Canada · Other
Business visitors
Business visitors is issued by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. VisaAI tracks 24 official requirements for it, each traced to the government page that states it.
Last verified against the official source on .
VisaAI is not a government body and does not issue visas. It cannot decide, predict or guarantee the outcome of an application, and this page is not legal or immigration advice.
Requirements change. Confirm every item on Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s own page before you apply.
Conditions you must meet
- Plan to stay in Canada for less than 6 months
- Do not plan to enter the Canadian labour market
- Main place of business, and source of income and profits, is outside Canada
- Hold documents that support the application
- Hold a valid travel document, such as a passport
- Have enough money for the stay and to return home
- Plan to leave Canada at the end of the visit
- Not a criminal, security or health risk to Canadians
- A stay over 6 months or an intention to work requires a work permit insteadIRCC frames this as the boundary of the business visitor category rather than a requirement of it. Recorded because an applicant who crosses it is applying for the wrong thing.
- Foreign nationals living in the DRC, South Sudan or Uganda cannot travel to CanadaA public-health measure IRCC publishes on this page, not a permanent feature of the category. The daily source monitor will raise a change for review if IRCC lifts it.
- Anyone who has visited the DRC within the past 21 days cannot travel to CanadaNo rule: VisaAI has no fact recording recent country visits, and inventing one to gate this would risk hiding a hard travel bar from the person it applies to.
- Check the entry requirements for minors when travelling with a child
- A letter of invitation does not guarantee a visa will be issuedRecorded so the letter is never presented to a user as an approval signal.
Documents you must provide
- Passport or travel document valid for your entire stay
- Valid visitor visa, if one is required
- The same passport used in the eTA application
- US green card and a valid passport, for lawful permanent residents of the United StatesLeft unruled on purpose. VisaAI records a residence country, which is not the same thing as lawful permanent residence — someone can live in the US without a green card. Showing this item to everyone is the safe error; hiding it from a green-card holder is not.
- Letters of support from your parent company and a letter of invitation from the Canadian host
- Warranty or service agreements, or contracts, if relevant to the visit
- 24-hour contact details for your business host in Canada
- Proof of funds covering the stay in Canada and the return home
- Two originals of the letter of invitation — one to submit, one to present at entryIRCC addresses this page to the Canadian host company. Only the parts that change what the visitor must carry are recorded here; the letter's required contents are the host's obligation, not an applicant upload.
Steps in the process
- Find out whether you need a visitor visa or an eTA
- Get an event code from the organizer, if the event is registered with IRCCApplies only when a visitor visa is needed and the event is registered with IRCC. Left unruled because neither condition is a fact VisaAI holds.
Official sources
- Business visitors: meetings, conferences and trade shows — How to apply, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada
- Letter of invitation for business visitors — Document checklist, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada