India to Canada: visa and entry requirements

What to get before you go

Documents

• Valid passport: A valid passport or travel document. For a visitor visa application it should be valid at least 6 months from your travel date. When: Before applying and when travelling.
• Enough money for your stay: Proof you can support yourself; the amount depends on length of stay and accommodation. Visa applicants may include bank statements. When: With the visa application and at the border if asked.
• Ties to home and intent to leave: Evidence such as a job, home, financial assets or family that will take you back home. When: At the border; with a visa application.
• Letter of invitation: A letter from the person or business in Canada inviting you. When: With the visa application.

What a day costs

Government travel allowance for Ottawa: up to US$279 a night for a hotel room and US$128 a day for meals and incidentals.

An estimate, not a price: it is what a government pays its own staff there (US Department of State, in effect from 1 June 2025). Add the government fees above, your flights and insurance. The planner works out a full budget for your dates and city.

Local laws for visitors

• Staying too long: Visitors who stay past the date their status expires commit an offence under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and may face an admissibility hearing that could lead to removal from Canada. If you stayed longer than authorized (but not longer than 90 days), you may apply to restore your status within 90 days of losing it; there is no guarantee it will be approved. Otherwise you must leave Canada. (official page)
• Extending your stay: Visitors who want to stay longer must apply for a visitor record, at least 30 days before their current status expires. If you have no stamp in your passport, your status expires 6 months from the day you entered Canada. Once your status has expired you can no longer apply for an extension. (official page)
• Working as a visitor: An eTA or visitor visa does not give you the right to work in Canada; in most cases you need a work permit. Working without authorization can lead to removal from Canada and a ban on returning for 5 years. (official page)
• Cash you carry: You must declare cash or monetary instruments (such as cheques, money orders or bank drafts) worth CAN$10,000 or more, in Canadian or foreign currency or both, when you enter or leave Canada. Carrying that much is not illegal; not declaring it is. (official page)
• Banned and restricted goods: Bringing cannabis across the border in any form without a permit is a serious criminal offence. Visitors cannot, under any circumstances, import prohibited firearms, prohibited devices or prohibited weapons. (official page)
• Banned and restricted goods: Visitors must declare all food, plant and animal products, including pets, when they arrive. Undeclared items may be seized, and you may have to pay a penalty of up to $1,300. (official page)
• Medicines: Visitors may bring a personal quantity of a prescription drug for their own use, or for a person or animal in their care travelling with them. Health Canada treats a personal quantity as no more than a 90-day supply or a single course of treatment, whichever is less. Visitors staying more than three months may receive an additional 90-day supply every three months by mail or courier. (official page)
• Alcohol and tobacco: Visitors must declare all alcohol, tobacco and vaping products they bring in, meet the minimum age (alcohol: 18 in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec, 19 elsewhere; tobacco and vaping: 18), and keep within the limits: 1.5 litres of wine, or 1.14 litres of spirits, or 8.5 litres of beer or ale; and 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars, 200 grams of manufactured tobacco and 200 tobacco sticks. Duties and taxes may be charged even on these amounts. (official page)
• Drones: Foreign pilots flying a drone weighing 250 grams (g) or more in Canada need a Canadian drone pilot certificate, even if they are authorized to fly at home, and might also need a Foreign Special Flight Operations Certificate (SFOC-RPAS). Drones under 250 g need no Foreign SFOC-RPAS (except at an advertised event) and no registration. (official page)
• Driving: Ontario: visitors staying less than 3 months can drive on a valid licence from their own country, if they are at least 16 years old and the vehicle is properly insured. Visitors from another country staying more than 3 months need an International Driver’s Permit from their own country, obtained before arriving. Other provinces set their own rules. (official page)
• Emergency numbers: In an emergency, call 9-1-1. You cannot currently text 9-1-1. (official page)

Official links

• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada — Canada’s immigration authority.
• Find out what you need to enter Canada — Official list of visa-required and eTA-required countries.
• Apply for an eTA — The only official eTA application site (CAN$7).
• Visitor visa — How to apply for a temporary resident visa.
• Check processing times — Current visitor visa processing times by country.
• Transit through Canada — Transit visa, eTA and transit-without-visa options.
• Biometrics — Who must give fingerprints and a photo.
• Canada Border Services Agency — Customs and border entry.
• Embassies and consulates — Find a Government of Canada office abroad.
• Travel.gc.ca — Government of Canada travel information.