How to apply for Canada tourist visa?

Canada, the second largest country in the world has incredible cities and awe-inspiring natural scenery to experience. A Canadian tourist visa is essential for citizens of many countries to enter Canada and experience its wonders. In this article, I would explain some tips to fill out the Canadian visitor visa, V-1 application. I applied for a Canada tourist visa from USA as a student and received it without booking any flights or accommodations in advance. All you need is a sincere application that proves you are just a tourist. 

What is the overall procedure for Canada tourist visa V-1?

The Canada V-1 visa application can be filled online on Canada's IRCC website. You would need to create an account and start a V-1 visa application process. Based on the visa, the IRCC account would show you a list of documents that you need to submit by scanning them and uploading them to the website. You would also need to fill out some visa application forms and submit them online. Once you submit your application (fully online) and a fee of $100 CAD, you would receive a letter online in your IRCC account in about a couple days asking you to submit biometrics to the Canada visa application center. Only if you have not given your biometrics to the Canadian immigration in the last 10 years, you would be asked to do this. You need to find and make an appointment at your nearest biometric collection center through their website and go on the day to submit your biometrics. I found an appointment after 20 days and had to pay CAD 85 for the biometrics separately.

Once biometrics are done, you need to patiently wait. After about 10 days, I got a letter in my IRCC account saying that a decision has been made on my application and that I need to submit my physical passport. This means that your visa has been approved. I couriered them the passport. You can do this by a service that the Canada visa application center provides or you can use a courier service on your own. The Canada visa application center provides instructions on what to put in the courier packet. Note that you need to prepay for a two way courier service. I received my passport within a week of sending it via courier with a Canadian visa sticker that is valid until the expiry date of my passport. 

What forms do I need to fill out to apply for Canada V-1 visitor visa?

You need to fill out 3 forms. The main is the visa application form called the imm5257e. This includes your personal information, your education and employment history, and most importantly the dates of your intended visit and where you are going to visit in Canada. The second form is the imm5257b. This form is mainly for writing down your travel history. You need to indicate every country that you have visited in the past 5 years with dates and purpose. Be honest and thorough in this section. The third one is the imm5645e. This form asks for details of all your immediate family members: their names, occupations, where they are living etc. Once again, try to be completely thorough in filling it out. Even if this form is optional in the IRCC document list, I would advise you to fill it out and submit it. In addition, all you would need are additional supporting documents which I am going to talk about in the sections below.  

How to fill out the purpose of travel section in Canada visa application form?

The purpose of travel section in the imm5257e is rather short. All you need to provide here are intended dates of travel, funds that you would have available and name & address of the person/institutions you would like to visit. Since I was just a tourist, I created a tentative itinerary of a week to visit Canada. I made my primary goal as hiking in the Jasper national park in Alberta, Canada and watching the dark night sky for stargazing there. For funds, I put in a value that can easily cover flights, hotels and at least CAD 200 for each day I intend to visit. In the section of name and address of institution I want to visit, I simply put in the name of the Jasper national park planetarium (for my night sky guided visit) and their phone number/address from the internet. And that's it. Even if you don't know any person in Canada or don't have a hotel booking, a national park works as the 'institution/person' you are going to visit. I did not book any jasper national park excursion or ticket at all at the time of visa application.

What supporting documents do I need for Canada visitor visa?

Here is the list of the supporting documents you would need to submit online on the IRCC website along with your application form:

1. Financial proof: Last 3 months bank statement where you have a healthy consistent balance, last three years tax return document (W-2 form in the USA) and last three months payslip from your employer/university.

2. First and last page of current passport (Scanned and put into a PDF)

3. Complete travel history: Any pages of visa or entry/exit stamps in your current and old expired passport, scanned and compiled into a single PDF document. 

4. Purpose of travel: A cover letter of sorts detailing the reason of your visit and an itinerary. I wrote up a short document where I mentioned I want to visit Canada because I want to hike in the amazingly beautiful rocky mountains. I then put in a day by day itinerary of where I would be, what activities I would do, modes of transportation and planned method of accommodation. I did not book anything, but just mentioned that I would stay in a hotel here, airbnb there, rent a car, take a flight etc. I only wrote down a thorough tentative plan without any proof of any reservation or even names of hotels/flights etc. 

Tips for mailing passport for Canada visitor visa

Follow the instructions that you get from the IRCC website in order to mail the passport once your visa is approved. Use your nearest reputed courier company for buying a prepaid two-way courier package to be sent to the required Canada visa application center and then sent back from there to your house. If it is your first time applying for the visa, you can use the visa center's own courier label service on their website.

In the courier package, you need to submit the passport, the passport request letter from IRCC account and a filled and signed consent form allowing them to hand your passport to the courier agency. Sometimes, if you gave biometrics at a center which is different from the Canada vis application center that puts the visa sticker in your passport (this was my case), you need to pay an additional $22.80 as fee for transferring biometric info between the two centers. The only way to pay this fee is by using a cashier's check or a money order. Note that this is different from a normal check that you can write. A cashier's check is made and printed by the bank where the bank already deducts the money from your account and guarantees it to the check recipient. 

I hope that my experience would come in handy when you apply for the visitor visa from Canada and it harbors an amazing start to your Canadian adventure.