For other purposes of travel, additional documents confirming it may be required (for example, an invitation from a local organization or individual).

As of February 6, 2014, single-entry visas to Canada are no longer issued. Now everyone is issued only multiple-entry visas.

A multiple-entry visa allows you to enter an unlimited number of times during the validity of the document. It is issued for a maximum of 10 years, or until the expiration date of the passport.

To transit through Canada, you definitely need a transit visa, even if you are not going to go into the city. It can be obtained in advance free of charge for up to 48 hours, but it does not give the right to leave the airport transit area.

Online submission of documents

• Take a short test on the website in English so that the system can determine the type of visa you need. At the end you will receive a personal code that you will need to save. You will need it to fill out the IMM5257 visa application form.

Many people have problems opening the profile in a browser on the official website due to errors in Adobe Reader (requires installing a new version). To successfully open it, launch Adobe Reader on your computer and manually open the saved PDF file with the application form.

• Fill out the form on your computer and save it. There is no need to print it and sign it.
• Follow the link and register to receive GCKey - this is your account where you will need to upload all documents.
• When registering, use a nickname of at least 8 characters, otherwise the form will need to be filled out again. The password must also be at least 8 characters long, consisting of uppercase, lowercase letters and numbers.
• After creating an account, you will need to enter your security question and answer. They can only be written in English (can be transliterated).
• Log in to your account and enter your security answer. You will also need to enter your personal code, which you received at the very beginning.
• You have up to 60 days to collect documents for a visa to Canada, which must be uploaded through this site in jpg, pdf or docx format, no more than 4 megabytes in size.

You will need to upload the following documents to the Supporting Documents section:

• Application for Temporary Resident Visa – pdf file with a completed application form.
• Itinerary, Travel and Purpose of travel – printed travel plan in English. For example, I fly into the city of Ottawa, spend one night there, then rent a car and drive to Toronto, then to Vancouver, and then return to Ottawa and fly home. In this case, you do not need to attach an air ticket reservation. All hotel reservations must be made and printed according to the route described. The trip plan + hotel reservations are scanned and saved as one file (less than 4 MB in size).
• Proof of income – a certificate from work about income or documents for an individual entrepreneur.
• Proof of Means of Financial Support - financial documents confirming the availability of money. You can make a certificate from the bank about the balance of money in your accounts and a statement about the movement of funds. If the certificate is in Russian, you need to make a certified translation (certification from a translator, not from a notary). All certificates must be scanned and saved as one file.
• Digital Photo – electronic photography. It can be done at any photo studio and asked to be downloaded to a flash drive.
• Family Information Form – scan of a family questionnaire.
• Travel History – travel history, that is, your old visas.

If the document is loaded successfully, the status in the left column will be changed to Provided. When all documents have been uploaded, click next and pay the fee using a bank card. The application will be sent and you will need to wait for its review. This will take about 2 weeks. When your Canadian visa is approved, you will receive an email notification. In your personal account, you will need to print out a message with approval and, together with your passport, contact the Canada Visa Application Center so that they send it to the Embassy for affixing a visa.

Contacting the Visa Application Center

• Download all necessary forms and instructions. Please read all the rules carefully as visa fees are non-refundable. Please fill out the entire form carefully. It must be separate for each person. For children under 18 years of age, it must be signed by a parent or guardian.
• Print the application form, including the bar code page, using a laser printer.
• Sign consent to the processing of your personal data by the visa center. It will need to be attached along with the application form.
• Pay the visa fees. For an individual single-entry or multiple-entry visa you will need to pay 100 Canadian dollars (approximately 3,300 rubles).
• Additionally, the cost of visa center services is paid - approximately 1,200 rubles.
• If you need to submit biometrics (photos and fingerprints), the fee will be CAD 85 (the visa center service fee is already included in this).
• A transit visa is issued free of charge (only the VC service fee is paid).
• The fees are paid per person and are not refundable in case of refusal, as they are not charged for the visa, but for the consideration of your application. You can pay for them directly at the Visa Application Center. The receipt will need to be attached to the set of documents.

List of documents

• Fill out and print 3 forms: IMM 5257E – temporary resident visa application.
• IMM 5645 – family information.
• Moscow Temporary Resident Visa – additional information for the temporary resident visa application form.

Photo dimensions

• A copy of the international passport. The Canadian Embassy takes the original passport only if approved; they do not issue refusal stamps.
• Certificate from work about income and position held. Individual entrepreneurs must provide documents on individual entrepreneur registration and tax registration.
• Bank account statement. It is advisable to do it with details for at least the last 3 months.
• Copies of your old visas.
• Travel plan in writing (when and where you will go).
• Any other documents that can convince the Embassy of your attachment to your country of permanent residence. For example, a certificate of real estate, marriage, birth of children, etc.

Adviсe:

• Any documents not in English or French must be translated by a certified translator.
• If you submit an incomplete set or fake documents, you risk being rejected.
• Copies of documents must be provided unless otherwise specified.
• Do not pay for tickets or hotel reservations before your trip.

Tourist visa to Canada - validity and consideration periods

There is no specific document that regulates the timing and procedure for reviewing documentation. The user has to rely only on statistical data posted on the official website of the Canadian Embassy.

Statistics say that the minimum processing time for an application for a tourist visa to Canada from Russia is 10 working days.

It is possible to process it in one working day, but the request is submitted urgently, and the amount of the consular fee increases. The applicant must also provide evidence of urgency.

The maximum period for reviewing documents was 2 years . To be fair, it is worth noting that this was an extensive package of papers for a large company. In order not to miss departure dates, documentation should be submitted 4-6 weeks before the tourist’s departure from Russia.

• Additionally, you should use the services of specialists from an accredited visa center, whose tasks include checking that the documentation package meets the necessary requirements.

It is stated above that the validity period of a tourist visa to Canada depends on the dates specified on the air tickets. If the tourist does not know his departure date for his home country, a single entry permit is issued with a maximum validity of 180 days.

Multiple visas valid for 5 to 10 years are issued only upon request:

1. business,
2. working,
3. student visa.

Canada visa deadlines

After sending the documents you will have to wait approximately 2 weeks. A notification that your visa has been approved comes to your email in the form of a short message from the reference Your application(xxxxxxxxxx) has been updated.

Inside the letter there will be the following text: Your application has been updated. Please sign in to your MyCIC account and check your application status and messages for more information.

Right in this letter you can click on the MyCIC , then enter your username and password, then click “I accept” several times and answer the security question that you created during registration. After all this, you see a page and a table with messages at the bottom.

The first message is that your case has been opened and is being studied. The second message is a letter that needs to be printed and taken to the Canada Visa Application Center along with your passport - they will forward your passport to the embassy for a visa to be affixed.

That's all. If something is not clear, go to the Vinsky Forum in the FAQ topic on a visa to Canada - everything is detailed there and even more than written and drawn.

Obtaining a tourist visa to Canada - cost

• Payment of the consular fee
  for the standard procedure for submitting documentation is 100 Canadian dollars. If you need to obtain an urgent tourist visa to Canada, the visa fee increases to 200 units of foreign currency. The Canadian Embassy website only accepts money in dollars. If you pay for a transaction using a Russian ruble card, the conversion will occur automatically at the internal embassy rate. In rubles, the visa fee for a tourist entry permit is about 4,500.
• The service fee
  is paid in any case, regardless of whether you collected the documents yourself or contacted the staff of an accredited visa center from the very beginning. The service fee is approximately 40 Canadian dollars. All services, such as courier, translation, notary, are paid separately. Before contacting the visa center, you need to clarify the existing tariffs in advance and find out the total cost of the specialists’ work.
• When applying for a tourist visa to Canada on your own, the client needs to pay for the services of the logistics company Pony Express
  . When the visa is ready, your passport will be sent from the embassy through the services of this particular company.
• Additional cost items include obtaining health insurance
  . Depending on the center where the examination is planned, the amount ranges from 300 rubles to several thousand.

Due to significant expenses already at the stage of preparation for the trip, Canadian Embassy employees usually do not consider applicants with a salary below 45,000 rubles.

According to Western social standards, at least 70 US dollars should be spent on maintaining 1 person per day, including food and housing. The total amount to pay for the trip should be transferred to the card in advance, since cash above $10,000 must be declared at the border.

List of documents for a visa to Canada

The exact list of documents for a foreign visa is established depending on the legal form of the applicant, the purpose and duration of the visit. An ordinary tourist cannot take into account all the bureaucratic nuances when submitting an application, so it is recommended to contact a professional lawyer.

Documents for a visa to Canada

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• Consultations with a VFS visa specialist are held Mon-Fri, from 9:00 to 18:00

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Tourist visa to Canada - probability of refusal

The category of persons “non grata” includes people who do not have sufficient financial security, have previously been convicted or have been refused a Schengen visa or permission to enter the United States.

Difficulties also arise when trying to obtain a tourist visa for the unemployed: a salary certificate can be replaced with a letter from a sponsor, but if an unemployed person does not have a family or expensive real estate, he has no reason to return to the Russian Federation.

To get a tourist visa to Canada with a 100% guarantee of approval and not spoil your visa reputation, contact the specialists of the Unified Visa Center. For a small fee, experts can issue you a visa in 1 day without refusal.

The procedure is carried out legally, the activities of employees are carried out in accordance with Russian legislation.

Registration procedure

According to the official position of the Canadian Embassy, ​​all applications are initially automatically considered as a multiple permit application. If you have already visited the country in the past and everything is in order with your documents, then you can immediately obtain a permit for ten years.

Of course, there are some tricks for obtaining a visa to Canada. For example, the chances of resolving this issue positively increase many times over if you have the opportunity to take out insurance immediately for the entire period of your stay abroad. If you are traveling with a child who is not yet 18 years old, then you need to have a notarized permission from the other parent, who must agree with your intention to take the child out. This is true even if the parents are already divorced. If the child is traveling without parents and accompanied by a third party, then in order to obtain a visa, it is necessary to present the child’s birth certificate and consent from both parents for his/her export. You definitely need to know this to get a visa to Canada.

For pensioners to travel, they will need to provide a copy of their pension certificate, a copy of the first page of their passport, a sponsorship letter from a relative, a certificate from their place of work indicating their salary, length of service and position. If a person wishing to enter Canada is the founder of an enterprise, then it is necessary to attach a license, registration certificate, constituent documents and all other materials that confirm the stable economic position of the enterprise to the package of documents. The documents needed for a visa to Canada are different, it all depends on what type of visa you need to get and why you want to go to the country of the maple leaf.