🇨🇦 Does Canada Have a Digital Nomad Visa?
No dedicated visa - ordinary visitor status (visitor visa or eTA) covers remote work for a foreign employer, per IRCC policy that this does not count as entering the Canadian labour market · No dedicated digital nomad visa - alternative route below
Does Canada have a digital nomad visa?
No, Canada does not have a visa officially called a "digital nomad visa". The closest route remote workers use instead: No dedicated visa - ordinary visitor status (visitor visa or eTA) covers remote work for a foreign employer, per IRCC policy that this does not count as entering the Canadian labour market. Full requirements, sourced and dated, are in the table below.
- Minimum income
- TBD
- Visa duration reported
- 6 months
- Tax regime official
- Under 183 days in Canada in a calendar year, without significant residential ties, keeps you a non-resident for tax purposes - taxed only on Canadian-source income, not your foreign remote salary. Reaching 183 days in the year makes you a deemed resident, taxed on worldwide income.
- Family (spouse / children) reported
- Spouse + children admitted
- Application fees reported
- 100 CAD
- Processing time reported
- eTA (visa-exempt nationalities): typically minutes, occasionally up to a few days. Visitor visa/TRV (other nationalities): reported roughly 4-12 weeks, varying widely by country of application
Canada has no digital nomad visa and visitor status carries no published minimum income - officers require proof of 'sufficient funds' for the trip plus evidence you will leave (ties to your home country), assessed case by case rather than against a fixed threshold. RE-CHECKED 2026-08-11: IRCC published an operational update, 'Temporary residents: Digital nomads' (2026-05-26), tightening the documentation burden - visitor-visa applicants and border officers must now affirmatively confirm income is earned ENTIRELY outside Canada (reversing 2023 guidance that no extra documentation was needed), and accompanying family members must each hold their own independent status rather than being automatically covered. Corroborated by CIC News and other specialist outlets; the underlying canada.ca bulletin could not be fetched directly this pass. Does not change the 'no fixed income figure' fact, only the proof required. A separately-circulating claim that visitor stays were extended from 6 months to 1 year (dated 2026-01-05) could not be traced to any IRCC/canada.ca source - treated as unverified, not incorporated.
Most visitors are authorized up to 6 months per entry at the border officer's discretion (sometimes less, occasionally more); the day you must leave by is stamped in your passport or shown in your eTA/visa record. Staying longer requires applying to extend visitor status from inside Canada before the authorized period ends - not a renewal in the country-hopping sense. RE-CHECKED 2026-08-23: IRCC's own digital-nomad-specific operational bulletin ('Temporary residents: Digital nomads', 2026-05-26) states a digital nomad 'only needs visitor status to relocate to Canada for up to 6 months at a time' - directly corroborating this 6-month figure from what appears to be the bulletin's own language (search-indexed excerpt; canada.ca itself blocked to direct fetch). A separately-circulating claim that CBSA officers now have general discretion to grant visitors up to 1 year per entry (dated 2026-01-05) remains reported only via immigration-consultancy sources, not a primary IRCC/CBSA page or mainstream press - stays unpromoted, and this finding argues against it applying to digital-nomad status specifically even if true for other visitor categories.
source · verified 2026-07-25
source · verified 2026-07-25
Spouse and children can accompany you as visitors, but each family member generally needs their own visitor visa or eTA and must independently show sufficient funds and ties.
source · verified 2026-07-25
CAD 100 visitor-visa (TRV) fee applies to nationals who need a visa, plus a CAD 85 biometrics fee (CAD 185 total). Nationals of visa-exempt countries arriving by air instead need only the eTA, CAD 7. Which route applies depends on nationality - confirm on the IRCC eTA/visa-exempt country list.
source · verified 2026-07-25
IRCC publishes current country-specific TRV processing times on its own processing-times tool; the range above is a general reported guide, not a guarantee.
source · verified 2026-07-25
Official sources
- IRCC - Public policy on visitor work permits (remote work for a foreign employer) (government)
- IRCC - Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) (government)
- IRCC Help Centre - how long can I stay in Canada as a visitor (government)
- IRCC - Visitor visa: how to apply (government)
- CRA - Non-residents of Canada (government)
- IRCC - Temporary residents: Digital nomads (operational bulletin) (government)
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Last full review: 2026-09-20. Figures are re-verified quarterly.