Canada revises visa policy, will no longer issue tourist visas with validity of up to 10 years

Going away from the practice of issuing multiple-entry visas, the Canadian government now revised its visa policy and said will no longer issue tourist visas with a validity of up to ten years. As part of the new guidelines, immigration officers will now have the discretion to decide whether to issue a single-entry or multiple-entry visa and to determine the appropriate validity period. 

Prior to this, the multiple-entry visa allowed the holder to enter Canada from any country as often as necessary during the visa’s period of validity. The multiple-entry visa had a maximum validity of up to 10 years, or until the expiry of the travel document or biometrics.

The Canadian immigration department stated in a recent update that the guidance has been updated to indicate that multiple-entry visas issued to maximum validity are no longer considered to be the standard document. 

The move from Canada comes as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government who is facing low approval ratings and anger over a housing shortage and a high cost of living — announced it is reducing both permanent and temporary immigration. 

As part of the plan, Canada expects more than 1 million people in the country on a temporary basis to leave of their own accord in coming years as their visas expire.