Refused a Canada visa in the Philippines?

IRCC now sends the officer's decision note with most refusals: temporary-resident applications refused since 29 July 2025 (visitor visas, super and transit visas, visitor records, study and work permits and their extensions) and permanent-residence applications refused since 26 May 2026. It does not send them for eTAs, temporary resident permits or humanitarian and compassionate applications.

Most Filipino citizens need a visitor visa to come to Canada. Some Filipinos who fly to Canada can use an eTA instead. An eTA (electronic travel authorization) is an online travel permit. You must meet IRCC's conditions, which are further down this page. If you live in the US with a valid green card, you need neither a visa nor an eTA: bring your passport and your green card. Otherwise, if you come by car, bus, train or boat, including a cruise ship, you need a visitor visa.

IRCC lists two visa application centres (VACs) in the Philippines: one in Manila and one in Cebu. A VAC is where you give your fingerprints and photo (biometrics).

IRCC's open data counts the temporary-resident applications listed under the Philippines that it finished each year (approved, refused or withdrawn), and how many it approved. These include visitor visas, visitor records (to stay longer as a visitor), study and work permits, and their extensions. eTAs are not counted. The files do not say whether they count Filipino citizens or everyone who applied from the Philippines. Below are the applications not approved (refused or withdrawn). The share has gone up each year since 2023, and again in the first seven months of 2026.

• 2023: 59,620 of 255,190 not approved (23.4%)
• 2024: 70,230 of 235,095 not approved (29.9%)
• 2025: 57,055 of 171,055 not approved (33.4%)
• January to July 2026: 34,890 of 96,825 not approved (36.0%)

You can fly to Canada with an eTA instead of a visitor visa only if all three of these are true. One: you have held a Canadian visitor visa in the past 10 years, or you hold a valid US non-immigrant visa now (a US visa for a temporary stay, such as a visitor, student or work visa). Two: you are coming for a short stay, normally up to 6 months. Three: you are flying to Canada, or changing planes at a Canadian airport, on your Philippine passport. If even one is not true, you need a visitor visa, unless you have a US green card (see above).

For a visitor visa, IRCC gives applicants in the Philippines an extra checklist, form IMM 5877 (June 2026 version), headed "Manila Visa Office". It asks for proof that you can pay for your visit, such as a bank statement for the last six months that shows your balance. The checklist says you do not have to send this if you, and everyone travelling with you, have been to Canada in the last 10 years or hold a valid US non-immigrant visa, and can prove it. If you ever worked for the government, police or military after age 18, it asks for a completed form: IMM 0149, IMM 0150 or IMM 5546, whichever fits. If that work was with the Philippine National Police or the Armed Forces of the Philippines, add your Personal Service Record as well.

The same Manila visitor visa checklist (IMM 5877) has a part for seafarers. If you work as a seafarer, it asks for: a valid seafarer booklet and certificate; a POEA exit permission certificate; your employment contract; and letters from the Canadian and local manning agencies with details of the ship you will join.

The study permit checklist for the Philippines (form IMM 5836, February 2026 version) asks applicants aged 18 or older for an NBI certificate (NBI clearance). It must be the original copy, issued in the last 3 months, with a dry seal and your thumbprint; a "Personal Copy" is not accepted. If you apply online, you scan and upload it. For money, it asks for papers from you, your spouse or your parents, such as bank records for the past six months (bank books and statements) or fixed deposits. It also asks for income tax papers from the same people, with employment letters that show earnings, or proof of self-employment or business income.

The work permit checklist for the Philippines (form IMM 5917, March 2026 version) asks for the same NBI certificate as the study checklist, from applicants aged 18 or older. If your job offer comes with an LMIA (a Canadian government decision that the employer needs a foreign worker for the job), the LMIA must be valid on the date your application is received. To show your work history, it asks for papers such as letters from your employers stating your position, duties and earnings, pay slips, and records of your SSS (social security) contributions.

The Philippines was one of the countries in the Student Direct Stream (SDS). IRCC says it started SDS in 2018 to give faster processing to eligible post-secondary students. IRCC ended SDS on 8 November 2024 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Eligible SDS applications received before that time were still processed as SDS. If you applied on or after that time, your application went through the regular study permit stream, so advice written for SDS may not fit your file.

Everything happens on WhatsApp: you never visit an office or send an original. Send photos or PDFs in the WhatsApp chat after you order. No originals, no courier, no office visit.

Our office hours are Mon–Sat, 10am–7pm IST. In the Philippines that is 12:30pm–9:30pm. Send a WhatsApp message any time and we reply in office hours.

We file within 24 hours of receiving your payment, documents and signed consent form (1 hour on Premium, during office hours). For a file without its application number there is no set hour, because it can need extra steps first. The law gives IRCC 30 days from receiving a request to reply, and lets it extend that by sending a notice.