I think we're in trouble. We applied last year for a super visa for my mum with a help of a visa agency. She got her visa issued in December 2021, entered Canada in January 2022, and has been staying here with us since then (a little over 7 months now). As we started to plan her trip back home, it took a look into her passport and realized it didn't say it's a super visa anywhere. I looked up the category of her visa (V-1) and looks like it's a regular visitor visa that only allows to stay in Canada for up to 6 months! So now she is here illegally?! Is there a way to find out exactly what type of visa she has, and if it's really a regular visitor's visa, what can I do to save my mum from being kicked out of the country and having her visa canceled when she crosses the border next month? Clearly, the agency screwed up, but it's not an excuse...
Got visitor visa instead of super visa?
- Thread starter Me-serene
- Start date
If the visa says V-1, then IRCC issued a regular TRV and not a super visa. If it was a super visa, it would say PG-1. IRCC has the option to issue a regular TRV vs. a super visa regardless of what someone has applied for and it looks like they did that in your mother's case. I don't think the agency necessarily screwed up. We've seen a number of cases here where a TRV has been issued instead of a super visa and IRCC will sometimes do this based on the applicant's profile. This isn't totally uncommon.
Yes, she is here without status / illegally now since she has remained in Canada longer than six months on a TRV. She can apply to restore her status. However I'm not sure there's much point in doing this if she plans to leave next month. The application won't be processed by then and will be canceled once she leaves Canada. Her TRV will not be canceled. However given the overstay, she may be more closely examined the next time she enters Canada. My recommendation is that she remain outside of Canada for a minimum of 8 months before attempting another trip to Canada due to the overstay.
She was allowed in for the default six months in that case. So she has overstayed at this point and is out of status.