Extend Your Stay in Canada: Visitor Record

A visitor record is a document that lets you stay in Canada longer as a visitor. It shows a new expiry date, which is your new deadline to leave. It can also be used by people allowed to work without a work permit, such as business visitors, or to study without a study permit, and by students or workers who want to change to visitor status.

The legal basis is section 181 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (IRPR). You can apply if you do so before your authorized stay ends and you have complied with all conditions of your entry. The officer extends your stay if you still meet the requirements for a visitor under section 179, including that you will leave at the end of the new period.

The most common mistake is reading the wrong date. Your visa's expiry date is not your leave date. Your status ends on the date stamped in your passport or shown on your visitor record. With no stamp, it ends 6 months after you entered, or earlier if your passport or biometrics expire first.

IRCC's recommended minimum before expiry

30 days

Fee per person

$100

Window to restore lost status

90 days

Visitor record arrives by mail after the decision letter

6 weeks

• Valid status todayYour current authorized stay has not ended (IRPR section 181(1)(a)). Online applications must arrive before midnight Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on your expiry date.
• Conditions respectedYou have complied with all conditions of your entry, for example you have not worked or studied without authorization (IRPR section 181(1)(b))
• Still a genuine visitorYou still meet the visitor requirements in section 179, including that you will leave at the end of the extended stay
• Valid passportYour status cannot last longer than your passport, so make sure it is valid for at least the extension you ask for
• Means of supportEvidence of how you will support yourself or be supported, and how you will pay to leave Canada

Each family member who wants to stay longer needs their own application and fee. You can apply as many times as you like, but each time you need a new application and fee, and you must show your stay is still temporary.

If you apply before your status expires and a decision is not made in time, the law extends your stay until IRCC decides (IRPR section 183(5)). IRCC calls this maintained status. You keep your status under the same conditions.

1. 1

   Find your expiry date

   Check the stamp in your passport, your visitor record, or your study or work permit. With no stamp, count 6 months from your entry date.

2. 2

   Read guide 5551

   IRCC's instruction guide explains each field of the form, Application to Change Conditions, Extend my Stay or Remain in Canada as a Visitor (IMM 5708).

3. 3

   Answer the online questions

   In the IRCC Portal, select Visit for what you would like to do in Canada, and Canada as your country of residence. You get a personalized document checklist.

4. 4

   Upload your documents

   Passport pages showing your latest entry stamp, proof of status, a letter explaining why you want to stay longer, proof of funds such as bank statements or a guarantor's letter, and your departure plans.

5. 5

   Pay and submit before expiry

   Pay the fee and, if required, the biometrics fee. Visa-exempt nationals do not give biometrics to extend their stay. You must apply online unless a disability or a problem with the online application prevents it.

6. 6

   Wait in Canada

   Give biometrics if asked. If approved, your visitor record arrives by mail, normally within 6 weeks of the decision letter. If refused, you can stay only until your current status ends, or until the decision date if it has already ended.

If your status has expired, do not apply for an extension: you are not eligible, and the fee will not be refunded. Under IRPR section 182, you may apply to restore your status as a visitor within 90 days of losing it, for example after staying past your authorized date. If an extension was refused, the 90 days start on the date of the refusal.

• Within 90 daysSubmit the restoration application within 90 days of losing status
• Explain what happenedGive full details of the facts and circumstances that led to losing status
• Meet the visitor requirementsShow why you want to stay longer and how you will be supported, and that you have not broken any other condition
• Pay the restoration fee$246.25. IRCC's fee list notes that no visa fee is needed.

While a restoration application is in process, you are without status and you cannot work or study. Restoration is not automatic, and IRCC may refuse it. After 90 days without status, you must leave Canada. Staying without status is an offence under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and can lead to an admissibility hearing and removal.

Fees are not refunded once IRCC has started processing, whatever the decision. Applying for an extension when your status has already expired counts as processing, so you lose that fee and must pay the restoration fee. The live figure below comes from IRCC's processing times tool.

Since July 29, 2025, IRCC sends an officer decision note with most refused visitor record applications. There is no appeal. If you are still within your status or the restoration window, you can apply again with stronger evidence. A lawyer can ask the Federal Court for leave and judicial review within 15 days of a decision made in Canada.

• Leave Canada by the new expiry date on your visitor record, or apply again before it.
• A visitor record does not change your visa. If you are visa-required and leave Canada for anywhere other than the United States or Saint Pierre and Miquelon, you need a valid visa to come back.
• Visa-exempt travellers flying back need a valid eTA linked to the passport they travel with.
• Study and work permit holders whose visa has expired, or was single entry, can apply for a new visitor visa from inside Canada.