Visitor visa, study permit, Super Visa, work permit. Most refusals can be answered. Find out what the officer really meant, then plan your comeback.
Dear applicant,
I have reviewed your application for a temporary resident visa. After careful review, I have determined that your application does not meet the requirements. I am refusing your application on the following grounds:
Officer's decision notes: The applicant provided bank statements showing a recent lump-sum deposit with no explanation of source…
"You haven't shown me you go home after you travel." Thin travel alone isn't a legal reason to refuse, but it lowers the officer's starting confidence.
"The money looks borrowed, recent, or unexplained." This is usually the box that sank the file.
"Your reason to visit didn't hang together with your documents." Often fixable with a coherent itinerary and invitation.
Study permit approval rate in 2025, across all study levels.
Average refusal reasons cited per refused study permit, Jan to Apr 2026.
Of study refusals cite doubt you'll leave Canada based on travel history.
IRCC began attaching officer decision notes to most visitor, study and work refusals.
Source: IRCC data as analysed by ApplyInsights (Aug 2026), and IRCC announcement reported by Moving2Canada (Aug 2025). Figures are illustrative for the prototype; confirm before launch.
Most sites stop at "you have options". These are the dates that decide which options you still have.
Save the letter and any decision notes. Write down the exact date you received it.
Request the officer's full notes from IRCC. Replies take about 30 days, so start now.
Last day to seek judicial review of a decision made in Canada. Needs a lawyer.
Now you can see the reasoning, find the deciding ground, and plan the evidence.
Last day for judicial review of a visa office decision abroad. After this, reapplying is the route.
No waiting period. Reapply when the file answers every concern, not before.
Judicial review deadlines run from the day you are notified of the decision. Confirm your own dates with a professional.
Paste your letter. See each ground in plain words, ranked by how much it likely mattered.
Seven questions. A score, your court window, and the route that fits.
Check the host's income against the minimum for the whole household.
Year-one tuition, living and travel, and how seasoned your money looks.
Twelve grounds officers cite, from R179(b) to A40, explained.
Over forty questions on notes, deadlines, reapplying and Super Visas.
Every ticked box maps to a regulation. Our decoder tells you which ones are cosmetic and which one is structural.
The letter is the verdict. The officer's GCMS notes are the reasoning. Reapplying without them is guessing.
A second application must answer each concern with new evidence. Resubmitting the same file usually earns the same answer.
Tourism, family visits, business trips. The R179(b) capital of Canada.
Parents and grandparents, up to five years per entry. Income and insurance rules.
Funds, study plans, attestation letters. The most refused stream in the system.
LMIA, open and spousal permits, and the job-offer credibility test.
Relationship genuineness, interviews, and sponsor eligibility refusals.
A five-year bar. Different rules, tighter deadlines, no second guessing.
We'll tell you what went wrong, free. The how of fixing it is the work.
Every explainer on this site ends the same way: with the strategy redacted. Not to be coy. A fix that works for one file can sink another, and a recovery plan needs your documents, your history and the officer's notes in front of a licensed consultant.
1. Source-of-funds narrative with a twelve month trail
2. Replace lump sum with documented income pattern
3. Letter of explanation sequence that addresses notes
These are the grounds IRCC officers cite most often on visitor, study, super visa and work refusals. Open one to see what it means, what usually triggers it, and how serious it is.
Not sure which ground is really driving your refusal? Paste your letter into the decoder.
What officers weigh, what documents carry weight, and where refused applicants usually go wrong the second time.
A temporary resident visa (TRV) is decided on one central question: will you leave Canada when your visit ends? Officers usually spend minutes on a file, so the application has to answer that question quickly and consistently.
Citizens of visa-exempt countries flying in need an Electronic Travel Authorization instead of a visa. Some travellers from select countries who have held a Canadian visa in the past ten years, or hold a valid US non-immigrant visa, may qualify for an eTA. Check your eligibility on the official IRCC tool before applying.
There is no waiting period. You may reapply the next day. But an identical application usually earns an identical result, so the second file must change the facts or the evidence, and say so clearly.
Itinerary and invitation alignment test · Employer leave letter wording
Funds seasoning timeline · Ties evidence ranked by weight
The Super Visa lets parents and grandparents of Canadian citizens and permanent residents visit for up to five years per entry, on a multiple-entry visa valid for up to ten years. It is still a visitor visa, so holders cannot work or study.
Household includes the host, everyone they support, and the parents or grandparents being invited. Illustrative 2026 figures; confirm current numbers on canada.ca.
Income that falls short once the visiting parents are counted, insurance quotes instead of paid policies, insurance that doesn't start on the day of entry, and weak evidence of ties at home. Most are fixable on a second application.
Co-signer strategy when income is close
Notice of assessment versus employment letter
Study permits are now the most refused temporary stream. In 2025 only 41% were approved, and refused files cited about three reasons each. Funds have become the fastest-growing reason, after IRCC told officers to look harder at the amount and source of money.
Request your officer's notes before you reapply. A refusal that cites "funds" may really be about the source of funds, and that changes everything about how you respond.
Study plan structure officers actually read
Sponsor affidavit and income chain · GIC versus savings
Work permits are refused for two broad reasons: the officer doubts you can do the job, or doubts you'll leave when the permit ends. Employer-specific permits add a third: doubts about the job offer itself.
Duties-to-experience mapping · Employer evidence package
Spousal sponsorship refusals usually turn on one word: genuine. Officers assess whether the relationship is real and was not entered into mainly for immigration, under section 4 of the regulations. Sponsors can also be refused for their own eligibility.
Appeal versus reapply decision tree
Four free tools that read your refusal the way a consultant would on first look. They run in your browser and keep nothing.
These tools give general information, not legal advice, and no outcome is guaranteed. Figures are illustrative for this prototype and must be confirmed against canada.ca. Have a professional review your full file before you reapply.
Reapply.ca is run by a licensed immigration consultant who works almost entirely on refused files: visitors, students, parents on Super Visas, workers and families. Refusals are not a side service here. They are the whole practice.
Not a side service. Every week is spent reading refusal letters and officer notes, and rebuilding the files behind them.
Judicial review in Federal Court is a lawyer's work. When your file needs court, we tell you on day one and refer you.
Consultations by video or phone. Most clients apply from outside Canada, from South Asia to West Africa to Latin America.
A refusal tells you exactly where the officer stopped believing you.
That's the useful part. We read the letter and the notes, find the one ground that actually decided the file, and rebuild around it. Nothing is promised, because nothing can be. What we offer is a second application that answers the first one.
We read your letter and notes with you, name the real ground, and tell you whether to reapply, wait, or go another route.
A line-by-line review of your refused application against the officer's notes, with the redacted playbook filled in for your case.
We prepare, write and submit the new application, including the letter of explanation and evidence strategy.
Prices are set by the practice and shown at booking. Government fees for IRCC applications and biometrics are paid separately.
Tell us a little about your situation. A licensed consultant replies, usually within one business day.
hello@reapply.ca
+1 (705) 500-5333 · WhatsApp
Monday to Saturday, 9 am to 7 pm Eastern. Video consultations across all time zones by appointment.
Please don't attach passport scans or other documents here. Use the document portal instead.
Upload your refusal letter, officer's notes and supporting documents in one place. They go straight to your consultant, and you'll get a confirmation by email.
Reference . In this preview nothing leaves your browser. On the live site, the files are stored securely and your consultant is emailed right away.
Plain-language articles on Canadian visa refusals, reapplying, Super Visas and study permits. Updated as IRCC rules change.