Having arrived at major international gateways in Canada after a long flight should be a piece of welcome news. But not everyone is welcome to enter the country, and we think we know a few reasons why.
Note that the following reasons that will be mentioned in this article would only serve as a guide.
Typically, a Canadian immigration officer decides if you can enter the country when you are applying for a visa, an eTA, or an Electronic Travel Authorization or directly just arriving at a port of entry. eTA is an entry requirement for visa-exempted foreign nationals traveling to Canada by air. This also allows Canada to be able to screen travelers before they enter the country. The exempted countries include U.S citizens and travelers with valid visas (cic.gc.ca).
Reasons for denying visa or an eTA in Canada, refusal entry to Canada, or removal can happen on any of the following grounds:
Security reason
- Espionage (commonly known as spying; is the practice of secretly gathering information about foreign governments to obtain political and military information)
- Subversion (attempting to overthrow a government and the like)
- Violence or Terrorism
- Member of any organization that is involved with the things listed above
Human or international rights violations
- War crimes
- Crimes against humanity
- Being a senior official in a government engaged in gross human rights violations or subject to international sanctions.
Other reasons include:
- Having been committed or is currently committing a serious crime that would be punishable by a maximum prison term of at least ten years in Canada.
- Conviction of a crime including driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
- Part of organized crime is an organization that took part in organized criminal activity like human trafficking, money laundering, and the like.
- If the applicant’s health condition is deemed to be a danger to public health or safety or could cause excessive demands on health or social services. However, if you are coming to Canada for less than six months or if you have a family call sponsored spouse, common-law partner, and dependent children, you are exempted from medical examinations. This also applies to convention refugees or people in similar circumstances or protected persons. If you are planning to work in Canada however, you are still required to have the medical exam for certain occupations.
- If you are unable or unwilling to support yourself and your family members coming to Canada
- Providing false information or withholding important information relating to decisions under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act or IRPA
- Failure to comply with any of the provisions of IRPA like not respecting the conditions of their stay in Canada (staying longer than legally allowable, working or studying without proper permits), being a permanent resident who is not living in Canada for the required amount of time and people who have been deported before and is still trying to enter the country without written legal authorization like an ARC (Authorization to Return to Canada)
- Having a family member that is not allowed to enter Canada
