🇮🇳 India · living in 🇺🇸 United States → 🇨🇦 Canada: Entry Requirements
It depends on your US status: green-card holders need no visa at all — temporary-status residents need a visitor visa.
✓ Verified · 7 November 2026
| Requirement | What the official source says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Visa | Visitor visa required on temporary US status — US permanent residents need none If you live in the USA on temporary status (work, study, visitor), you still need a Canadian visitor visa: India is not among the countries whose nationals can use the partial eTA route, and holding a US visa does not open it. If you are a US permanent resident, you need no visa at all — see the next record. |
IRCC — Check if you need a visa or eTA to travel to Canada Checked 7 November 2026 |
| US permanent residents | No visitor visa and no eTA Flying to Canada, carry your valid passport and your valid green card (or equivalent proof of US status — for example a Form I-551, an ADIT stamp, or a valid Form I-327 re-entry permit). Entering by land or water directly from the US, the green card or equivalent proof on its own is enough — no passport is required for that crossing. |
IRCC — Check if you need a visa or eTA to travel to Canada Checked 7 November 2026 |
| How you apply | Online, to the office serving the USA Canadian law sends a visitor-visa application to the immigration office serving the country where you are present and have been lawfully admitted, or your country of nationality. For the USA those offices are Los Angeles and New York, and applications from outside Canada are submitted online. |
Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, s. 11(2) — Justice Laws Canada Checked 7 November 2026 |
| Biometrics | Given in the USA, at an ASC or a VAC For a US-lodged application you give biometrics at a USCIS Application Support Centre (ASC) or at a Visa Application Centre (VAC) — the US VACs are in Los Angeles and New York. You must already be legally in the US to use one; appointments are free, and ASC appointments are booked through the USCIS website. |
IRCC — Where to give your fingerprints and photo Checked 7 November 2026 |
| Documents & US status proof | Proof of your legal status in the USA IRCC requires it expressly: “If your country or territory of residence differs from the country or territory of citizenship listed on your passport, you must provide proof of legal status in your country or territory of residence.” Online applicants get a personalised document checklist in the portal, and the visa office may require more. |
IRCC — How to apply for a visitor visa Checked 7 November 2026 |
| Visa & biometrics fees | CAD 100 · biometrics CAD 85 Per person; the family maximums are CAD 500 for the visa (five or more applying together) and CAD 170 for biometrics. Fees are charged in Canadian dollars through the online application — there is no US-dollar variant. |
IRCC — How to apply for a visitor visa Checked 7 November 2026 |
| Processing time | Published by IRCC for your country of application — check the IRCC processing-times tool Not published as a single figure — see the official source. IRCC publishes processing times only through its online checker, by application type and country of application. No single official figure exists for visitor visas lodged from the USA, so we do not print one. |
IRCC — Check processing times Checked 7 November 2026 |
Guides for this route
Corrections & updates
- 7 November 2026 — Cell created from the diaspora-routes research, passage-verified 2026-11-07: the locus rule is IRPR s. 11(2) (the office serving the country where you are present and lawfully admitted). The cell is split by status — US permanent residents need no visa or eTA (IRCC); temporary-status residents need the TRV, and India is not a partial-eTA country. The biometrics record was closed on a full build-time read of IRCC’s where-to-give page; processing ships unavailable because IRCC publishes times only via its checker.
General information only. This guide is based on official sources publicly available and checked on the date shown on this page. Visa rules change, and consular and USCIS officers decide every case on its own facts — nothing here is a confirmation or a guarantee for your individual case, and this is not legal advice. Always confirm the current requirement on the official page linked in this guide before you act, and consider a qualified immigration attorney for your specific situation.